YOU'D never know it but there is a major world sporting tournament taking place in Britain at the moment.

The Rugby League World Cup has brought the cream of the earth's players to our shores but nobody seems to have told the people.

Actually, that's a bit harsh. Everyone has been told, they're just not interested outside Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Attendances at some qualifying matches have been embarrassing such as 1,300 and 1,500 who turned up to watch Wales and Scotland in their own countries.

Organisers have based Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France - traditionally rugby union nations - in stadiums in their own countries for the qualifying matches in the belief that patriotism would see the fans rolling in.

They prefer to blame a combination of bad weather and problems with road and rail networks for the poor attendances which threaten to make them revise pre-tournament predictions of £10m turnover and a minimum £3m profit from the whole event.

The last thing they want to believe is that there is little appetite for the game outside its Lancashire and Yorkshire heartland. They must be applauded for trying to spread the word but they have been trying for years and the word isn't spreading.

They have given it a good go and it's time for them to realise that you can't make people like something. People outside the north of England have known about rugby league for a hundred years. They haven't been interested then and they never will.