Any international sporting competition is incomplete unless it has one very important element….mascots!
Personally I don’t even watch an international sporting competition unless I have been marketed a mascot that I can buy in various forms.
I like to think back over the history of sporting mascots…they really do complete the entire sporting experience!
So I give you the official mascots of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, Grubber and Steed:
Organizers of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup describe both mascots this way:
“Grubber is a large bear character called. He has a cheeky Rugby League ball shaped side-kick called Steed. Grubber wears a shirt which has the logos of the 14 competing nations on and will be there cheering on every team during the tournament.”
1,000 kids entered into a competition to help come up with these mascots. Eventually three youngsters were chosen to add their influence to Grubber and Steed. They were Emily Sixsmith, Luke James and Sam Bithell.
Considering that the London Olympic mascots were “One-Eyed Monsters” I think Rugby League probably dodged a bullet!
