Canada win women's RWC 'bid'

Controversy is swirling around the International Rugby Board's decision to award the 2006 Women's World Cup to Canada, following the news that England was the only country to actually put in a bid for the event.

Rosie Williams, Managing Director of the RFUW commented: "Given that the RFUW was the only country union that formally made a bid for the event, it comes as a surprise and huge disappointment that the IRB have offered it to another nation. With the support of the RFU we believed we had submitted a tender that met all of the criteria as set out by the IRB."

The decision follows the RFU's recent announcement that it would not be bidding for the 2011 World Cup and instead would be focusing on supporting the RFUW's tender for the Women's event in 2006.

Edmonton, Alberta is the chosen site for the event, a city that is fast becoming a well known dateline for rugby stories, with the exciting Churchill Cup final between England A and the New Zealand Maori fought on the turf of the 60,000 seat Commonwealth Stadium. The Maori won the match in overtime, and Rugby Canada determined that Edmonton alone would host the Churchill Cup in 2005.

The RFUW bid also had significant support from UK Sport, the government agency with lead responsibility for the staging of World Class Events in the UK. John Scott, International Director at UK Sport, said:

"The bid put forward by the RFUW was an extremely good one which had the full backing of UK Sport. We have no doubts that the RFUW would have put on a World Cup of the highest quality which would have been a credit to the game and to the UK's ability to host world class events. We await with interest more details from the IRB on its decision."

Rugby World Cup Chairman, Dr. Syd Millar said, in announcing Canada as the host of the 2006 tournament, that a move outside of Europe was key to growing the women's game globally.

"Since the first tournament in 1991 WRWC has been the catalyst for the tremendous growth of the women's game worldwide," said RWCL Chairman, Dr Syd Millar.

"The move out of Europe is therefore another example of the growing global popularity of rugby. The IRB has made every effort to ensure that its tournaments are hosted throughout the rugby world and this announcement means that all of our major regions will have hosted an IRB tournament between 2003 and 2007."

Canada's Chris Le Fevre, who is the IRB representative, was enthusiastic about the opportunity the event affords Canada in maturing as a rugby nation.

"The award of this tournament to Canada recognises the solid growth of the women's game in North America and I have no doubt that it will be a memorable event for all concerned," said Le Fevre.

By Doug Crosse