The Czech Republic national rugby league team was established to broaden the skills of the rugby union team. The team has competed in a number of competitions and hosted the Slavic Cup in 2006.

History

The Czech Association of Rugby League (CZARL) began life in early 2006, under the guidance of former Czech rugby union international Milan Mrtýnek and Englishman Iain Sellers. The squad's first training session, in February 2006, was held in an indoor basketball hall because of an extremely fierce Czech winter. From these modest beginnings, the Czech Republic team, with support from the Rugby League European Federation, struggled to play four full games in their debut season. Perhaps inevitably, given the unfamiliarity of the game, the Czech Republic lost all four matches, and the margins of defeat were not narrow. The Czechs played their first two games against the touring British Student Pioneers team. A 29–2 loss in Prague was followed by a less encouraging 34–2 defeat in Olomouc. This was followed by the first away trip to Rotterdam to face the Netherlands Tasman team, where the newcomers were narrowly defeated 34–28. In their final game of the season, also in Prague, the Czechs were beaten 36–28 by Serbia, in the inaugural "Slavic Cup" match between the two countries. In 2007 The Czech Republic played in the European Shield tournament against the

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

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. This saw them travel to Belgrade to play Serbia and Germany travelled to Prague. Both games were lost. The Serbia game doubled again as a Slavic Cup match. In 2008 the Czech Republic team once again competed in the European Shield along with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and Germany, with a domestic competition in u16, u18 and Senior level. In 2011, the

Czech Rugby League Association The Czech Rugby League Association () is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in Czech Republic. The Association was formed during 4 October 2005. In 2011, the Czech Rugby League Association was admitted to affiliate membersh ...

was admitted to affiliate membership of the

Rugby League European Federation The European Rugby League (ERL) (previously Rugby League European Federation (RLEF)) is the umbrella body for nations playing the sport of rugby league football across Europe. In the absence of other continental federations, ERL also controls ru ...

after reforming its governance.

Competitive record

The following is a summary of tournaments and results for the Czech Republic National Rugby League Team.

European Championship

IRL Rankings

References

External links