A BID to bring the Rugby League World Cup to York is set to be launched.

Meetings have already been held with 2021 tournament chiefs regarding the Minster city not only staging group matches at the planned new community stadium but also hosting a country as well as the entire Women’s World Cup festival that runs alongside the main event.

The bid - one of 30 “expressions of interest” received by organisers - will also include hosting affiliated student, wheelchair and disability world cup teams or matches.

It is being spearheaded by York City Knights chairman Jon Flatman, who was involved in Hull’s successful application to stage three matches at the 2013 World Cup and to be the host city for the France and Papua New Guinea teams.

He said: “We’re in the process of pulling together a consortium and discussions are ongoing with prominent public, private and third sector organisations.

“We are also in discussions with the World Cup organisers as one of a number of cities and towns who have expressed an interest.

“We’ve had positive feedback not only about the opportunities but the real possibility of it happening.”

Steve Brown from Make It York said it was “really early days”, but organisations were currently exploring the possibility of entering a bid before competitive bidding opens in January.

He said: “The world cup in England in 2021 is an opportunity for the city. The community stadium should be built and up and running by then, so it will be a very positive thing for the city to have.

“Right now, we need to understand the appetite from a range of partners - the council, universities, Make It York and obviously York City Knights, and understand the means by which we would do it. It would be a competitive bid - they are looking for cities to be involved and we need to give thought to how we would do that. The rugby league authorities are looking for it to be an exciting world cup and for cities to go above and beyond to put on a really good show and we have to consider how we would do that.”

In terms of attendance, exposure and revenue, the 2013 World Cup in Britain, France and Ireland is considered the most successful to date, and the 2021 event in England, which will comprise 16 countries and 31 matches, promises to be even bigger, along with the affiliated tournaments for women, students, wheelchair and disability rugby league.

This year’s tournament, from October 26 to December 2, is being held in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Mr Flatman said: “World Cup sporting events attract such positive, exciting visibility for a city.

“It’s something people want to be a part of, to engage with, to volunteer in and to enjoy, in a sporting capacity and beyond.

“The legacy before and after such events can be enormous in this city, not just for rugby league but sport as a whole.

“In addition to the pure sporting excitement and benefits, there are also the health and well-being aspects, additional tourism gains, and accompanying financial benefits.”

Mr Brown said: “At this stage, there are a lot of possibilities and the city has to decide if it wants to put in a bid and which bids to go for.

“I think it would be another string to York’s sporting bow, really. We’re well known for horse racing and snooker, but we’re less well known for ball sports, and this would put York on the map and could only be good for the city. It would be a really big boost for the community stadium as well.”