Month: May 2010

Australian World Cup officials left for FIFA headquarters today confident that they have solved a long-running dispute should the country win the right to stage the 2018 or 2022 event.

The rival codes of Australian rules football (AFL), rugby league and rugby union have been digging in their heels and squabbling over allowing their stadiums to be used for soccer but a compensation deal has now been struck over vacating venues and re-locating.

“This is great news for football and great news for the whole country as everyone will benefit if we win the right to host a World Cup,” said FFA chairman Frank Lowy.

The final touches to Australia’s bid have thus now been completed with the Bid Book ready to be submitted to FIFA on Friday (May 14).

The dossier, crucially, contains unqualified support of the other major sporting codes after the final agreements required by FIFA were signed over the weekend.

England manager Martin Johnson on Tuesday named the following squad for the tour of Australia and New Zealand in June:

Tour dates: June 8: Australian Barbarians (Perth), June 12: Australia (Perth), June 15: Australian Barbarians (Gosford), June 19: Australia (Sydney), June 23: New Zealand Maoris (Napier). Squad:

Forwards: Steffon Armitage, David Attwood, Dan Cole, Tom Croft, Paul Doran-Jones, Nick Easter, David Flatman, Hendre Fourie, Jon Golding, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, Courtney Lawes, Lee Mears, Lewis Moody, Tom Palmer, Geoff Parling, Tim Payne, Chris Robshaw, Simon Shaw, Steve Thompson, Dan Ward-Smith, Rob Webber, Dave Wilson, Joe Worsley.

Backs: Delon Armitage, Chris Ashton, Matt Banahan, Olly Barkley, Danny Care, Mark Cueto, Toby Flood, Ben Foden, Shane Geragthy, Shontayne Hape, Charlie Hodgson, Ugo Monye, Joe Simpson, David Strettle, Mathew Tait, Mike Tindall, Dominic Waldouck, Richard Wigglesworth, Jonny Wilkinson, Ben Youngs.