Melbourne hosts England World Cup tie

Melbourne’s Telstra Dome has been chosen to host next year’s World Cup clash between Australia and England.

It has been selected for the second group A game on November 2, 2008 ahead of Olympic Park, which is the home of Melbourne Storm, because of its 50,000 capacity.

Telstra Dome, which has a retractable roof, was built in 2000 to house Australian Rules football but was the venue for last year’s Tri-Nations Test between Australia and New Zealand and a State of Origin game. It will also host the Storm’s play-off tie against Parramatta on Sunday.

Melbourne and Australia centre Greg Inglis said: “It’s one of the great venues to play football at when there is a big crowd.

“You almost have to live down here to realise how well people in Melbourne can get behind a team and the atmosphere around a World Cup game here will be really special.”

The tournament kicks off on October 25 when Australia launch their defence against New Zealand in Sydney and England meet Papua New Guinea in Townsville and ends with the final in Brisbane on November 22.