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78-750: The formation of the APRLC was agreed at the Rugby League International Federation 's annual general meeting in May 2010. The Federation was established with 7 founding full members. The APRLC is based at the New Zealand Rugby League 's Auckland headquarters and will focus much of its efforts on developing the sport in the Pacific Islands . Under the new RLIF constitution agreed in 2010, the APRLC may appoint

156-408: A final challenge match was hastily arranged which Australia would win 25–0. In 1977, Great Britain competed again as a single entity. Although the final between Australia and Great Britain was a closely fought affair, public interest in the tournament waned due to the continuing tinkering with the format and it was not held again until the mid-1980s. From 1985 to 1988, each nation played each other

234-437: A changeing number of teams making the finals and entering the qualifiers, and the unpredictability of the geographic spread of teams automatically qualifying, the format of the qualification tournament has changed with each edition of the tournament. The Rugby League World Cup has followed a varied range of formats throughout its history as the number of teams participating has increased. The current format has been in use since

312-823: A delegate to the five-person International Federation executive. In 2011, the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation met in a meeting in Auckland over December 5–6. At the meeting the chairman of the Fiji National Rugby League Peni Musunamasi has been elected as a director to represent the Asia Pacific region on the Rugby League International Federation which has been labelled a "significant milestone for

390-515: A different one in the World Cup tournament. The rule change did not apply to players who had played for a country in a Test series or non-World Cup related tournament. Applications must still be made to the RLIF for those changes still permitted. The rules were clarified in 2016 by introducing tiers which determine if and when a player can represent more than one country. The changes also increased

468-542: 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 Pacific island nations were only associate members of the IRLB with only the full members Australia, Great Britain, France, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea having a vote. In 1998, the Super League International Board

546-505: A four-year cycle. The World Cup trophy was commissioned by French Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII president Paul Barrière at a cost of eight million francs, and then donated to the International Rugby League Board to be used for the inaugural competition in 1954. This trophy was used and presented to the winning nation for the first four tournaments, before being stolen in 1970. After its recovery,

624-476: A four-yearly cycle beginning in 2002 that would mean rugby league facing strong competition from other major sporting events for corporate sponsorship. 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

702-606: A home nation victory the World Cup suffered from poor crowds due to the live broadcast of games for the first time. After a disappointing attendances in 1960, the World Cup would not be played for another eight years. The competition had been scheduled to be held in France in 1965, this time with the inclusion of the South African team . However, after an unsuccessful tour of Australia, the French withdrew, effectively postponing

780-486: A more regular basis - at least once a year - and should look at ways of helping the expansion of the game." After 1948, when only four sanctioned international teams being overseen by the IRLB and competing in annual competition, the IRLB grew to see twelve full member nations join the federation along with around thirty member nations and countless affiliates. In 1954, the Rugby League World Cup ,

858-584: A nation’s official RLIF ranking. Influencers of position include: Rankings as of December 2018 Rugby League International Federation 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

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936-470: A number of times on a home and away basis with a number of these games also being considered part of various international tours that took place during the years in which these world cups were being played. At the end of that period, Australia met New Zealand at Eden Park . The match was a physical encounter, and Australian captain Wally Lewis played part of the match with a broken arm. The Kangaroos won

1014-555: A rugby league World Cup tournament was first mooted in the 1930s with the French proposal to hold a tournament in 1931, and again in 1951. The tournament's structure, frequency, and size has varied significantly throughout its history. The winners are awarded the Paul Barrière Trophy , named after Paul Barrière , the French Rugby League President of the 1940s and 1950s. Three nations have won

1092-425: A say in the altering of the rules and laws of rugby league. 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

1170-501: 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

1248-412: A tournament was in 2000 when 26 stadiums were used; the stadium capacity was the highest ever at 704,400. However, the occupancy was also the lowest ever at just 37.46%. The largest stadium in terms of capacity ever used was Wembley Stadium , London with a seating capacity of 90,000; the stadium was used in the 2013 tournament as the venue for the semi-final double-header. The smallest stadium ever used

1326-681: 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 1998-2020. There are two regional associations affiliated to

1404-405: Is most popular in these regions they have regularly hosted the World Cup between themselves. World Cups in 1985–88 and 1989–92 were all jointly hosted by the four founding nations. New Zealand has never solely hosted a World Cup but they have co-hosted with Australia on three occasions with 2017 also jointly co-hosted with Papua New Guinea. England have co-hosted once with Wales in 2013 although

1482-520: 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

1560-803: 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. Under

1638-887: The World Sevens in 1988, the International Board took a much more active part in worldwide developments. Harry Edgar states: "Much of the successful participation in the 1995 World Cup came as a direct result of the ARL's World Sevens tournament"; "the game in Fiji was launched solely because of [the] World Sevens." Some nations were introduced to international rugby league through the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). The RFL would often feel embarrassment at meetings when they "could claim to have done so little" while BARLA

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1716-531: The 1947–48 Kiwi tour of Europe and these three governing bodies agreed to form the International Rugby League Board (IRLB). At the meeting, it was decided that initially the RFL would oversee the sport's rules while the IRLB developed. 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

1794-414: 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. In 2009, international qualification regulations were modified in response to dissatisfaction about players representing different nations too easily. Players who have represented one country in World Cup qualifiers would now "not be permitted" to play for

1872-531: The 2000 World Cup was played across the UK as well as some games in Ireland and France. France hosted the first World Cup in 1954 and again in 1972 as well as hosting games at the 2000 and 2013 World Cups. Despite the World Cup mainly being hosted by England, Australia, France and New Zealand, countries such as UAE , South Africa and the United States and Canada have applied to host the tournament in

1950-421: The 2021 tournament, in addition to the 2000 tournament. This format features 16 teams split into four groups of four playing a single round robin. Each team is awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. The eight teams in the quarter-finals play each other with the four winners progressing to the semi-finals before the World Cup final. If

2028-740: The 74,468 crowd which attended the 2013 World Cup final at Old Trafford . The fifth nation to compete in these two tournaments was Papua New Guinea, where rugby league is the national, and most popular, sport. In 1995 , the competition was held in England and Wales. It was again restructured, returning to the traditional "host / co-host" format, and intended (like in 1954) to be a triennial competition. The tournament expanded to ten teams with Fiji, Samoa, South Africa, and Tonga making their world cup deputes. Great Britain had also split permanently into England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, although only England and Wales qualified. Unlike previous tournaments where

2106-606: The Australians: "Despite their dominance of the game on the field, the Aussies did not get everything their own way on the old Board because frequently the New Zealanders were at loggerheads with them. The Kiwis would vote against the Aussies, and France would vote with Great Britain, leaving Papua New Guinea as Australia's only guaranteed supporter." Oxley reveals, "a lot of the really positive things were initiated by

2184-596: The British - certainly on rule changes, and the move to actually expand the role of the Board." Oxley states: "it was a British idea to introduce the levy on all Test match receipts to go into an international development fund. It was only 2 percent, but it did apply to television broadcast fees as well as gate receipts, so it built up into sizeable amounts, and it was that fund that paid for all we did in Russia, South Africa and

2262-634: The IRL; the European Rugby League (ERL) and the Asia-Pacific Rugby League (APRL). 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

2340-531: The International Rugby League Constitution, the Board of Directors consists of 12 members from pre-defined representative nominations. The International Rugby League was founded in its current form in 1998 by ten national governing bodies: At present, a further four national governing bodies have become full members: The laws of rugby league have been the responsibility of the RLIF since its formation in 1998. Before that

2418-623: 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

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2496-515: 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

2574-664: 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

2652-579: The Super League International Board (SLIB) to govern Super League worldwide. 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 agreements removed international playing opposition for the Australian Rugby League's representative sides. The SLIB gave its Pacific island members full voting rights in

2730-644: 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 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

2808-443: The cities with the next highest number with 3 each. Notes; In total, 21 teams have competed at the World Cup. Of these, only three have won the World Cup, with Australia being by far the most successful with 12 titles. Great Britain has won three titles, however since 1995 have competed separately as England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. New Zealand became only the third team to win the World Cup in 2008. England, France and Samoa are

2886-401: The competition 25–12 in front of a capacity crowd of nearly 48,000 spectators. This format was repeated from 1989 to 1992 (with games once again also being part of tours) and Australia won again, defeating Great Britain 10–6 at Wembley Stadium in front of 73,361 people. This crowd remained a Rugby League World Cup record (and a record for any rugby league international match) until beaten by

2964-408: The competition reverting to a 10-team format. The tournament also moved from every three to every four years inline with most other major international sports competitions. Australia hosted the tournament and New Zealand were crowned champions for the first time by beating the host nation at Lang Park , Brisbane . The tournament was once again seen as a success with a 91% average attendance increase on

3042-403: The country. Unlike the previous tournament, teams played each other in a league format. It was then decided that the team that finished first in the league would be declared the winner. Australia proved victorious on their home ground. Another three years would pass until the next World Cup in 1960, this time held in England. It would be the second time Great Britain won the competition. Despite

3120-445: The field further, with sixteen teams entering. This tournament included a New Zealand Maori representative team, the only time this team has taken part, as well as debuts for the Cook Islands, Ireland, Russia, and Scotland. Australia won the tournament by beating New Zealand 40–12 in the final at Old Trafford , Manchester . In the same year, the first Women's Rugby League World Cup was held, with New Zealand defeating Great Britain in

3198-409: The field. 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. The RFL had three representatives while Australia and New Zealand each had one. According to Collins (2000), the imbalanced voting rights were a result of the RFL being the representative for the "mother country" and

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3276-508: The final. Numerous issues, including poor organization and blown-out scorelines, meant that this tournament was seen as highly unsuccessful with an average attendance just half that of the previous tournament. Due to these problems the competition was put on indefinite hiatus and replaced with the Rugby League Tri-Nations . After the failure of the 2000 World Cup, no plans were made for another tournament until 2008 with

3354-662: The fine work done by Bob Abbott in the South Pacific, plus a significant part of the Student World Cup." Oxley says that Kevin Humphries may have dominated for the Australians for a time but that was due to his personality. At that time the Board's role was mostly restricted to discussion of rule changes. Oxley states that it was the British who "established the procedure that the Board should meet on

3432-569: 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

3510-434: The first for either code of rugby, was formed at the instigation of the French. In 1966, the International Board introduced a rule ending unlimited tackles and instead allowing the team in possession three play-the-balls followed by forming a scrum on the fourth tackle. This was increased to six tackles in 1972 and in 1983 the scrum was replaced by a handover. The Australians had always been strong in supporting expansion of

3588-490: The first time in Papua New Guinea. While Australia would claim the title once again and for an eleventh time, the tournament was considered highly successful in terms of competitiveness. The tournament would see Tonga beat New Zealand in the group stages with a score of 28–22 to top the group, the first time a team from outside the top 3 had beaten a top 3 nation in over two decades. New Zealand went on to play Fiji in

3666-599: 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

3744-490: The game including places such as "South Africa, America and Canada". The Australians even took a lead role in aiding the game in France, in what might be considered the British sphere of influence, the ARL funded Tas Baitieri in a Development Officer position and they also provided coaching and player assistance and continued to have the Kangaroos tour France despite the costs. After the Australian Rugby League introduced

3822-489: The group stages and over 66,000 people attending the final, in which Australia defeated England 16–8. Intended for 1998, the next World Cup was delayed for two years due to the Super League war and the subsequent re-structuring of rugby league's international governing bodies meant that the proposed 1998 World Cup was postponed. In 2000 , the World Cup was held in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France, and expanded

3900-401: The high level of talent they had on offer that year (no Scottish or Irish players made the original Great Britain squad). This resulted in the tournament increasing from four teams to five for the first time. There was not a final held to decide the champions of the 1975 tournament and so Australia won by virtue of topping the group standings. As Australia had not beaten England in that tournament

3978-493: The most successful competition since 1995 in terms of attendances, exposure and financial output. The tournament saw Italy and the United States play in their first world cup. Australia took the title again after defeating New Zealand in the final by a score of 34–2. The final attendance became the record international rugby league attendance at 74,468. 2017 Rugby League World Cup taking place in Australia, New Zealand and for

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4056-507: The nation to host the first tournament to be officially known as the "Rugby World Cup". In addition to the hosts, the tournament featured teams from Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was won by Great Britain who defeated France in Paris on 13 November to claim the title. Following the success of the maiden World Cup three years later another tournament was held in Australia, marking 50 years of rugby league in

4134-446: The number of teams increased to 16 once again, with Greece and Jamaica debuting in the competition. In 2021, the women's and wheelchair competitions were given equal prominence with the men's tournament, as a result all three competition were run simultaneously for the first time. Australia again won the competition, beating final debutants Samoa 30–10. The 2021 tournament was the most watched rugby league world cup in history, and

4212-474: The only teams to have played in the final and not won. Wales' best result was third under the old format and have made the semi-finals twice while Fiji have appeared in three while Tonga have made the semi-finals just once. Papua New Guinea achieved fourth place under the old format and have made it to three quarter-finals. Four other teams; Ireland, Lebanon, Scotland and the USA have all made the quarter-finals bringing

4290-672: The other members being keen to demonstrate their loyalty to the Crown. In 1935 the French Rugby League proposed the constitution of an international board for rugby league, but the Australians were not favourable, and the idea was abandoned for a while. The Board was formed on 25 January 1948 in Bordeaux , France at the impetus of the French, led by Paul Barrière . The Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII , New Zealand Rugby League and Britain's Rugby Football League met during

4368-671: The past. NB : As Great Britain was the IRL nation until 1995, the United Kingdom is used to refer to host nations before this time regardless of the number of home nations which actually hosted the tournament. In total, 81 stadiums have hosted world cup games over the 14 tournaments. Headingley Stadium in Leeds has hosted the tournament the most times, having had games in 7 world cups with Central Park , Wigan and Lang Park , Brisbane having hosted 6 tournaments. 52 stadiums have hosted matches in just 1 tournament. The most stadiums used in

4446-399: The previous competition. New Zealand became only the third team to win the world cup and the first other than Australia since 1972. 2013 saw England and Wales host the tournament and expanded to 14 teams. The tournament, originally scheduled for 2012, was moved very early in its organisation to 2013 due to the United Kingdom hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics . The competition was considered

4524-411: The quarter-finals and lost once again with a score of just 4–2, knocking New Zealand out in the quarter-finals, the first time a tier 1 nation had exited the tournament at this early stage. Tonga played England in the semi-finals and while conceding 20 unanswered points, they would score 3 tries in just the last seven minutes to pull the score back to 20–18, eventually losing by this close margin. The final

4602-538: The residence period from three years to five. Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954 , which was the first World Cup held for any form of rugby football . The idea of

4680-404: The sport". Amongst many issues that were discussed at the two- day meeting was the application for membership of the federation from India, Philippines, Tahiti, Tokelau and American Samoa that shows the growing popularity of the sport in the region. The Official Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation Rankings are calculated on each nation’s performance over the current season and are influenced by

4758-405: The teams are level after 80 minutes extra time will be played and if the two teams are still level after extra time, a golden point will be played. This will be temporary altered for the 2026 tournament due to its late rescheduling, the exact format to be used remains unknown. Due to the early World Cups being contested between Australia, England, France and New Zealand and the fact rugby league

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4836-461: The top two teams in the table played in the final, a knockout stage was added, with quarter and semi-finals. Due to the Super League war , players aligned with the Super League competition were not selected by the ARL to represent Australia, which meant the absence of many star players. The tournament, which was also held to celebrate the centenary of the sport, saw over 250,000 people attending

4914-414: The tournament after a newly elected French government withdrew financial support. A day later, New Zealand announced they were considering a bid, but would possibly require a delay to 2026. On 3 August, the IRL announced that the tournament would be postponed to 2026 and held in the southern hemisphere with only 10 teams taking part. It was later confirmed on 24 July 2024 that Australia would host

4992-455: The tournament until 1968, when Australia and New Zealand hosted and the World Cup final made a return. The World Cup found more success in the 70s with four tournaments being played. The first, the 1972 World Cup where the final was contested between Great Britain and Australia ended 10–10, and the title was awarded to Great Britain by virtue of their superior record in the qualifiers. Great Britain were captained by Welshman Clive Sullivan who

5070-445: The tournament with a number of games co-hosted by Papua New Guinea. With the announcement of the 2025 World Cup being moved to 2026 came confirmation that the following competition would be held in 2030. In the announcement International Rugby League confirmed that the tournament would be held once again as a stand alone competition with the women's and wheelchair tournaments held separately in 2028 and 2029 respectfully, all on

5148-550: The tournament; Australia twelve times, Great Britain three times, and New Zealand once. Australia has been in the final of every World Cup, except the first in 1954, when they came third (considered to be a complete upset at the time, with bookmakers having Australia as strong favourites). The latest World Cup was held in England in 2022 after being delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Rugby League World Cup

5226-436: The trophy was reinstated for the 2000 tournament. Qualifying rounds were first introduced for the 2000 World Cup . Hosts and teams reaching the knockout rounds of the previous tournament automatically qualify for the next. The remaining spots are achieved through regional qualification tournaments, split between the four International Rugby League confederation Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, and Middle East-Africa. Because of

5304-481: 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". Former RFL Chief Executive David Oxley, an attendee of International Board meetings for close to 20 years, confirmed that proceedings were not dominated by

5382-399: Was also in 2013 when The Gnoll , Neath , with a capacity of 5,000 hosted a game between Wales and Cook Islands . Despite this, it was not the lowest attended game; this was in the 2000 World Cup when just 1,497 attended the game between Wales and Lebanon at Stradey Park , Llanelli . The cities with the most stadiums used are Sydney and London with 4 each. Hull and Auckland are

5460-753: Was an initiative of the French who had been campaigning for a competition since 1935. The idea was raised in 1951 by Paul Barrière , the President of the French Rugby League . In 1952, Rugby Football League secretary Bill Fallowfield persuaded the Rugby League Council to support the concept. At a meeting in Blackpool , England in 1953, the International Board accepted Paul Barrière's proposal that France should be

5538-413: Was contested between Australia and England at Lang Park , Brisbane and Australia won by just 6–0, the lowest score in world cup final history. England were chosen to host the 2021 tournament which was postponed to 2022 due to Australia and New Zealand withdrawing due to the COVID-19 pandemic . with organisers expressing a desire to see a total of one million fans attend games. This tournament saw

5616-556: Was disestablished and replaced by a new organisation, the Rugby League International Federation, as the Super League war ended in Australia and international rugby league reunited. The replacement saw worldwide governance of rugby league handed back to the sport's national governing bodies. The meeting in Sydney at which it was agreed to form the RLIF was held at the request of the Australian and New Zealand Rugby Leagues. Britain

5694-534: Was praised by other attendees. Maurice Lindsay has been credited with ensuring the 10-team 1995 World Cup was accompanied by an Emerging Nations tournament of seven teams, supporting international growth. The 1995 World Cup was the "swansong of the original Board". With the Super League war started, the Board held what would be their last meeting immediately before that tournament, it ended "acrimoniously" as every member nation except Australia "stated their intention to withdraw their membership" and to establish

5772-500: Was regarded as a sporting, commercial, and social success by the IRL. A proposal was put forward in 2016 to hold the 2025 Rugby League World Cup in the United States and Canada, but in December 2018 plans for the tournament to be held in North America were scrapped due to financial concerns. On 11 January 2022, it was announced France would host the tournament in 2025, however on 15 May 2023 France pulled out of hosting

5850-462: 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". The RLIF's scheduling of competitions made shortly after its formation, specifically the timing of world cups, was criticised by Graham Clay, editor of Open Rugby magazine for opting for

5928-489: Was represented by the Rugby Football League, rather than Super League (Europe), the company formed by its leading clubs. John McDonald , chair of the Australian Rugby League, became chair of the RLIF. Maurice Lindsay, the chairman of the Super League International Board (SLIB), was bypassed after he had suggested that the SLIB, with him leading it, should carry on the governance of the international game. Lindsay's candidature

6006-580: Was the first black player to captain any British national sports team. The final at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon witnessed what is (as of 2021) the last British team to win the Rugby League World Cup. In 1975, the competition underwent a radical overhaul with the tournament being held across multiple confederations. Great Britain was split into England and Wales due to Wales wanting to showcase

6084-612: Was weak due to his role in the Super League war. The cessation of Super League operations in Australasia and the notice that had been given of the SLIB's intention to cease funding the sport in the Pacific islands, meant the SLIB could be left with only Britain left as a member. The French were happy to cut ties with SLIB and join the new Federation as, allegedly, "they never saw a penny of the £1 million they believed they had been promised to sign up with Super League". In 1998, there

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