United Arab Emirates Rugby League (or UAERL) was the governing body for

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. It operated under the auspices of the

Rugby League European Federation The European Rugby League (ERL) 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 rugby league in North America (including Central America ...

’s Euro Med Department, the UAERL governed rugby league at all levels in the UAE, from the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

to the development of school and youth programs.

History

The increased popularity of rugby league in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

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

, specifically in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, prompted the UAERL to announce its intentions to form an "Arab Confederation for Rugby League." Sol Mokdad became the President of the UAERL in 2007, and oversaw the initial stages of developing the sport in the UAE, including the first international matches played by the UAE Falcons and their first victory. The first domestic rugby league competition in the UAE was staged in 2013, with

Abu Dhabi Harlequins Abu Dhabi Harlequins is a rugby union and rugby league team based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. They currently play in the UAE Premiership. The team was founded as the Abu Dhabi RUFC in 1970. The 'Quins' were recently crowned UAE Premiership Champions ...

becoming the inaugural champions. Also that year, UAERL announced the formation of the country's first junior international sides, which were to be coached by

Apollo Perelini Apollo Perelini (born 16 July 1969) is a former dual-code international rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, and has coached in the 2000s and 2010s. He played representative rugby union (RU) for New Zeal ...

. In April 2015 the Rugby League was forced to change its name to remove all references to the United Arab Emirates following threats from the UAE Rugby Federation, and was disbanded altogether following Mokdad's arrest at the hands of rugby union officials in May 2015.

References

External links

Official site of Emirates Rugby League
Rugby league governing bodies Ru Rugby league in the United Arab Emirates Sports organizations established in 2007 2007 establishments in the United Arab Emirates {{Sport-org-stub

History

See also

References

External links