Why should the FA and FIFA bring 2018 World Cup football to Bristol? Because it's mint, says one of the city's most decorated sportsmen.

Bristol's campaign to become a host city for England's 2018 World Cup bid, representing the South West and welcoming the world to everything it has to offer, has been further aided by the addition of international rugby star and Rugby World Cup winner Mark Regan.

The former Bristol, Bath and England hooker is Bristolian through and through, proud of his roots and eager to promote the city he calls home.

"I've been around the world and people have said to me 'where do you live'?" Regan told the Post.

"'Bristol' I say. And most of them have replied, 'Bristol. That's mint'.

"I felt proud of that. I'm proud to be Bristolian. People all say Bristol is a great night out, or talk about the Harbourside, or the bridge. We speak a bit different here too, but it's infectious."

It is those virtues among many others with which the Bristol 2018 bid team hope to attract the masses after winning over the men that matter in London, the England 2018 bid team.

The tournament would transform the city for an entire month, less than 10 years from now, and grant local businesses the marketing opportunity of a lifetime, tapping into the international acclaim of host city status and the media attention that comes with it.

"It would be great for the infrastructure and the local economy," said Regan, who won the 2003 Rugby World Cup with England in Australia and came within a whisker of repeating the feat in France 2007, England narrowly losing in the final to South Africa.

Recently retired, Regan is now confined to the realms of watching sport like the rest of us, while earning a crust reliving his past glories, coaching and establishing Mark Regan Enterprises, an umbrella for his many new day jobs.

And he too wants to welcome as much top flight sport to the region, to watch and savour. Be it the excellent opportunity to stage World Cup football in 2018 or the outside chance of Rugby World Cup action in 2015, which England has already won the right to stage but for which Bristol is not in the shortlist of venues.

"My memory goes back to 1999 when Bristol hosted a game in the Rugby World Cup," said Regan. "There was an amazing, jovial atmosphere and that was the likes of New Zealand coming to Bristol. We need to get international teams back again in every sport.

"Bristol would really stand up and be counted and I am right behind that.

"We don't usually get that sort of attention. I would be there to watch and will certainly be putting my money into it.

"What are we, the seventh or eighth biggest city in England? We've got to start acting like one."

World Cup games in Bristol would mean much more than just matches at a new 40,000 seat stadium in Ashton Vale.

Fan fests in Ashton Court and Eastville Park would attract as many as half a million visitors and big screens on the Downs and in Queen's Square by the Harbourside would play host to more, providing a carnival feel for the duration of the tournament and the build-up.

"It's the World Cup isn't it. There's something massive and tangible at the end of it. There's no 'I' in team so we need to all get behind it.

"When I was in France (for the Rugby World Cup in 2007) the fans were fantastic and the atmosphere was brilliant," said Regan. "What better place than having it in your own backyard.

"For once, you won't have to watch it on the TV.

"There's the matches, but there's everything else that comes with it.

"We've got an opportunity for getting something special in Bristol so let's not lose it.

"It is not just down to the council.

"The Bristol Evening Post are doing their bit, I'm doing mine, and everybody else should register and do theirs.

"All those little bits add up."