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Jul 13, 2017

NRL Nines tournament suspended for 2018, future events unlikely to be in Auckland

Events / Sport

The NRL, ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development) and Duco Events have advised that the NRL Nines Tournament will be suspended next year to ease the workload of players following the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

NRL Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Abdo said the Nines had been one of the game’s success stories over the last four years and had a long term future on the rugby league calendar.

However, he emphasised that with the Rugby League World Cup running until 2nd December, it was not viable to ask elite players to back up for the Nines tournament in early 2018.

The same applies for the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars game in the pre-season, which will also not be held in 2018 but will return in 2019.

Abdo added that there was every chance the NRL Nines would be held in Australia when it returns to the rugby league calendar and the NRL would seek expressions of interest from cities interested in hosting the event.

He said that Auckland had been a fantastic host of the event and confirmed that there is a strong likelihood that the event will return to New Zealand in the future rotation.

The Eden Park tournament has been under a cloud after a drop in this year's ticket sales, with around 22,000 spectators attending earlier this year compared to sell-outs in previous years.

The competition was also impacted by some NRL coaches, who were reluctant to field their best players due to the risk of injury before the start of the season.

This year’s World Cup takes place from 26th October to 2nd December in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The NRL regular season gets underway in March. 

Image: Crowds at Eden Park for the Auckland Nines.

22nd May 2017 - RUGBY SEVENS NEW ZEALAND EVENT MOVES TO HAMILTON AS 2017/18 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

3rd May 2017 - A YEAR OF SPORT DOMINATES PAPUA NEW GUINEA

3rd March 2017 - RUGBY LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION TO INTRODUCE NINES WORLD CUP IN 2019

11th August 2016 - NRL NAMES ANDREW HILL AS RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE

20th July 2016 - RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP 2017 FINAL SET FOR BRISBANE 

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