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Lifelong memories are not usually made during dank winter nights at the MKM Stadium in Hull, but the World Club Challenge will be treasured even by those of us who do not have red and white allegiances. The match was an absolute cracker but, even if NRL champions Brisbane Broncos had strolled to victory rather than losing a spellbinding game to Hull Kingston Rovers, the event would still have been a spectacular success.
There were fireworks, a light show, music from Reverend and The Makers, and a rammed “away end” knocking out Robins anthems. Fans turned the stadium red as they waved thousands of flags while decked out in glasses from sponsors Specsavers. It was all simple but hugely effective, which is an apt description for Hull KR as a club and team.
And yet this whole spectacle only happened because both clubs wanted it to. Either could have turned it down. Last year’s match was farcically called off as both champions – Wigan and Penrith – were in Las Vegas but playing league matches rather than each other. There was no contract that obliged Hull KR and Brisbane Broncos to play what is still, after more than 30 years, a stand-alone event.
“It’s so true,” said Rovers CEO Paul Lakin. “It is crazy that it’s not just locked in. It’s our sport’s biggest domestic game in the world and to think that it only happened because we wanted it to, is insane.”
Hull KR have another huge event next weekend. They could easily have refused to face Brisbane so soon before they travel to Las Vegas for their Super League match against Leeds Rhinos, with no consequences from the RFL. Instead, they sold out the MKM Stadium in days. The 24,600 crowd was a record attendance for a rugby league match at Hull FC’s ground, much to the amusement of the Robins. Willie Peters, Hull KR’s Australian coach, said it sounded more like 50,000: “English fans bring energy – it’s electric.”
The club’s CEO was determined to make the game happen and ensure everyone had a great night. “The first World Club Challenge in Hull may be the last – hopefully not,” said Lakin. “It’s taken long enough to get the first. So we wanted it to be an incredibly special and memorable night for everybody, a spectacle that embraces rugby league, embraces the best versus the best, and really embraces our city. Very few people on this planet get the opportunity to be associated with the words ‘world champions’.” His club delivered and so did the team.
The World Club Challenge has come a long way since it was revived in January 2000, when Wigan’s brand new JJB Stadium was only half full for Melbourne Storm’s 44-6 thrashing of St Helens. Even with the cost of flying the Broncos to England and putting on such a show, the Robins have banked a considerable six-figure profit – enough to cover the cost of playing in Vegas this weekend.
That makes it even harder to understand why rugby league has still not set the World Club Challenge in stone. NRL head Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo surely have to draw up a contract with RFL boss Nigel Wood to ensure the annual event is an obligation for both leagues, even if a date and host are not locked in a year in advance. The game could even be held in neutral venues around the world – cities in the US, Hong Kong or Singapore perhaps. With rugby union’s Club World Cup launching in 2028, there is no time to waste. Hesitate and yet another rugby league IP will be taken to another level by the 15-a-side code.
The fixture is one of very few British rugby league events that draws in general sports fans who are not addicted to the game. On the train back to London on Friday morning I spoke to a number of Harlequins and Saracens players, coaches and staff who were eulogising about the night before. The executive boxes were populated by sponsors who had never been to a rugby league game before. Be warned. It’s not always like this, on or off the pitch. But when it is, it’s magnificent.
Peters admitted it only works “if you have two teams who want to win”. There was no question that was the case. Lakin agreed, saying: “Some NRL teams come over here for a holiday. These guys haven’t, that’s for sure. We were playing the best.”
Having not played in the fixture for nearly 20 years, Brisbane made the most of it. They built a two-week pre-season tour around the game, which was as tough a test as they will face all year. Asked where Hull KR would finish in the NRL, Broncos coach Michael Maguire simply replied: “Well, they beat us.” Peters found the question tough to answer with confidence. “We’d need to play them over there in their conditions and do it again and again.”
Despite the success of Friday night, next year’s event may prove trickier to organise. If played in Australia, the event can become a souped-up pre-season fixture. Just 13,873 fans turned up to watch Penrith Panthers lose to St Helens in torrential rain three years ago. The World Cup being in Australia later this year makes returning there less appealing for a Super League club. So the organisers have two options: agree that the Super League champions will host the event a fortnight before Vegas, or make the World Club Challenge the centrepiece of the US extravaganza.
For now Hull KR are simply revelling in their success. “We need to enjoy this, as it can pass you by,” said Peters. “Who knows if we’ll play in another World Club Challenge. And Vegas will probably never come again. It’s a weird feeling as we’re world club champions but we’re on zero points in Super League [having lost their opener at newly promoted York]. It’s not as euphoric as the Grand Final because we’ve got to back it up the week after and get the two points in Vegas.”
Peters reminded his players before the game that “the people of East Hull don’t get things easy – they have to work their backsides off, just like we do”. That message will apply tenfold to the 5,000 Rovers fans who have spent a fortune on a trip of a lifetime to Vegas. When many fans booked their flights, the Robins had not won a major trophy since the miners’ strike in the mid-1980s. They have now won four. It’s just one beautiful dream after another.
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