Snedden has eyes on bigger prize

All Black Keven Mealamu and All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen are after different cups. Photo / Getty Images

Rugby World Cup chief Martin Snedden has called on New Zealand Football to try to gatecrash Australia's 2022 Fifa World Cup bid.

Snedden is so confident about the country's readiness to host the rugby tournament next year that he says we should turn our attention to co-hosting the biggest sporting event on Earth.

"If I was [NZ Football CEO] Michael Glading I would be thinking seriously about trying to persuade the Australians about including us in their bid because we are very capable and the Australians would realise that," he said.

"We are going to be a hell of a lot more skilled at hosting major events and that should lead to more opportunities."

One year and four days away from kick-off in the rugby tournament, Snedden believed New Zealand could comfortably host one or two of the eight soccer World Cup pools .

However, Football Australia's head of media relations Rod Allen ruled out the idea, saying it was too late in the bidding process.

He said a successful 2022 bid would provide a major boost for New Zealand football.

"Part of Australia's case is that New Zealand and the entire Asian and South Pacific region would benefit from Australia hosting the World Cup. We hope Fifa sees the benefits in that argument and we are sure they are aware of the benefits of giving it to us for not just the Asian confederation but for Oceania as well."

NZF spokesman Jamie Scott said football bosses had sounded out the Australian bid team. "We had talked about the possibility of that at a very high and informal level.

"Working against the idea was the fact that joint bidders generally don't tend to do as well as single country bids."

Scott said New Zealand would still be in line to host training camps and warm-up matches. Fifa will announce on December 2 which countries will host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Australia and New Zealand will co-host the 2015 Cricket World Cup, and Snedden said he would like greater co-operation between their sporting bodies.

Meanwhile, Snedden said preparations for the Rugby World Cup were "dead on track".

"There are always a lot of last minute things with a tournament of this size but it just seems to me that without getting complacent, we are in a great position."

Snedden said stadium redevelopments were on target and phase one of ticket sales had been better than expected. The problem of accommodating up to 85,000 tourists was also being solved, with everything from cruise ships to marae adding to bed numbers.

Snedden said most major hotel chains and airlines worked on a 365-day booking cycle, so visitors would find it much easier to gauge prices and availability from now on.

"Once the 'one year to go' ticks over on Thursday, people will be able to see the full range of pricing," he said. "If providers are charging at the wrong level, the market is going to tell them. If they go too high then they are going to risk damaging their reputation and that has a flow-on effect to New Zealand as a whole."

At Eden Park this Thursday, the NZ 2011 organising committee will unveil details of the festival that will take place during the World Cup. Director Briony Ellis said it would include hundreds of events. "The festival will celebrate the aspects of living in New Zealand that Kiwis are most proud of - Kiwi experiences.""