France is said to have put in a bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 along with countries like Ireland and South Africa. These countries have finished submitting formal bids. The final bid papers have been delivered to World Rugby and the winner of the bids placed will be announced by 15th November.
If you look at France’s history, they hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2007 as well as in years like 1999 and 1997. For South Africa the last tournament that was hosted by them was in 1995. Ireland on the other hand, has never staged the world cup tournament, but had staged international tournaments in the years 1991 and 1999.
The French bidders state that there would be about nine stadiums of ultra modern infrastructure that would be part of the tournament. These were either renovated or built to host the European football championship last year. Ireland on their part, would be offering venues in Northern Ireland and Irish Republic. The Irish bid team had to get back from the parliament, assurance of financial backing before they could put in the bid.
The legislation was rushed to put in the bid in time. South Africa had put in bids before for hosting the World Cups in 2011, 2015 and 2019. The bid that they have put in for hosting the games in 2023 will include the final at Soccer City. This would be in Johannesburg. This had been the same venue where the 2010 FIFA World Cup had been held. The countries are promising profitable venues for the tournaments at a time when it is being closely scrutinized, the financial burden that countries come up with when they have to host sports events that are of major international leagues and importance. There would be considerable security requirements as well.