The Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation (APRLC) has made the difficult decision to cancel Oceania Cup 2020 due to the multiple restrictions posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on international travel, mass gatherings, and sporting event biosecurity.
APRLC has spent the past six months exploring fixture options for 2020 in an ever-changing COVID-19 environment. After being forced in March to postpone Oceania Cup men’s and women’s fixtures scheduled for June, planning continued for fixtures during the end-of-season international window.
However, ongoing restrictions and complexities about player travel, as well as continued limits on crowds attending matches have made it impossible to deliver this year’s event, which would have featured fixtures for six men’s teams (Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga) and four women’s teams (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Samoa).
APRLC Chairman, Sandis Tsaka, said: “The Oceania Cup is a wonderful tournament that offers a meaningful structure for Pacific test matches in a fair and competitive environment. It is extremely disappointing to have been forced to cancel the 2020 tournament, as there was great excitement among our member nations about this year’s fixtures in both June and November, but unfortunately current restrictions and uncertainties have made it impossible to follow any other path”.
Greg Peters, Vice Chairman of APRLC, added: “This has been a very difficult year for rugby league and thrown up numerous challenges. We have been working hard over the past few months to explore a multitude of options for hosting Oceania Cup matches, but the recent rise in cases in both New Zealand and Australia, coupled with ongoing restrictions on travel and mass gatherings, have forced our hand”.
Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA) CEO Clint Newton said: “The announcement is disappointing, but given the current circumstances it’s the right decision. Players are intensely passionate when provided with the opportunity to represent their heritage, and we will work towards providing those opportunities next year. The RLPA will continue to work closely with the APRLC to advance the Asia-Pacific nations and we looking forward to further strengthening our relationship over the coming 6-12 months”.
APRLC Chief Operating Officer, Jeremy Edwards, concluded: “While having to cancel this year’s event is disappointing, we have immediately turned our focus to planning for Oceania Cup 2021. This will be an important tournament for our members as part of their preparation for next year’s Rugby League World Cup 2021 in England”.

Published by IRL
28 Aug 2020

The sport of rugby league is celebrating its 125th birthday. The game was born on August 29th, 1895 when 21 clubs met at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, England and established the Northern Rugby Football Union, which became the Rugby Football League in 1922.
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From that original group of clubs there are now thousands of clubs based around the world in over 53 countries.
International Rugby League Chair, Greg Barclay has sent his best wishes to the players, fans, clubs and IRL members around the world saying;
“This is a proud day for everyone involved in our great sport. We have a very long and proud history which deserves to be recognised across the sporting landscape.
“Throughout the history of the game we have seen, and we continue to see the heights of sporting endeavour played out in front of knowledgeable audiences drawn from communities that are steeped on the values of rugby league.
“I would like to pay tribute to those that have gone before, offer my thanks and admiration to those currently involved and encouragement to those who are still to discover this great game.
“Next year will see the latest iteration of the oldest rugby world cup when we gather in England to enjoy RLWC2021, it will be a sporting event to rival anything and we are all looking forward to it.

“Happy Birthday, Rugby League!”

​Just a brief note to say thanks to all those who managed to send videos and best wishes for the 125th anniversary of the birth of the sport - we tried to include everyone that we received either in the full video, as a separate post or both.
We reached around 500,000 people across the time zone of August 29th - with a really high engagement rate too. 

​Tonga Ma’a Tonga Rugby League submits application to join International Rugby League
 
 
Asia Pacific Rugby League has received an application for full membership from Tonga Ma’a Tonga Rugby League. The application will now be reviewed by the APRL board and then progress to the board of International Rugby League (IRL) before being sent to the IRL full members for final approval.
 
The TMTRL application signals the dissolution of the implementation committee which was formed by three members of the Tongan rugby league community who volunteered to assist an APRL representative to facilitate Tonga’s smooth return to the world stage as an IRL member.
 
IRL Global Operations Manager Danny Kazandjian said; “I would like to sincerely thank the members of the implementation committee, Gareth Holmes, Konrad Hurrell, Suliana Mone and Ikani Taliai.
 
“They managed to bring together several parties who had an interest in Tongan rugby league and helped them form a coherent group, under mutually acceptable rules, structure and leadership.
 
“The IC achieved that with great professionalism and skill whilst working under close media scrutiny, especially in Tonga."
 
The previous member has appealed against its expulsion to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. IRL has responded fully and will keep it under consideration whilst assessing the new application.
 
Elsewhere, the Rugby League European Federation’s Middle East Africa section has received three applications from African nations – Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria - to move from observer to affiliate status.
 
Kazandjian said: “It’s encouraging to see the sport gaining traction in west Africa and when a member receives affiliate status on that continent it will be historic as it allows them to  enter into the World Cup qualification process.
 
“We are dealing with all three applicants to ensure their organisations are as robust as possible before they take this significant next step.”
 
All three nations played their first official internationals last year, in Lagos at the MEA Championship, paving the way for their applications.
 
 
These applications, and others that are being actively prepared from countries in three continents, assist IRL in its quest to become a full member of the Global Association of International Sports Federations, (GAISF).
Kazandjian concluded: “We need to achieve 40 approved rugby league nations recognized by their own government or Olympic Committees. GAISF currently validates 24 of our members, from a start point in 2018 of 15 nations. I am cautiously optimistic that by the end of the year we will have reached 26 nations, at least.”
 

SARLSA/Middle East Africa Competition October 2020

It was with great disappointment that the South African Rugby League Sporting Association had to make the decision to postpone the Middle East Africa Competition. The decision will be revisited in March 2021.
These decisions were taken in collaboration with MEA confederation and the RLEF and were based on the uncertainties that surrounds the Covid-19 pandemic. All indications are that South Africa will experience a peak of infections near August and September 2020.
Other factors that were taken in consideration is the likelihood that international travel will still be restricted in October, and possibly quarantine requirements for travelling players and administrators.
This was a sad but necessary decision and was taken in the interest of our members.
 
Dr Frans F. Erasmus​

​15th May 2020
Board nominations complete ahead of General Meeting
Nominations have been completed for members of the new Tonga Ma’a Tonga Rugby League (TMTRL) board, which will now be elected by the members in general meeting.
Representatives from the rugby league clubs have ensured compliance with governance recommendations approved by the clubs following a broad consultation with Tongan rugby league instigated by the sport’s governing body, International Rugby League.
The meeting will confirm the adoption of a new TMTRL constitution, elect an independent chair and finance director, as well as the election of two player directors (already confirmed as Sika Manu and Will Hopoate) and five club directors, one of whom will serve as deputy chair.
Once the board has been ratified, it is expected to apply for membership of IRL.
Current TMTRL President, Mr Saia Penitani, said: “We at TMTRL look forward to our AGM on Friday where we will elect and appoint our new board of directors and implement a new governance structure for our organisation. 
“We are grateful to the Implementation Committee for their support and assistance throughout this process. We congratulate the four nominated candidates for the two independent Director positions and thank them for their willingness to be a part of our organisation.
“We, the club membership in Tonga, have nominated from amongst ourselves individuals who we think would serve the whole of Tongan rugby league best on the board. All our nominees have been long standing supporters of rugby league in Tonga. 
“We thank Kristian Woolf and his team for their support of this process and we look forward to fielding a strong and experienced team at international level should TMTRL be granted membership of IRL. We are excited as we see this process as a leap forward for rugby league in Tonga and for renewed relations based on unity between everyone involved with Tongan rugby league.”
Further, media reports in Tonga on Wednesday 13 May suggested that the IRL has been issued an injunction by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following an appeal lodged with CAS by Tonga National Rugby League (TNRL), the former governing body of rugby league in Tonga, which was expelled from IRL in March 2020.
IRL has confirmed these reports are categorically untrue. It has also confirmed that TNRL’s appeal, which IRL will contest at CAS, is against the international federation alone.

International Rugby League (IRL) continues to monitor events in Tonga and expects to receive an application for membership from a new organisation imminently.

IRL Global Operations Manager Danny Kazandjian said:
“We understand that the active Tongan rugby league community has been working closely with one another to create an organisation that will best represent it, at home and internationally. The nomination of Sika Manu and Will Hopoate last week was a good sign of that cooperation, and it’s pleasing to see further signs of collaboration from the dozens of clubs in the kingdom.
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“An Implementation Committee has worked to bring together the various elements of the Tongan rugby league community and will help facilitate an application by an organisation for IRL membership in due course. The IRL will then assess any application against our membership rules and will make the decision on whether to admit a Tongan member to our register. We appreciate the supportive correspondence from the Tongan government, which has committed to working closely with the IRL to restore Tonga to the international rugby league community.”

Implementation Committee member Ikani Taliai will attend a meeting on Friday where the clubs will consider the results of the process to recruit two independent directors. The candidates for chair are Semisi Sika, a current MP and former Acting Prime Minister of Tonga, and Lord Fakafanua who is currently the Speaker of Parliament. The candidates for the finance director are John Paul Chapman and Ipolito Lasalo, both successful businessmen who have held prominent directorships in the public and private sector.

Konrad Hurrell, one of the four members of the IC, welcomed the latest developments:
“It is so encouraging to see the quality and the experience of the candidates for the new Board. This process has been a fantastic opportunity for the whole Tongan rugby league community to have their say, elect a new and really talented board who will lead the whole of a united Tongan rugby league forward.”