The Super League International Board was the international

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

for Super League-aligned

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

football nations between 1995 and 1998. The Board was formed to administer Super League globally during the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Sup ...

, a corporate dispute fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s by the

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

and

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

-backed

Super League (Australia) Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australia and New Zealand for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during ...

and the

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

and Optus Vision-backed

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

organisations over broadcasting rights for, and ultimately control of the top-level professional rugby league football competition in Australasia.

Board

In December 1995, the Board was formed in Sydney, Australia. Maurice Lindsay, the chief executive of the British

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

was elected the Board's first chairperson. Lindsay was also the British delegate. John Ribot, the chief executive of Super League (Australia) and a key figure in the Super League project, became Deputy Chairman. In response to his election, Lindsay shared the thoughts he and Ribot had on the future of the sport under Super League:

Role

The Super League International Board's responsibilities included controlling the laws of the game. Several new rules had been trialled in Britain and the Board, during its inaugural meeting, decided they should be introduced to other Super League-aligned nations worldwide. The four rule changes related to the

play-the-ball Like most forms of modern football, rugby league football is played outdoors on a rectangular grass field with goals at each end that are attacked and defended by two opposing teams. The rules of rugby league have changed significantly over th ...

, kick-off and scrums.

Competitions

In 1996, a ruling in the high court meant that Super League would be able to run a domestic competition in Australia the next year. The ruling meant that the Super League International Board was able operate several international competitions, including the 1997 World Club Championship which consisted of 12 European and 10 Australasian sides. The European clubs struggled in the competition and did not perform well financially. In 1996 and 1997 the Super League World Nines competition was held. Nines rugby league is a faster form of the game with only nine players on the field at a time playing in shorter halves. The World Nines competitions were held as an alternative to the Australian Rugby League's World Sevens. The 1996 World Nines saw a

video referee Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred, both shot and broadcast live. After being shown live, the video is replayed so viewers can see it again and analyze what just happened. Sports—suc ...

was used for the first time for a game of rugby league. Under the Super League International Board, competition between national teams was organised. In 1997,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

hosted the Australian Super League test team, losing the series 2–1. The Australian side also played New Zealand. The

and

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league, rugby league football in New Zealand.#SPARC-2009, SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a 1910 Great Britain Lions tour o ...

recognise these matches as having test match status, while the

has declined to include in its records those of its rival. This actually means that Matt Adamson, Ken Nagas, Paul Green, Craig Greenhill, Solomon Haumono, Julian O'Neill and David Peachey, all of whom only ever represented the Super League version of the Australian team, are listed as never having played a test for Australia in official Australian records.

Super League war

The creation of the board was expected to weaken the position of the Australian Rugby League, increasing their isolation. During 1995, more rugby league governing bodies outside Australia, such as France and Papua New Guinea, signed on with Super League, joining Britain and New Zealand. These agreements had the effect of "usurping" the international board's control of the sport and removing international playing opposition for the Australian Rugby League's representative sides. The director-general of the international board was the Australian Rugby League's chairman, Ken Arthurson. In 1998, the Super League International Board was disestablished and replaced by the

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 equivalen ...

(RLIF) 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. John McDonald, the chair of the Australian Rugby League, became chair of the RLIF. Sir Rodney Walker was elected a member of the RLIF, beating Maurice Lindsay and signifying a power shift in the British game. Walker took the position of vice-chair. One of the Rugby League International Federation's first tasks upon assuming control was to re-codify the Laws of the Game following the divergence that occurred whilst the game was split. During their attempts to attract partners, the Super League International Board agreed to give a place in their planned 1998 world cup to the

New Zealand Māori rugby league team The New Zealand Māori rugby league team is a rugby league representative side made up of Māori people, New Zealand Māori players. With some controversy, the team participated in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, 2000 World Cup as Aotearoa M ...

at a meeting in Paris in 1997. Despite that world cup not taking place, the Rugby League International Federation repeated the offer for the 2000 World Cup and the team competed as "Aotearoa Māori".

References

External links