Rugby League World Cup starts with shambles as PA system goes out before England opener

The opening match of the Rugby League World Cup was delayed by 10 minutes after an embarrassing mishap at the venue.

The Kaiser Chiefs perform during the Opening Ceremony of the Rugby League World Cup. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images for RLWC

Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson was forced to keep the crowd entertained at the Rugby League World Cup opening ceremony after the public address system broke at St James’ Park.

The embarrassing incident occurred just minutes before the curtain-raiser between England and Samoa, which the hosts won 60-6.

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The hugely-anticipated opener ended up kicking off over 10 minutes late as a result, The Sun reports.

Former England international Jon Wilkin said on the BBC: “I wonder, at the Olympics would you chuck the opening ceremony before the 100m final? You can say it‘s funny, but it’s not.”

Kaiser Chiefs took to the pitch as the headline music act to perform their hit “Oh My God”.

But the ceremony was soon disrupted when the public address system went down and Kaiser Chiefs were forced to cut short their show.

Singer Wilson took to sprinting up and down the touchline to raise spirits as the pre-tournament show ended abruptly.

“We would like to sincerely apologise for the disrupted tournament welcome, which was severely affected by technical failure,” the Rugby League World Cup later said in a statement.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted but we would like to thank fans for their patience and for continuing to celebrate the teams”

PA system has crashed just as the ceremony was getting underway. Can’t help but feel sorry for those that have put so much effort into this. Real shame #RLWC2021

— Gary Carter (@GaryCarter_1979) October 15, 2022

Seems the PA system has broken. Talk about rotten luck. Kaiser Chiefs awkwardly waiting. Taking it like pros. #RLWC2021

— Matthew Shaw (@M_Shaw1) October 15, 2022

Oh dear. Think the PA system is broken. Dancers are dancing without music and there's now a Mexican wave going round 🙈🙈 #RLWC2021

— Shamoon Hafez (@ShamoonHafez) October 15, 2022

there is some technical difficulty holding up the kickoff of the first game of the #RLWC2021 and the lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs is running up and down the sideline trying to gee up the crowd. rugby league is the greatest game in the world

— Alex McKinnon (@mckinnon_a) October 15, 2022

Prior to the unfortunate mishap, Rob Burrow had got the 2021 Rugby League World Cup off to an emotional start when he launched the welcome event in Newcastle.

The former Leeds and England scrum-half, who is battling motor neurone disease, received a rapturous welcome from the 40,000-plus crowd.

A parade of the flags representing all 32 teams across the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions then kicked things off.

Former Great Britain scrum-half Andy Gregory was the England flag-bearer.

Ex-England captain Kevin Sinfield and dual-code international Jason Robinson then brought out the Paul Barriere trophy, which will be awarded to the winners of the men‘s competition on November 19.

Mel Magee, head of Newcastle Rugby Foundation, joined wheelchair ambassador James Simpson in delivering the wheelchair trophy.

And RFL president Clare Balding then brought out the women‘s trophy alongside Fareeha Usman, an equality and diversity champion in the local community.

The two teams make their way onto the field. Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission