IN less than two weeks, World Rugby will announce whether Australia or New Zealand will host the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2021.

Let’s cross everything for an Aussie win, because its impact would reach beyond just the fun and frivolity of a world event on home soil.

First, for the players involved, it would be an event like no other.

Only recently have organisers started delivering for women as they have done for men for so long on this stage.

Karyn Murphy tells a story of being at a Rugby League World Cup and having her family bring her dinner because food wasn’t provided or is wasn’t adequate for when you’re playing football for your country.

For this Rugby World Cup, the approach has been flipped with Rugby Australia’s plan for an Olympic-style tournament to be held solely in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

Footy, beaches, food and wine — many people would be on board for that alone. But it’s not just about good times.

Players will stay in five-star accommodation at the Crowne Plaza in an Olympic-style athletes’ village. They’ll have all the top quality food and treatments that they need.

As well as the players, the region itself gets upswing.

It is expected $23 million would be injected into the state economy and with public works projects currently underway in Newcastle city, including a light rail and redevelopment of public spaces, the timed completion for the World Cup would mean there are no (literal) roadblocks to the influx of visitors, which is predicted to be around 20,000.

They can all revel in the Cup festival alongside locals who consistently embrace sport.

Newcastle Knights games averaged around 15,000 the three years they finished last, but Novocastrians get behind women’s sport too.

Newcastle hosted the recent Australia v England Commonwealth Games gold medal rematch game and Football Federation Australia took a Matildas friendly against Brazil to McDonald Jones Stadium last year where nearly 17,000 turned out.

Their upcoming friendly against Chile is expected to do better than that.

But one of the most important aspects of an event like this is more long-term.

Australia is leading the charge in bringing women’s sport up to speed in professionalism and the knock-on effect is that more and more young girls are taking up sport and sticking with it.

The NSW Government has a bold strategy to host 10 World Cups in 10 years. Four events flagged are solely women’s — the Cricket World T20 (2020), Women’s Rugby World Cup (2021), FIFA Women’s World Cup (2023) and Netball World Cup (2027).

Another three are combined gender in the Rugby League Nines World Cup, Road World Cycling Championships (2022) and the Rugby League World Cup (2029).

A strategy like this could not have existed five years ago, but the women’s sport movement here makes it feasible.

“There is a women’s sport revolution underway in Australia at the moment,” said NSW Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres. “Hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup will allow us to showcase this on the world stage.

““We believe the women’s game deserves a higher profile and there is no better place to lift the women’s game to a new level than in Australia.”

It’s a clear indication that the commitment is genuine and is here to stay.

The cricket is already locked in for February 2020, let’s hope another gets the green light soon.