THERE will be plenty of folk in this rugby league heartland of ours who won’t give two hoots that the William Webb Ellis Trophy is heading to the town next week.

But we should be proud that this iconic trophy, which will be presented to the winners of this autumn’s rugby union World Cup, is coming to Liverpool St Helens’ Moss Lane home next Tuesday.

To coincide with its arrival, and the appearance of a number of former England internationals, the club have arranged for junior teams of both codes to take part in a rugby united event.

I hope that as many people as possible can support it and help make it a day to remember for the kids taking part.

Rather than churlishly turning our backs and dismissively slating it as rah-rah, or kick and clap, we should maybe be asking why no town is off limits to rugby union when it comes to pushing its brand.

The tour is taking in plenty of northern towns before the tournament starts in September.

But that is, of course, only a prelude to the action itself and games will be played in venues across the country – big stadia too, with Millennium, Wembley, the Olympic Stadium, Elland Road, Villa Park and St James’ Park among them.

There is also Manchester’s Etihad – which is being used, rather provocatively in my book, on Super League Grand Final day.

England’s final group game against Uruguay will kick off at Manchester City’s ground barely minutes after the final hooter – barring golden point – is blown at Old Trafford.

Hotel rooms are in massive demand, while the city centre pubs and eating places will be similarly packed. There will also be impact on transport.

But my beef with that fixture goes beyond logistical issues – it is almost planting a standard in the host city on the day of Super League’s finale. And if past events are anything to go by, it is going to take another incident of Ben Flower proportions to stop the television and print coverage being wall to wall union.

We can moan about that, curse the old school tie brigade, ask why no royals or cabinet ministers attended our World Cup, and adopt conspiracy theories, but I just hope league does something positive to get into the people attending that Manchester game.

There will be floating sports fans there – every one of those should leave with a leaflet promoting the Kiwi test series. League can’t win a war with union, but it can pick up people that events like the World Cup attract to watching a game played with an oval ball.