based Wallabies legend's verdict on RWC2031 amid FIFA World Cup failing: 'It worries me'

Australia legend Chris Latham has voiced concern for the 2031 Rugby World Cup in the United States after being shocked by the lack of promotion of the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off tonight.

Latham, the second highest try scorer in Wallaby history, is coach of Chicago Hounds, the top team in US domestic rugby who face Old Glory on Monday for a place in the MLR championship final.

A 78-cap international who played in three World Cups and a winning Lions series, Latham is no stranger to big sporting occasions and the marketing that surrounds them.

Imagine his surprise to only discover, on the day, that Venezuela were playing Iraq in a final World Cup warm-up match at his team’s SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.

Latham worried

“I didn’t even know the game was on and apparently an Australian was coaching one of the teams,” Latham said, referring to former Socceroos boss turned Iraq head coach Graham Arnold.

“We had just been talking as a coaching staff about whether this World Cup could get Americans excited for the rugby one, then that happens.

“The consensus with everyone in the coaching group was the soccer World Cup is not really that noticeable. And that worries me, looking ahead to rugby’s one.”

As it turned out, the match, won 2-0 by Venezuela, attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 to the south west of downtown Chicago.

According to IraqiNews.com “fans came from all around the United States, while others flew from Canada and beyond to support the Lions of Mesopotamia”.

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Whether the occasion passed by unnoticed for locals and neutrals, if not fans travelling to the World Cup with the teams, due to a lack of advertising and marketing, is Latham’s question.

“I don’t know if that’s an American thing. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a big country,” he said. “But there’s not much being said and it’s not in your face.

“It’s not something I’m used to. When the Rugby World Cup is being held in Australia, or a Lions series, or a Cricket World Cup or, frankly, anything to do with sport, it’s just plastered. It’s in your face everywhere you turn.”

There is five years to get the promotion and marketing right for the men’s Rugby World Cup, seven in the case of the women’s edition also being held Stateside.

Much is likely to depend on whether the professional club game can actually survive in that period. Five of the 11 teams that took part in Major League Rugby last year did not make it to the start line this season.

Asked whether he had concerns the walls would fall in on the whole league between the 2025 and 2026 campaigns, Latham told Planet Rugby: “Oh, 100 per cent, yeah. There was a good chance they were going to.

“It took a lot of good work from a lot of people behind the scenes to make this year happen.

Volatile

“Whether or not the MLR survives, time will tell. Am I optimistic? I’m unsure, I just don’t know. Because it’s so volatile.

“With most competitions around the world, your funding, your money, your broadcasting, all that is in place and it has been for years.

“Whilst a lot of English clubs are struggling there’s still actual money coming in. Depending on how good your marketing team is and depending how good your stadium and how good your team is playing, there’s still a product that people are coming to watch and you’re selling stadiums out.

“Whereas here, it’s just so volatile because you’ve got private owners that don’t have any money coming in other than your 4,000-4,500 tickets being sold and a bit of merchandise. That’s really it.

“So at any time, someone who’s voluntarily putting their own money in can walk away, just as quick as they came in.

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“What I do know,” Latham added, “is that if rugby is ever going to work over here, if the rugby World Cup is ever going to be successful here, if the Eagles are ever going to be successful here, some domestic professional competition has to be playing here.

“The product has to be getting out into the faces of the public or I just don’t see it working.”

For all his concern, Latham and his Hounds are flying high. A 10-win maximum return, all with bonus points, meant finishing the regular season 19 points clear of the field.

Ollie Devoto, the former Bath, Exeter and England centre, is a mainstay of the side while Canada full-back Brock Webster has brought an added attacking dimension this year.

Chicago are hot favourites to beat Old Glory, the Washington DC-based outfit, for a third time and advance to the Championship game where the winners of Seattle and California await.

Fond memories

Latham already has reason to be cheerful with the resurrection of Worcester, the club he represented for two seasons long before they folded in 2022.

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In their first season back since reforming as a professional club, Warriors finished fourth in England’s second-tier Champ before going on to win the title via the play-offs.

“I’m quite biased towards the crowds at the Reds, in the Ballymore days, and I obviously love the Hounds fans here,” he said.

“But there’s nothing like a Worcester fan base. They were phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. It blew me away when I was there.

“I am immensely thrilled to see the club come back. It is great to see.”

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