Bilbao and Newcastle to host 2018 & 2019 EPCR finals!

Former Former

http://epcrugby.com/news/35441.php#.WOIriGe1thE

Italy ABSOLUTELY shafted but overall it's a great move to expand the game into new territories.

sydthebeat

Newcastle will be cracking !!!!

Podge_irl

Kind of small venues for the finals but good to see new ground being broken. But yeah, Italy got screwed.

Buer

Podge_irl wrote: »

Kind of small venues for the finals but good to see new ground being broken. But yeah, Italy got screwed.

53k will be plenty for Bilbao. Bigger than the Aviva, anyway.

I'd hope it'll sell out but wouldn't bet on it. At least Bilbao is next to a rugby region, though.

Podge_irl

Buer wrote: »

53k will be plenty for Bilbao. Bigger than the Aviva, anyway.

I'd hope it'll sell out but wouldn't bet on it. At least Bilbao is next to a rugby region, though.

True, always kind of forget how small that stadium is.

It's plenty for Bilbao for sure - just makes you wonder if 80k in Milan would be better.

thomond2006

I hear Newcastle is mad craic.

errlloyd

Italy consistently getting shafted.

Peregrine

****e. I took too long typing mine up. I'll just copy paste the contents.

Peregrine

I was surprised to see it go to Bilbao but they did bid for it with the support of their union and government so maybe I should be excited to see a union like Spain get it. I can't imagine that it would be difficult to get Europeans to travel to Spain.

It's worth noting that, obviously, the Challenge Cup Final (which Spanish teams could qualify for) is included in the bid as well as the Challenge Cup Qualifiers Finals — which is being re branded as the Continental Shield — and usually contains a Spanish team in the pool stages.

OldRio

Some of the views of the pitch at Newcastle are awful.
The north east of England is not exactly a hotbed of Rugby but its good that the finals are being moved around.

Eod100

Yeah thought Italy would get it before Spain especially with Zebre and Treviso competing in Challenge and Champions Cup but there ya go..

Had a quick look at teams from countries hosting Champions Cup Final and whether they made it to final.

Including this season, only 9 out of 22 finals had at least 1 team in the final from host country.

Of those there's been 5 winners, 2 of those winners coming from finals with 2 teams from host country (Toulouse winning vs Biarritz in 2010 and Wasps winning v Leicester in 2007). Then it's Wasps in 04, Northampton in 00 and Ulster '99.

So a bit of useless information for ye! :P

wp_rathead

OldRio wrote: »

Some of the views of the pitch at Newcastle are awful.
The north east of England is not exactly a hotbed of Rugby but its good that the finals are being moved around.

You do get the Border regions though who do love their rugby - Scotland made mistake getting rid of them imo

But ya I'm not sure how suited St James pitch is

Bridge93

The in goals at St James' will be pretty tight. The stands are right on top of the pitch. Makes for one of the best atmospheres in England but wasn't made for a rugby pitch.
The rugby league magic weekend and the World Cup showed how tight it is

Yeah_Right

I think Bilbao is a great idea. Summer holiday in Spain with a big rugby match thrown in. The missus would love it

Thought Barcelona or San Sebastián might have got it. I think they've both hosted semis or finals in the T14 before.

Cookiemunster

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I think Bilbao is a great idea. Summer holiday in Spain with a big rugby match thrown in. The missus would love it

Thought Barcelona or San Sebastián might have got it. I think they've both hosted semis or finals in the T14 before.

It wasn't just given to these cities. They applied to host the finals. San Sebastian and Barcelona probably have no interest in hosting.

Buer

There has been a massive push in Bilbao in recent years to increase tourism there. Traditionally, Bilbao was seen as an industrial city. This would be a big coup for them and they would have gone after it aggressively, I imagine.

San Sebastian and Barcelona are well established tourist destinations already. I'm sure they'd have liked to host the game but they wouldn't have had the same motivation to attract it.

Yeah_Right

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It wasn't just given to these cities. They applied to host the finals. San Sebastian and Barcelona probably have no interest in hosting.

When I said given, I didn't mean it as they give the game to cities without some sort of bidding process. What I meant was the other two cities had hosted big rugby games before so I was surprised that out of all the Spanish cities, it wasn't one of them.

Didn't Munster play Biarritz in San Sebastian in a semi a few years ago?

Podge_irl

Yeah, definitely. Perhaps they have lost interest with the relative demise of the Basque clubs though?

Former Former

The stadium in San Sebastian isn't big enough

Peregrine

I hear people talking about Italy getting shafted but do we know that any Italian cities even bid for it?

Leaving aside the whole 2015 thing.

thelad95

Does anyone else not think it should be rugby grounds hosting these games?

I know the annual procession of rotating around the six nations grounds was a bit boring but at least they're rugby grounds in rugby cities, the event itself could well fade into the background due to lack of interest from locals.

Buer

thelad95 wrote: »

Does anyone else not think it should be rugby grounds hosting these games?

I know the annual procession of rotating around the six nations grounds was a bit boring but at least they're rugby grounds in rugby cities, the event itself could well fade into the background due to lack of interest from locals.

The event is far more likely to fade into oscurity in London or Paris, in my opinion. I've attended big games in both where no English/French team were playing and, if you were to walk through central London/Paris, you wouldn't have a clue that there was a match on.

Bilbao is a smaller city than Dublin. 50k fans (if they get a full house) would have a significant presence, I reckon. The local tourist board would make a pretty solid effort to promote it.

Podge_irl

For the Leinster-Ulster HEC final, anywhere outside the immediate Twickenham area, it was assumed that I was a Chelsea fan. The game is utterly lost in London.

OldRio

Podge_irl wrote: »

For the Leinster-Ulster HEC final, anywhere outside the immediate Twickenham area, it was assumed that I was a Chelsea fan. The game is utterly lost in London.

To be fair any game is utterly lost in London due to the sheer size of the city.

Cookiemunster

Podge_irl wrote: »

For the Leinster-Ulster HEC final, anywhere outside the immediate Twickenham area, it was assumed that I was a Chelsea fan. The game is utterly lost in London.

2007. Wasps v Leicester in Twickenham and Man Utd v Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley the same weekend. In central London you'd never have known either game was on.

MikeCork2009

I live in Newcastle so this is awesome news :-D I watched New Zealand vs Tonga at St James Park during the World Cup and it was really good. Fantastic atmosphere in the stadium and in the pubs in town beforehand. Hoping Munster can make the final in 2019!!

ArmaniJeanss

Cookiemunster wrote: »

2007. Wasps v Leicester in Twickenham and Man Utd v Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley the same weekend. In central London you'd never have known either game was on.

A Sunday afternoon in early Oct 2015.
Ireland v Italy in the RWC at the Olympic stadium.
An 80K sellout NFL game at Wembley.
Arsenal MUFC soccer at the Emirates.

The city absorbed them as if they were barely happening.

finbarrk

Tickets available now for Bilbao. €70 seems to be the cheapest lower level seats. Bought one anyway.
http://www.epcrugby.com/bilbao2018.php