The European Rugby League (ERL) (previously Rugby League European Federation (RLEF)) is the

umbrella body An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

for nations playing the sport of

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 across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In the absence of other continental federations, ERL also controls rugby league in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

through its sub-branches Americas Rugby League and Middle East-Africa Rugby League.

History

The federation was founded January 2003 following an initiative between Richard Lewis, Executive Chairman of Great Britain's

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 ...

(RFL) and his French counterpart Jean Paul Ferre of the

French Rugby League Federation The French Rugby League Federation ( (FFR)) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in France. The Federation was formed during 1934 and since then has organised and governed the French rugby league championship, the Lord Derby Cup a ...

(FFR). The RLEF's first constitution was approved in January 2004 and the federation's first Board of Directors was elected. This first Board of Directors consisted of Jean Paul Ferre as Chairman and Richard Lewis as Deputy Chairman, with Nigel Wood and Nicolas Larrat being the other Board members. Representatives for Morocco, Italy, Serbia, Russia, Lebanon, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales attended. Russia became a full member of the RLEF, joining Britain and France, and the RLIF soon after. At the time of its foundation, the RLEF placed a "particular emphasis on generating development funding within each country". Historically, much of the development work conducted in Europe had been funded by the RFL. Following the profitable 2008 World Cup, the RFL and RLEF prepared to bid for funds to enhance their activities. 2004 saw the revival of the Rugby League European Championship, now ran by the RLEF. In December 2009, Kevin Rudd, a former Scotland rugby league international, stepped down as Executive Officer of the RLEF after more than five years in the post. RLEF Chairman Richard Lewis stated that Rudd "has done an outstanding job and created a platform, structure and competitions framework that can take us into the future". Rudd was succeeded by Danny Kazandjian. Kazandjian had previously been a key figure in the establishment of rugby league in Lebanon and had led the RLEF's development drive in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions as Director of Development for the Euro-Med region. In 2011, the RLEF introduced two sub-branches – Americas Rugby League and Middle East-Africa Rugby League – to further develop rugby league in those regions. In 2021, The RLEF was renamed to the European Rugby League in line with the RLIF's renaming to the

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 Rugby League World Cup, Wom ...

. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the European Rugby League banned Russia from all international rugby league competitions.

Competitions

ERL board

: ''As of 6 January 2025''https://europeanrugbyleague.com/erl/board

Membership

Currently eleven nations are full members of the federation; there are also fifteen affiliate members and nineteen official observers. Full members are entitled to a greater proportion of voting rights and to become members of 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 ...

. In order to become an associate member, a nation must meet the following criteria: * Implementation of a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and rules that commit the

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 ...

to acting in the best interest of rugby league, throughout the whole of their country. * Production of an annual financial report. * Running a league competition with at least four teams. * Implementation of a junior development programme. * The production of a

Business Development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between business organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the cre ...

Plan outlining an organisation's future aims, including aims to find part funding for staff positions. * A communications strategy. * An administrators, match officials and coach education strategy. The ERL stipulates that continued associate and full membership of the federation is subject to a check every two years to ensure that the minimum criteria are still being met.

Full members

Affiliate members

Official observers

* Albanian Rugby League * Belgium Rugby League Association * Bosnia and Herzegovina Rugby League Association * Bulgarian Rugby League Federation * Burundi Rugby League * DR Congo Rugby League XIII * Dansk Rugby League * El Salvador Rugby League * Ethiopia Rugby League * Hungarian Rugby League Federation * Latvia Rugby League * Libya Rugby League Association * Macedonian Rugby League * Montenegro Rugby League * Palestinian Rugby League *

Polska Rugby XIII Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

* Saudi Arabian Rugby League Association * Sierra Leone Rugby League * Slovakia Rugby League * Sweden Rugby League

Former observer members

* Rugby League Association of Catalonia * Federația Româna de Rugby XIII * Trinidad & Tobago Rugby League Association * Emirates Rugby League

ERL national team results at World Cups

Winner, 2nd place, Semi-finalist, Quarter-finalist, Group stage, Did not qualify, Withdrew, Expelled

References

External links

* {{Sports governing bodies in Europe International organisations based in London Organisations based in Manchester Organisations based in the City of London