Rugby League needs a real “World” Cup.
Two years before the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, it is probably time to think about the contribution of the tournament to the global development of the sport.
It doesn’t help us being optimistic about the future, as we see that the countries qualifying, are consisted mainly of “heritage” players from Australia. Domestic players have no chance to represent their country in the World Cup.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup, was interesting according to many fans of the game, but if someone cares for the future of League, it was a clear sign of a troubled situation. It was obvious that if there wasn’t NRL or/and other Aussie Leagues, the tournament wouldn’t have enough players to make it happen.
And if you take a second glance, you’ll realize that only four or five countries had players really representing the domestic sport.
Take a look at the statistics:
Australia – Genuine (all NRL palyers),
New Zealand - almost Genuine (23 in NRL, six of them in NZ Warriors and one in RFL),
PNG – Genuine (ten in PNG, two in RFL/SL and two in Australia,
England – Genuine (18 in RFL/SL and six in NRL),
France – Genuine (17 in France and 8 in England),
Samoa – no connection with domestic activity (23 NRL, 1 RFL),
Fiji - no real connection with domestic activity (only one in Fiji, 19 NRL, 2 RFL/SL, 1 in Australia and one in Toronto),
Scotland – no connection with domestic activity (none in Scotland, 9 RFL/SL, 9 in England, 3 NRL, one in Australia and two in Toulouse),
Tonga - no connection with domestic activity (none in Tonga, 18 in NRL, 6 RFL/SL),
Lebanon - no connection with domestic activity (1 in Lebanon, 13 NRL, 11 in Australia),
USA - almost genuine (eleven in USA, two in Canada, one in RFL and one in England, seven in Australia and one in Toulouse,
Wales – almost genuine (two play in Wales, twelve play in RFL, seven in various English teams, one in Toronto and two in Australia).
Ireland - no real connection with domestic activity (only two in Ireland, fifteen in RFL/SL, one in Australia plus one in NRL, four in England and one in Toronto),
Italy - no connection with domestic activity (only one in Italy, nine in NRL, two in RFL/SL, eight in Australia, one in England and one in France).
Australia, Papua New Guinea, England, France and USA, were consisted of players who had played mostly in their own countries and came from the domestic development. The others did not represent the domestic activity of their countries.
There are examples of countries with real domestic development: Russia, Serbia and South Africa, are operating domestic tournaments for many years but they could never compete the NRL players in the World Cup Qualifiers.
The RLIF did not support the genuine national teams to qualify. Russia and Serbia are full members for a long time and the Qualification rules were supposed to help them qualify if their opponents were just affiliated. But at the last minute, the RLIF promoted “Italy” afterwards in order to allow them qualify, despite the time limit was the end of 2016. Similarly, they created a group of two countries in order to help Lebanon qualify. Using such tricks, the International Body prevented Serbia and Russia from qualifying to the World Cup.
Despite the conspiracy theories, is NRL the future of the game?
Let’s take a look at the most developed sports of the globe: Football (soccer) and Basketball.
The first big scale international football (soccer) tournament, was the Olympics’ tournament at the 1900 and 1904 Games.
Professional players were not allowed in the Olympic Tournament until 1984. Since 1992 male competitors must be under 23 years old, and since 1996, players under 23 years old, with three over-23 year old players, are allowed per squad.
The FIFA policy about the Olympic tournament led to the development of more countries’ level. Although in most countries football is professional, the sport is still developing in international level as players under 23 year old, have the chance to play for their National / Olympic team.
The first basketball World Cup took place in 1950. The NBA players were not allowed to participate in it. The first year when NBA players were accepted in FIBA World Cup, was 1994. They dominated the tournament, but it was in 2002 when the United States team, made up entirely of NBA players, struggled to a sixth-place finish.
In 2006, the USA team, once more made up entirely of NBA players, lost the semi-final from Greece and finished third in the tournament.
The early World Cup years exclusion of the top professionals of the sport, led to the rising of the other nations’ level, which reached the top NBA level.
Talking about Rugby League World Cup, it is safe to claim that excluding players coming from the top professional leagues (NRL and Super League), shall give the chance to the rest of the players, teams and nations, develop further the sport and reach the professional level sooner or later.
So, the future calls us with a clear message: Let’s have a World Cup, without professional players, with strict domestic quota, in order to see some day our sport raising its’ level high, across the globe.
Tasos Pantazidis
November 2019
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