Physical disability rugby league is a modified version of

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 ...

football catered to suit people of various

physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epileps ...

History

Physical disability rugby league was created by the

NSW Physical Disability Rugby League ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and founded by George Tonna in 2010. The PDRLNZ of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

was founded in 2015. The first international PDRL matches were played in 2018.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and the Commonwealth All Stars competed as part of the 2018 Commonwealth Games exhibition tournament in February 2018. Australia and New Zealand played a three-match series in October 2018, alongside the 2018 Emerging Nations Tournament. PDRL was first played in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in February 2018 with a match between the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

and the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

, the latter winning 22–10. In August 2018, Warrington defeated the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

34–12 at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand * ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. In 2019, a 6-team tournament was established in England, which Warrington won. The inaugural PDRL World Cup took place in Warrington from 23-30 October 2022 as a showpiece event alongside the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

, and consisted of squads from Australia, England, New Zealand, and Wales, with the team from England proving victorious. Comedian

Adam Hills Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show ''Adam Hi ...

took part of Australia's squad for the tournament, as well as being a spokesperson for the event.

Rule variations

Physical disability rugby league is played with the following variations from the standard

laws of rugby league In rugby league football, the Laws of the Game are the rules governing how the sport is played. RLIF, 2004: 1 ARL, 2009: 1 The Laws are the responsibility of the Rugby League International Federation, and cover the play, officiating, equipment and ...

, according to the

: * Each match consists of two 20-minute halves * Each team consists of 9 players *

Scrum Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * M ...

s are replaced by play-the-ball change-overs * Players wear either black or red shorts, depending on their physical disability * Red short players play touch football rules when "tackling" or being "tackled" * Black short players play with full-contact * 2 players without physical disabilities are permitted per team, but can not score tries, kick goals, or kick in general play * Teams are open to male and female players

World Cup rules

The rules used during the 2021 World Cup differed from those given above. *Each match had two 25-minute halves. *Each team had 11 players. *Players underwent a classification process and wore coloured socks based on their level of impairment. Players were classified as A (purple), B (pink) or C (blue) based on factors such as impaired muscle power and limb deficiency and teams were restricted in the number of on-field players in each of these classes with a maximum of three A's and a minimum of 3 C's. The socks were in addition to the wearing of red shorts to signify players who could not be tackled.

References

Sources

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External links