Mike Colman says Buzz Rothfield is wrong to call the World Cup a joke tournament Courier-Mail journalist Mike Colman says that there are a number of positives to come from the Rugby League World Cup despite the heavy criticism levelled at the competition by fellow scribe Phil Rothfield. American Bureta Faraimo demonstrates the American style of defence on Josh Papalii. OK, that's it then. GI, can you give JT a hand putting DCE's gear into the bus? Come on the rest of you blokes, hurry up. The plane leaves Heathrow at 8.30; we want to be back home in time for the final episode of The Bachelor. Yeah, yeah Sam I know we've still got two games to go but didn't you hear the news? Buzz Rothfield reckons the World Cup is a farce so they've called it off. Now which of you clowns has hidden Billy's crutches? Well why not? According to my esteemed colleague Mr Rothfield this whole Rugby League World Cup thing is a complete waste of time. By racking up big scores against Ireland and the USA the Kangaroos have apparently insulted the great players of the past, such as Immortals Johnny Raper, Reg Gasnier and Graeme Langlands. As Buzz sees it there is no room in international rugby league for scores such as 50-nil, 62-nil and 50-12 . . . oh hang on, that last one isn't from the current RLWC, it was Australia versus England at Swinton in 1963 featuring Johnny Raper, Reg Gasnier and Graeme Langlands. Maybe we should have called that game a joke too, instead of lauding it as the Kangaroos' greatest-ever performance. But let's not confuse the knockers with history. Or facts. The truth of the matter is that the RLWC isn't being held for the sole entertainment of Phil Rothfield or any other dyed in the wool rugby league supporter. That's what the NRL is for (incidentally Buzz, did you call it a farce when your Sharks beat Manly 68-6 in 2005?). While bragging rights are at stake between Australia, NZ and England the real aim of the tournament is to promote the game, support the "minnows" and, hopefully, garner interest in new markets. Yes, it is true that the three "home nations" are making up the numbers - a quarter final spot for Ireland, Wales or Scotland is neither here nor there - and many of the Italian players wouldn't know whether Tagliatelle is an opera, a pasta dish or a racehorse, but so what? The real success stories of this World Cup have been the US, Fiji and Samoa. We shouldn't be ridiculing the performance of the Americans in the quarter final, we should be praising the fact that they got there - and pushing for a RLWC to be held in the US as soon as possible. And yes Buzz, you could rightly argue that rugby union is the more dominant sport in the Pacific Islands. All the more reason to get behind the three Islander teams. Take a look at international rugby union Buzz, there are a lot of Sonny Bills, Peteros and FuiFuis running around. The NRL teams might have to prop up the World Cup by releasing their players through the off-season, but that is the cost of expanding their talent pool. If one Polynesian kid living in Auckland or Sydney is inspired enough by the World Cup to become a Shark, Blue or Roo rather than an All Black or Wallaby doesn't that make it worth the exercise? Let's not forget that the biggest boost rugby union ever had in the Pacific was when Samoa beat Wales and made the quarter-finals of the 1991 Rugby World Cup. As for the legitimacy of teams like PNG or France going up against the likes of Australia or New Zealand, don't you get it mate? Not all teams competing in England seriously believed they had a chance of winning the World Cup (and that doesn't stop the Sharks chasing the premiership year after painful year does it?). Some, like the Kumuls, who represent the one nation on earth that calls rugby league its national sport, were just hoping to get on the same paddock as the game's heavyweights. Like the Socceroos, our minnows of world sport, they want to play against the best and their fans want to see them taking on Thurston, Inglis, Slater, Hayne, Smith and co. Unlike you Buzz, their supporters don't mind getting up early to watch what you call "rubbish." It is their World Cup as much as yours. Actually, I take that back. It isn't your World Cup at all. You don't deserve it. Consider yourself BLOCKED.