Australia’s bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup got a boost yesterday with an additional A$8.8 million (US$6.27 million) in funding from the federal government.
The government gave A$1 million in initial funding to the bid last year.
Hosting the tournament is projected to deliver A$2 billion in direct and indirect expenditure, bring in more than 200,000 international visitors for the six-week duration and create 12,000 jobs, Rugby Australia said in a statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I want to thank [Australian] Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Australian government for supporting Australia’s bid to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup,” Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan said in the statement. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our country and we have already made significant headway in laying the foundations for a successful bid.”
Australia co-hosted the inaugural 1987 World Cup with New Zealand and had the sole rights in 2003.
The Australian government has seen global sporting events as a way to help rebuild the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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