Friday, December 30, 2011
European Championship mystery
2012 should be the year of the Women's European Rugby Championship. It happens once every four years, in between the World Cups, and normally features the top eight national teams in the A tournament, and all of the rest in a B tournament.
In 2000 10 teams took part, in 2004 this rose to 12, and in 2008 13. But in 2012 only eight teams will be in the championship (see here for fixture information)
The A event, in Italy, will include only four teams - England, France, Italy and Spain - and the B competition will only include Finland, Netherlands, Russia and Sweden. This also means that - for the first time - Scotland, Wales and Ireland do not seem to have entered the European Championship.
Quite why is anyone's guess - but it seems very odd. It is certainly not a positive development step by these Unions (especially Ireland who do not even have the excuse of preparing for the Sevens World Cup).
In 2000 10 teams took part, in 2004 this rose to 12, and in 2008 13. But in 2012 only eight teams will be in the championship (see here for fixture information)
The A event, in Italy, will include only four teams - England, France, Italy and Spain - and the B competition will only include Finland, Netherlands, Russia and Sweden. This also means that - for the first time - Scotland, Wales and Ireland do not seem to have entered the European Championship.
Quite why is anyone's guess - but it seems very odd. It is certainly not a positive development step by these Unions (especially Ireland who do not even have the excuse of preparing for the Sevens World Cup).
Labels:
International
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most popular posts in last 30 days
- New arrangements for post-match food at home
- RFUW proposes a whole new world for 2010/11
- Bringing down the prey...
- World Cup Sevens preview: Pool A
- A long, tough afternoon
- A great day out!
- France win U20 series 3-0
- Neighbouring club in trouble: should we help them?
- Shock change to U20 selection process
- Reaction to the redesign - and new design a new header
Most Popular Posts of all time
- World Cup Sevens preview: Pool A
- New arrangements for post-match food at home
- The best rugby photos of the year
- Herts Sevens 2012: Enter now!
- So... Where now with the Letchworth Girls' blog?
- RFU forums are back
- Familiar face in short-list for IRB "Rugby Photo of the Year"
- Matt Damon to star in new rugby movie
- Wanted: Revolving Door Engineer...
- Women's rugby.... in 1928!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.