Scotland Wheelchair based in Sheffield for RLWC2021

With 500 days to go until the opening fixture of the Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021), tournament organisers have announced that Scotland Wheelchair will be based in Sheffield for next years’ tournament.

The Wheelchair squad, will be calling Sheffield home during the tournament, where the city will host all Group B fixtures at the English Institute of Sport, all four teams will be based in Sheffield and the EIS will also host both semi-finals in the wheelchair tournament.

Mark Roughsedge, Scotland Wheelchair Head Coach said:

We are really excited to based in the host city of Sheffield for the World Cup. The city has a rich sporting history and for us to be successful on the pitch, how we spend our time away from it is just as important. It is a vibrant city with so much going on and we look forward to engaging with the local community and using the profile of the competition to help create fantastic Rugby League experiences and long lasting memories for the locals. It would be great if the city would really get behind us and adopt us as their team for the competition! With 500 days to go our preparations are really starting to ramp up and with the added motivation of this announcement the road ahead is very exciting!

The Group A teams , England, Australia, Norway, Spain will be based in London.

RLWC2021 has today also revealed new branding for the tournament, celebrating the power of together, focusing on human interest stories and emotional connections, with the goal of connecting with a universal audience.

The new branding will also include bespoke elements from each host, drawing on recognisable icons and displaying the sense of civic pride each host has for its town or city. RLWC2021 will be asking people from each town and city to vote on the icons that make up their custom patterns in the coming months and will be doing something similar for the nations towards the end of the year.

Jon Dutton, RLWC2021 Chief Executive, said:

We can’t wait to see Scotland at the World Cup in 2021, and I’m sure the people of Sheffield will welcome them into the city with open arms. The nations can look forward to a brilliant atmosphere in all of our fantastic host towns and cities.

Our refreshed tournament identity and today’s team base announcement can serve as an exciting reminder for the competing nations of what’s to come in 2021, and give our hosts the first glimpse into who they can expect to see in their home town as we continue to build momentum towards what promises to be the biggest and best ever Rugby League World Cup.

The squads from the 21 unique nations and 32 teams will be based in different locations. The full list of host towns and cities, and the corresponding nations is as follows:

Bolton – France (Men’s)
Doncaster – Samoa (Men’s)
Hull – Fiji (Men’s)
Leeds – Jamaica, Ireland (Men’s) | England, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Canada (Women’s)
Liverpool and St Helen’s – Tonga, Italy (Men’s teams)
London – England, Australia, Norway, Spain (Wheelchair)
Manchester – England, Australia (Men’s)
Newcastle – Scotland (Men’s)
Preston – Wales (Men’s)
Sheffield – Greece (Men’s) | France, Wales, Scotland, USA (Wheelchair)
Tees Valley – Cook Islands (Men’s)
Warrington – Papua New Guinea (Men’s)
Wigan/Leigh – Lebanon (Men’s)
York – New Zealand (Men’s) | Australia, New Zealand, France, Cook Islands (Women’s)