Headingley given opportunity to prove it has big match potential

It was announced yesterday that Super League champions Leeds Rhinos will entertain NRL title-winners Manly Sea Eagles at Headingley on Friday, February 17, in the Heinz Big Soup World Club Challenge.

The fixture had in previous years been held at Elland Road – scene of last Saturday’s Four Nations final – due to the size of the ground and the fact that it holds almost double the capacity of Headingley.

However, Leeds United have Championship fixtures on Saturday, February 11, and Saturday, February 18 – latterly against Yorkshire rivals Doncaster – rendering the football venue unusable.

There had also been talk of staging the match in Australia or the Middle East in a break from a 12-year tradition of hosting it in England, and after Leeds showed a willingness to consider making the trip Down Under this time it is something the two leagues may explore further next year.

But for the immediate future it is quite a coup for Headingley to land the sport’s showpiece club game.

And on the back of what they hope to be a successful staging of the fixture, Leeds Rugby chief executive Hetherington hopes Headingley can convince the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football Union to stage games there in the 2013 league World Cup and 2015 union World Cup instead of at Elland Road.

The RFL will announce cities and venues for the 2013 World Cup on Monday, with both Elland Road and Headingley in the running.

The RFU has earmarked Elland Road as a host stadium for 2015 World Cup pool games, but Hetherington has been forthright in the past on his hopes that the governing body might switch pool games to the traditional rugby ground.

“To be able to stage such a significant event as the World Club Challenge will strengthen our case for hosting both 2013 rugby league and 2015 rugby union World Cup games here,” said Hetherington.

“There will be a major announcement from the RFL shortly in terms of the host cities and venues.

“We are hoping Headingley will be at the forefront.

“With regards rugby union there is still a lot of work to be done, but we have made it known very forcibly that this is the premier rugby stadium in Yorkshire.

“We are very keen to stage representative and international games at Headingley Carnegie, both in rugby league and rugby union.

“That’s one of the reasons why we want to further develop the stadium.”

With planning permission approved and funding streams being explored for the redevelopment of the South Stand at Headingley, the remodelled side of the ground will bump the capacity up to 22,000. The capacity for the World Club Challenge match in less than three months will be 20,000.

A packed house at Elland Road is 37,000 with the four World Club Challenges held there in the last seven years attracting an average of 32,637 fans; although gates did drop year on year from 2005 to 2010.

Hetherington accepts that a bigger stadium attracts bigger revenue streams, but countered that by saying: “The cost of staging games here at Headingley is significantly less, so there’s pros and cons.

“We don’t get any income at all, but we will be working hard to ensure we deliver a significant amount of income (for the respective leagues).

“We are responsible, with the RFL, for marketing and promoting the game, selling all the corporate availability and maximising the income. We had to give that assurance that we could do that to both the NRL and the RFL.”

As well as the two Leeds venues, Huddersfield’s Galpharm Stadium was also in the reckoning, but with Leeds home to the Super League champions, the West Yorkshire city always had a significant bargaining chip.

The lack of under-soil heating at Headingley could prove a hindrance, but with no league or rugby union fixtures scheduled there for nearly three weeks before February 17, the stadium groundstaff will have ample time to prepare the pitch for almost anything the British winter can throw at them.

Hetherington said: “If you get hit by a big deluge of snow it doesn’t matter how good your under-soil heating is. If your stadium and all the adjoining roads are covered in snow then you’re not going to get the game on.

“What we can ensure is that our pitch will not be frozen.”