Beattie: Wayne and I did everything we could to get Australia to the World Cup

ARL Commissioner Peter Beattie says he and fellow international board member Wayne Pearce did everything they could to get the Kangaroos to the World Cup

ARL commissioner Peter Beattie has urged common sense to prevail and the World Cup to be postponed for 12 months. Picture: Mike Burton

ARL Commissioner and international board member Peter Beattie insists he did everything in his power to ensure the World Cup went ahead with Australia involved. So too, he says, did fellow commissioner and IRL board member Wayne Pearce.

Now, having made the difficult decision to withdraw the Kangaroos from the Cup, he has appealed for everyone to take a breath and allow common sense to prevail by postponing the tournament for 12 months.

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Beattie broke his silence on the issue on Monday as he outlined to The Australian why he could no longer support the Kangaroos touring England later this year.

“What we need now is a little bit of common sense,” Beattie said.

“Everyone on the IRL board knows that I worked hard, as did Wayne, to get this World Cup up, until we got whacked between the eyes by the Delta variant of the (Covid-19) virus.

“We simply suggested it be postponed. We think that is better for our players, we think that gives us a chance to be vaccinated.

“We have to think about player welfare. I understand there are scheduling issues and competition with other events. But there always is.

“The bottom line is you can do this, it is just difficult. I am asking that everyone take a deep breath, we postpone it and speak to the English government about continuing their support.

“Then we can get the Kangaroos there, a full-strength Australian team, and we can restore the World Cup to where it should be.

“That is my appeal to everyone. “

Beattie’s public call for calm came ahead of a meeting on Wednesday night where World Cup officials will consider their options for the tournament, including the prospect of replacing Australia and New Zealand with Indigenous and Maori sides.

That may not be the end of the matter. If those sides are added to the event, they would be filled with players from the NRL. That, in turn, would heighten tension between the clubs, the ARL Commission and World Cup officials.

It is understood World Players Union has now got involved in the spat as officials scramble to plot the path forward.

“Clarity is now being sought from the players to ensure their wishes are understood and all the information they require to make an informed decision is provided,” IRL chair Troy Grant said.

Beattie insists the only answer is to postpone the event.

“The bottom line is a postponement is possible – the Olympics have already done it,” he said.

“We have not asked for this event to be cancelled. What got lost in all this is we ended up with a huge outbreak of the Delta virus in Sydney.

“That was a game-changer because suddenly we had to move all the teams to Queensland. Just totally unprecedented. The whole game of rugby league for the last two years has, in a sense, been fighting for survival.

“Everyone on the ARLC …. was fighting to get to the World Cup. Everyone knows that. What has been missing in all this grandstanding is we asked for a postponement.

“We suggested they talk to the British government to get it postponed until next year. That is what this is all about.
“We busted our boiler to get to the World Cup. We can get everyone vaccinated and next year is a totally different ball game. This is about common sense.”