2030 could be shaping up as the year when the sporting eyes of the world are focused on Ireland.

Reports this morning suggest that plans are advancing for Ireland to co-host the T20 Cricket World Cup alongside England Scotland and Wales, in a similar fashion to the bid being nudged along towards the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

The Major Events division within the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is a busy spot to be.

Minister Jack Chambers has agreed in principle to support for a bid that would bring the tournament, currently being played in the United Arab Emirates to these islands.

The tournament is held on a biennial basis. The current tournament is the one held over from last year and it will be played in Australia in 2022.

Process

The process to appoint hosts for the tournaments in 2024, 2026, 2028, and 2030 is informally underway and it is likely that an informal rotation system would see these played in Pakistan and new Zealand, neither of which have hosted as Full Member countries, with perhaps the United States in the mix for one as a development trial and then back to England and partners in 2030.

Ireland and Scotland would both expect to qualify among the 20 teams that would take part in the tournament and the co-hosted solution does tick a lot of boxes.

Ireland’s international stadia include Malahide and Clontarf in Dublin, Stormont in Belfast and Bready in Northern Ireland. Cricket is organised on an island of Ireland basis, with a single governing body.

There are plans to create a national stadium on the grounds of the Sport Ireland Campus which could also include floodlighting that would again enhance Ireland’s credentials to host a number of what would be a 55 game tournament.

The FIFA World Cup bid will generate more headlines in the mainstream media but this probably has a bigger chance of coming to fruition. Imagine if we were able to host both, only three years after staging the Ryder Cup.

 

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