IRB digs in over tournament media row

By Mitch Phillips

PARIS (Reuters) - Rugby World Cup organisers turned down requests on Thursday from the French government and the EU to return to negotiations and defuse a media row which threatens coverage of the tournament opening on Friday.

Leading news agencies on Thursday suspended all coverage of the event, which kicks off when France play Argentina in Paris on Friday, in protest at what they say are unreasonable restrictions on their coverage.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) and its subsidiary RWC Ltd declined all requests to resume negotiations and issued a statement saying they "would not be swayed by unreasonable demands and threats of non-attendance".

The statement listed several previous concessions made by RWC but did not address the three points that led to Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Getty and the European Pressphoto Agency taking the unprecedented action at a major sports event of suspending all text, photographic and TV cover.

The agencies, with the full support of a worldwide coalition of newspaper and magazine groups, remain adamant that they are unable to cover the six-week tournament until the IRB removes a disclaimer enabling it to change the terms and conditions of accreditation at any time without consultation.

They also want permission to use considerably more than the IRB's limit of 40 photographs on Web sites during matches and object to the three-minute restriction on television footage allowed from official venues on non-match days.

Earlier on Thursday French government and European Union officials urged the IRB to speak to the media coalition.

"(French Sports Minister) Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin has called IRB chief executive Mike Miller this morning to raise his awareness of the need to resume dialogue quickly in order not to spoil that great sports party that is the rugby World Cup," the French Sports Ministry said in a statement.