Union fans in Yorkshire urged to support World Cup

Leeds United’s ground will stage two games over the weekend of September 26-27, 2015, with Italy hosting the Americas 1 qualifier in Pool D on the Saturday, and Scotland playing the Americas 2 qualifier in Pool B 24 hours later.

Elland Road had been long-listed ahead of traditional rugby venue Headingley Carnegie last year and was chosen over of a number of other stadiums throughout the country to play some part in the global gathering.

In all, only four traditional rugby venues; Twickenham, Millennium Stadium, Gloucester’s Kingsholm and Exeter’s Sandy Park have been chosen, with the rest football grounds, plus London’s Olympic Stadium.

Leeds Rugby had long since resigned themselves to the fact that Elland Road had been chosen ahead of them because it has a greater capacity.

And even though the big guns like England and New Zealand will not be coming to Leeds, Carnegie’s executive chairman McGeechan believes the people of the city and the county should welcome Scotland and Italy with open arms.

“It’s good that we’ve got World Cup rugby in the city because it’s quite a unique experience,” said McGeechan, the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions head coach.

“Hopefully, we’ll have something in place in the city that gives people a greater awareness of all the teams involved here.

“In Australia they did that very well. People adopted the teams that were playing at the grounds and I hope we can do something similar.

“It’s important that Leeds is on that World Cup map.

“It would have been nice for it to have been at Headingley, because it’s a top-notch rugby stadium.

“And it would have been nice to see one of the top four in Leeds. But at least we’ve got some games here.”

Elland Road’s involvement continues a proud tradition for Yorkshire. Otley hosted a game in the 1991 World Cup, while New Zealand played at Huddersfield eight years later.

Leeds United chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “Rugby World Cup 2015 promises to be an exciting event showcasing all that is good about sport and gives us the opportunity to play host to a prestigious global competition in the region.”

England kick-off the tournament against Oceania 1 on September 18 at Twickenham and play Wales at their traditional home a week later, on the same day that Italy play in Leeds.

England finish their pool phase against a play-off winner at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, their only game in the north.