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 ...

is a

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interde ...

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

, originating 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 ...

, formerly played in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

History

The history of rugby league in Georgia began in 1991 when a Georgian player was recruited by a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n rugby league club. In 1993 a rural Georgian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club team defected to the

Russian Rugby League Russian Rugby League Federation (russian: Федерация Регбилиг России) was the governing body for rugby league in Russia until 2010. It was founded in 1978 mainly as a governing body for Moscow-based teams, and became the head ...

. The club and all of its players were banned from playing rugby union in the future. Despite these previous endeavours rugby league was effectively unknown in

until late 2004 when a French-based rugby enthusiast Paata Tsintsadze established the Georgian National Rugby League Federation (GNRLF). In June 2004 the GNRLF was incorporated, and recognised by the State Sports Ministry. Nodar Andghuladze was the first Chief Executive Officer and David Kilassonia the coaching manager. Tsintsadze presented to the

European Federation The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Amer ...

his proposal and plans for the GNRLF after which it was agreed that the GNRLF be recognised as the governing body for the sport in Georgia. Furthermore, Georgia became active participants in the European Federation's meetings and activities from then on. Early in 2005, the GNRLF team set the ambitious goal of sending 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 ...

, which had not yet been played a game, to the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

. On 5 September 2005 the GNRLF were told that official observer status of the GNRLF would be withdrawn with immediate effect and given to the new Georgian Rugby 13 (GR13) organisation. Despite RLEF's decision to recognize the newly founded GR13F instead of the former GNRLF as official observers of the code in Georgia, the latter showed reluctance in handing over the under 16 matters to the GR13. This ultimately meant that Georgia were unable to attend the youth world championship.

Governing body

The governing body for rugby league in Georgia was the Georgian Rugby League Federation. It was founded in 2004 by former France rugby union player, Paata Tsintsadze.

National team

The Georgia national rugby league team represented Georgia in international rugby league tournaments. The national squad was entirely from Georgian-based

players. Despite there having been no domestic rugby league the team attracted relatively large crowds for international matches, in the range of 10,000 spectators. However, they were expelled from the

qualifiers for forfeiting a game in Russia, due to their players playing

at the time and subsequently stopped playing the game and were expelled from the

Rugby League International Federation The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

and

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 ...

References

External links

GRLF Information

{{Rugby League Playing Nations links Rugby league in Georgia (country)