Wales Rugby League

Last updated

Wales Rugby League
Rygbi Cynghrair Cymru
Founded1995
IRL affiliationFull member [1]
RLEF affiliationFull member [2]
Responsibility Wales
Headquarters Sport Wales, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Key people Janet Ryder, Simon Weston (Patron)
Mike Nicholas (2003-) (President)
James Davies (2023-) (Chair)

Richard Hibbard (2024-) (Chief Executive)
Men's coach John Kear (2014- )
Women's coachThomas Brindle (2021-)
Website https://wrl.wales/
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg
As of 22 April 2024

Wales Rugby League is the national governing body for rugby league football in Wales. [3]

Contents

In 1907 The Welsh Northern Rugby Football Union was formed in Wrexham, but the English Northern Rugby Football Union refused it affiliation as they wanted the body located in the south of Wales and the Welsh body soon folded.

In 1926 the English body, now called the Rugby Football League (RFL) formed a Welsh commission in an attempt to convert rugby union clubs to rugby league. The Wales Rugby League was founded in 1995 and achieved governing body status in 2005 [4] and employed its first professional chairman, Mark Rowley, in 2006. The WRL is responsible for the running of the game in Wales, for organising games and competitions and for selecting the squad for the national teams. In addition to managing professional and amateur national representative senior teams, WRL runs several age grade international sides from under 13s to a student team. The senior teams each play in annual European competitions, and the professional side compete in the World Cup every 4 years. [5] [6]

In 2006 the WRL achieved autonomous status from the Rugby Football League. [1] In 2010, at a meeting of the Rugby League International Federation in Melbourne, Australia, the WRL were made full members of the Federation. [1]

WRL has 14 affiliated clubs, including four university clubs. Wales Rugby League is based at Sports Wales Centre in Cardiff [7] [8]

The national team took part in the 2011 Gillette Four Nations tournament against Australia, England and New Zealand.

The under 19s contingent, consisting of players from South Wales Scorpions and North Wales Crusaders, won the bronze medal at the inaugural Commonwealth Rugby League Championships, which took place in June 2014 in Glasgow. The gold medal was won by Papua New Guinea, with Australia winning silver.

Former France and England head coach, John Kear, took over from Iestyn Harris as national head coach on 16 July 2014, a role he will undertake alongside his coaching role at Championship side Batley. His first games in charge were during the European Championships in Autumn 2014.

Wales qualified for the 2017 World Cup in Australia, through beating Italy away in a playoff for the 2nd European spot. By finishing 2nd in the 2018 European Championship behind France and defeating Ireland 30–8 in Wrexham, they earned automatic qualification for the 2021 World Cup in England. Wales will also field a wheelchair side in the accompanying tournament. In 2019 they took part in the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament in Australia.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby Football League</span> Governing body for professional rugby league football in England

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 Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italy national rugby league team</span> National sports team

The Italy national rugby league team represents Italy in rugby league football. With origins dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, the team has competed regularly in international competitions since 2008, when their current governing body, the Federazione Italiana Rugby League, was formed. They are currently ranked 13th in the IRL World Rankings.

The Serbia national rugby league team represents Serbia in the sport of rugby league football. They have competed in international competition since 2003 under the administration of the Serbian Rugby League.

Rugby league is a sport played in Wales. The governing body of the game in Wales is the Wales Rugby League.

Rugby league is a team sport that is relatively new to Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Football in Wales</span> Overview of association football practiced in Wales

Association football is one of the most popular sports in Wales, along with rugby union. Wales has produced club teams of varying fortunes since the early birth of football during the Victorian period, and in 1876 a Wales national football team played their first international match. Football has always had a close rivalry with the country's de facto national sport rugby union, and it is much discussed as to which is Wales' more popular game. The Football Association of Wales (FAW), was established in 1876 to oversee the Wales national team and govern the sport in Wales, later creating and running the Welsh football league system.

Wheelchair rugby league is a wheelchair-based version of rugby league football, one of two recognised disability versions of the sport. It was developed in France in 2000. Unlike other wheelchair sports, people without disabilities are allowed to compete in top-level competition. The sport is also unique in the fact that men and women of any age can play against each other in top-level competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport Wales National Centre</span> Sports facility in Cardiff, Wales

The Sport Wales National Centre is a sports facility in Cardiff, Wales, set up to assist the development of elite athletes in Wales. The Centre, owned and operated by Sport Wales, was established by the then Sports Council for Wales in 1971 as the National Sports Centre for Wales. Renamed the Welsh Institute of Sport in 1994, it has been known as the Sport Wales National Centre since April 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Wales</span> Overview of sports practised in Wales

Sport in Wales plays a prominent role in Welsh culture. Like the other countries of the United Kingdom, Wales enjoys independent representation in major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and in the Rugby World Cup, but competes as part of Great Britain in some other competitions, including the Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport Wales</span> National sports organisation of Wales

Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. Working alongside partners such as governing bodies of sport and local authorities, they aim to encourage sporting ambitions in the young and promote championship standards nationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Cardiff</span> Overview of sport in the capital city of Wales

Sport in Cardiff is dictated by, amongst other things, its position as the capital city of Wales, meaning that national home sporting fixtures are nearly always played in the city. All of Wales' multi-sports agencies and many of the country's sports governing bodies have their headquarters in Cardiff and the city's many top-quality venues have attracted world-famous sport events, sometimes unrelated to Cardiff or to Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhys Williams (rugby league)</span> Wales international rugby league footballer

Rhys Williams is a Welsh former professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Swinton Lions in the RFL Championship and Wales at international level.

Badminton Wales is the national governing body for badminton in Wales. Formed in 1928 as The Welsh Badminton Union, in 1934 it was one of the founder members of the Badminton World Federation. WBU became a member of the European Badminton Union in 1968. Over 90 senior clubs are affiliated to Welsh Badminton Union, and its membership is nearly 4000.

Welsh Fencing is the national governing body of fencing in Wales. In 2003 it had 34 affiliated clubs, with 260 adult and 559 junior members. Welsh Fencing organises competitions including the Welsh Open, and is responsible for the selection and management of the Wales representative squad, who compete in the Winton Cup and the Commonwealth Games. At the European and World Championships Welsh fencers represent Great Britain, if selected.

The Table Tennis Association of Wales (TTAW) is the national governing body of table tennis in Wales. It is affiliated to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the European Table Tennis Union, and was a founding member of both organisations—in 1926 and 1956 respectively.

Christiaan Roets is a former semi-professional rugby league footballer who represented the Welsh national team, most notably at the 2011 Four Nations, 2013 World Cup, and 2017 World Cup. He primarily played as a centre for the South Wales Scorpions and the North Wales Crusaders.

The 2014 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place in England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland between 17 October and 2 November. It was announced beforehand that the winner of the tournament would qualify for the 2016 Four Nations, and also that if Ireland or Wales won tournament, they will automatically qualify for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. France and Scotland had already qualified for that tournament.

The England national wheelchair rugby league team represents England in wheelchair rugby league. The team have played in all four World Cup tournaments, winning both the inaugural competition in 2008 and the 2021 edition on home soil, and being runners up in both 2013 and 2017. They also won the 2015 European Wheelchair Rugby League Championship.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Wales given 2013 World Cup spot". BBC Sport . 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  2. ↑ RLEF. "Overview". RLEF. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  3. ↑ "NGB websites:About us:Sport Wales-Chwaraeon Cymru". Sport Wales-Chwaraeon Cymru website. Sport Wales. 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  4. ↑ "Brief History". Wales Rugby League. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  5. ↑ "WRL Constitution March 2006" (PDF). Wales Rugby League constitution. Wales Rugby League. 2006. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  6. ↑ "Cymru RL". Wales Rugby League-Cymru RL website. Wales Rugby League. 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  7. ↑ "Cymru RL". Wales Rugby League-Cymru RL website. Wales Rugby League. 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "Cymru RL". Wales Rugby League-Cymru RL website. Wales Rugby League. 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.


Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg

This article about an organisation in Wales is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.