International Rugby League

The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's and Wheelchair equivalent.

International Rugby Leagues headquarters are in London, England and is currently made of 32 members.

Founded as the Rugby League Imperial Board in 1927 by the Rugby Football League, French Rugby League Federation, Australian Rugby League Board of Control and the New Zealand Rugby League. In 1948 it became the International Rugby League Board when its membership expanded and then the Rugby League International Federation between 1998 and 2019.

There are two regional associations affiliated to the IRL; the European Rugby League (ERL) and the Asia-Pacific Rugby League (APRL).

History

1895–1926: Rugby league foundations

Rugby league, which had started in England in 1895 and spread to Wales in 1907 and Australia and New Zealand in 1908, was introduced into France in 1934 after their rugby union side was banned from the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) for both breaching amateur regulations and for constant foul play on the field.

1927–1947: Imperial Rugby League Board

The Imperial Rugby League Board was formed in 1927. The Rugby Football League's authority in the sport was supported by having a majority of the representatives on the Board. According to Collins (2000), the imbalanced voting rights were a result of the RFL being the representative for the "mother country" and the other members being keen to demonstrate their loyalty to the Crown. The Australian Rugby League joined the IRLB some months later.

Over the next few years the IRLB held meetings with the outcomes forming the Rugby League World Cup which made its début in 1954.

In the view of Harry Edgar, from the Board's establishment "until his death in 1986, Bill Fallowfield was a dominant figure in its activities. Always a keen student of the rules of the game, [Fallowfield], like Australia's Tom Bellew in more recent times, strove to establish uniformity in the rules between all nations".

The Australians had always been strong in supporting expansion of the game including places such as "South Africa, America and Canada". The agreements that the former IRLB members signed with Super League had the effect of "usurping" the international board's control and diminishing the influence of its director-general, the Australian Rugby League's chairman, Ken Arthurson.

The SLIB gave its Pacific island members full voting rights in a display of its democratic values towards the game, although some were sceptical that the representatives of the powerful richer nations would allow themselves to be overruled. The replacement saw worldwide governance of rugby league handed back to the sport's national governing bodies. Britain was represented by the Rugby Football League, rather than Super League (Europe), the company formed by its leading clubs.

In 1998, there was regret that rugby league had been so badly damaged, Harry Edgar, a rugby league writer, warned, "there can be no place for politics or individuals seeking personal glorification" as the "international game picks up the pieces after three years of bitter fall-out". During the build-up to the 2008 World Cup, which had been timed to coincide with Australia's Centenary of Rugby League celebrations, it was stated and confirmed afterwards that the following tournament in the United Kingdom would be held in 2013 to avoid the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and that subsequent World Cups would be contested on a four-year cycle.

The absence of a formal schedule of international competition has been criticised as leaving the sport "weak in international development, and in finances to help the game survive and grow outside the UK and Australia". Some moves have been made to correct this though, with the RFL's Richard Lewis proposing a ten-year international plan in 2007.

In 2009 the member nations agreed that the RLIF should negotiate over sponsorship, licensing and broadcast rights for international rugby league rather than the member nations.

As of 2009, the RLIF imposed a levy of 10% on net gate receipts at all international matches, providing the International Federation with revenues. The RLIF makes grants to member nations to help foster the game but the effectiveness of these has been questioned.

The Pacific Rim nations of Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands united to form the Pacific Islands Rugby League Federation (PIRLF) in December 2009.

However, PIRLF was not formally recognised by the RLIF, as consideration was being given to modernising the RLIF constitution and membership structure. The Wales Rugby League were granted full membership of the RLIF in 2010 at a meeting in Melbourne, Australia.

At a special general meeting held in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, a new constitution was approved that gave New Zealand, Australia and England permanent seats on the RLIF board, with provision made for an additional seat each by May 2011 for the RLEF and a soon-to-be-formed Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation (APRLC), once RLEF and APRLC were granted Associate Membership status by the RLIF.

The APRLC was incorporated in April 2011 with member nations New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Scotland and Ireland were each granted full membership of the RLIF, and the RLEF and APRLC Associate Membership, at the annual general meeting held in Auckland, New Zealand, in May 2011. A new Chairman, Scott Carter was also elected, becoming the first Kiwi to hold the role. This prompted a walkout by the Rugby Football League's Richard Lewis who believed he should have succeeded Australia's Colin Love.

Serbia and Lebanon were each granted full membership of the RLIF at the annual general meeting held in Manchester, England in May 2012. Ukraine, Russia and Jamaica were granted full membership in 2013.

Nigel Wood was elected as Chairman in 2014 following and oversaw reforms, including the appointment of the first full-time CEO, former England and Wales Cricket Board CEO David Collier. In February 2018, John Grant was appointed as the new Chairman of the RLIF

2019–present: International Rugby League

On 14 October 2019, the RLIF board voted to officially change its name to International Rugby League with the change taking effect the next day.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Rugby League and European Rugby League banned Russia from all international rugby league competitions.

During the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, IRL chairman Troy Grant announced that he was pushing for a nines tournament to be introduced to the Summer Olympics by Brisbane 2032 as well as a wheelchair tournament to be introduced to the Paralympics.

In March 2024, the IRL downgraded Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Russia, and Scotland from full to affiliate members due to noncompliance with the full membership criteria; Russia remained suspended. Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Trinidad and Tobago were expelled due to inactivity. The federations of Argentina and Spain were admitted as observers.

Board of Directors

: As of 10 April 2024

Under the International Rugby League Constitution, the Board of Directors consists of 8 members from pre-defined representative nominations. A restructure, which came into effect on 10 April 2025, reduced the board from 12 members to 8 in order to increase the ratio of independent directors.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"

! Member !! Represention !! Nationality

| Troy Grant (Chairman) || rowspan="3"|Independent Directors || Australia

| Emma Young || England

| Laurie Daley || Australia

| Peter V'landys || Representative of the Australian Rugby League Commission || Australia

| Simon Johnson || Representative of the Rugby Football League || England

| Justin Leydesdorff || Representative of the New Zealand Rugby League || New Zealand

| Sandis Tsaka ||Representative of the Asia-Pacific Rugby League || Papua New Guinea

| Dean Andrew (Deputy Chairman) || Representative of the European Rugby League || England<br /> Germany

Member nations

The International Rugby League was founded in its current form in 1998 by ten national governing bodies:

Australian Rugby League Commission
Cook Islands Rugby League
Rugby Football League
Fiji National Rugby League
French Rugby League Federation
New Zealand Rugby League
Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League
Rugby League Samoa
South African Rugby League
Tonga National Rugby League / Tonga Rugby League XIII

At present, a further five national governing bodies have become full members:

Wales Rugby League (2010)
Serbian Rugby League (2012)
Jamaica Rugby League Association (2013)
Ukrainian Federation of Rugby League (2013)
Rugby League Federation Ghana (2025)

Laws of the game

The laws of rugby league have been the responsibility of the RLIF since its formation in 1998. Before that the Rugby Football League and IRLB, after its inception in 1948, were the bodies that maintained the Laws.

The International Federation in conjunction with the nations governing bodies (mainly the Australian Rugby League, Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII, New Zealand Rugby League and the Rugby Football League) often meet on a semi-regular basis of up to four times per year to make changes or decide new rules; although all test playing nations have a say in the altering of the rules and laws of rugby league.

International eligibility

The RLIF reiterated in 2008 that a player may represent a country if it is the country of their parents or if that country has been the player's "principal country of residence" for three years up until the date of the player's selection. A player may also be selected for country that they have represented in international rugby league in any age level before the 1998 introduction of the RLIF's constitution, or a country which the player has represented in a senior international competition in any other sport. Players who have represented one country in World Cup qualifiers would now "not be permitted" to play for a different one in the World Cup tournament.

Competitions

International Rugby League overseas international tournaments. Competitions within one of the four confederations (Americas Rugby League, Asia-Pacific Rugby League, European Rugby League, and Middle East Africa Rugby League) are usually not overseen by the IRL.

World Cup

The IRL is in charge of the Rugby League World Cup, first held in 1954 in France and the first competition to be officially known as the "Rugby World Cup". Since then the World Cup has been held a total of 16 times, with the most recent Cup being held in England in 2022. The IRL also sanctioned and has overseen the Women's Rugby League World Cup since its inception in 2000. The tournament is held in conjunction with the men's tournament, but will be a separate event from 2028.

Four Nations

The IRL also ran the Four Nations series between the Big Three powers, England, Australia and New Zealand and a fourth nation from either Europe or the South Pacific depending on where the competition was being played, as the hosts were alternate between England and Oceania. The final winner was Australia who won the 2016 series in England, prior to the competitions abolishment.

Emerging Nations Tournament

The Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament is a tournament between affiliate members and nations with goals of growing the game of rugby league.

Future tournaments

The RLIF plan to introduce a Continental Cup that would be played every four years to replace the Four Nations.

Recognitions and awards

The IRL presented several international awards annually, beginning in 2004 before the final edition in 2014.

International rankings

The IRL publishes and maintains the rankings of the men's national rugby league teams. The concept was first launched in January 2007 following in the footsteps of the European Rankings published by the Rugby League European Federation.

The rankings are calculated based on an average of points accumulated by each Nation over a three-year cycle. Under the structure, matches deemed of higher importance such as World Cup games, Tri-Nations and other major tournament finals draw more points than mid-season Tests and other internationals. For each match that a nation participates they are given a base level of points. This base level is affected upon the type of match and the status of the opponent.

Bonus points are given for teams that reach certain milestones deemed of significant international importance including reaching a tournament final or qualifying for an event such as a World Cup.

From the total number of points that a nation will receive these points are then averaged to help give a more accurate view of the performance of a nation over the three-year cycle.

Nations which have played less than a certain number of matches deemed acceptable over a three-year cycle will be penalised under the current point structure.

Overview by year

International Rugby League oversees every international test match. An overview of these matches can be found here:

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!2010s

|2010||2011||2012||2013||2014||2015||2016||2017||2018||2019

!2020s

|2020||2021||2022||2023||2024||2025||2026||2027||2028||2029

Notes

References

External links

(2020–2025 website)