The Super League International Board was the international

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

for Super League-aligned

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 nations between 1995 and 1998. The Board was formed to administer Super League globally during the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

, a corporate dispute fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s by the

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

and

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

-backed

Super League (Australia) Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australia and New Zealand for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during ...

and the

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

and

Optus Vision Optus Television is the cable television division of Australian telecommunications company Optus. History Its immediate predecessor was Optus Vision, a joint venture between Optus and Continental Cablevision, with small shareholdings by media ...

-backed

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

organisations over broadcasting rights for, and ultimately control of the top-level professional rugby league football competition in Australasia.

Board

In December 1995, the Board was formed in Sydney, Australia. Maurice Lindsay, the chief executive of the British

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

was elected the Board's first chairperson. Lindsay was also the British delegate.

John Ribot John Ribot () (born John Ribot de Bresac on 3 March 1955), also known by the nickname of "Reebs", is an Australian sports administrator, former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 1980s. Once a Queensland State of Origin and Australian int ...

, the chief executive of Super League (Australia) and a key figure in the Super League project, became Deputy Chairman. In response to his election, Lindsay shared the thoughts he and Ribot had on the future of the sport under Super League:

Role

The Super League International Board's responsibilities included controlling the laws of the game. Several new rules had been trialled in Britain and the Board, during its inaugural meeting, decided they should be introduced to other Super League-aligned nations worldwide. The four rule changes related to the

play-the-ball Like most forms of modern football, rugby league football is played outdoors on a rectangular grass field with goals at each end that are to be attacked and defended by two opposing teams. The rules of rugby league have changed significantly ov ...

, kick-off and scrums.

Competitions

In 1996, a ruling in the high court meant that Super League would be able to run a domestic competition in Australia the next year. The ruling meant that the Super League International Board was able operate several international competitions, including the

1997 World Club Championship The 1997 World Club Championship was an expansion of the World Club Challenge concept by Super League. The rugby competition was restructured to include all 22 clubs from the Australasian Super League (Australia), Super League and the Super Leag ...

which consisted of 12 European and 10 Australasian sides. The European clubs struggled in the competition and did not perform well financially. In 1996 and 1997 the

Super League World Nines The Super League World Nines (known as the ''Gatorade Super League World Nines'' due to sponsorship), was a pre-season rugby league nines tournament between national sides. Set up in the midst of the Super League war and created in opposition to t ...

competition was held. Nines rugby league is a faster form of the game with only nine players on the field at a time playing in shorter halves. The World Nines competitions were held as an alternative to the Australian Rugby League's

World Sevens The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for Naming rights, sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as ...

. The 1996 World Nines saw a

video referee Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live. The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...

was used for the first time for a game of rugby league. Under the Super League International Board, competition between national teams was organised. In 1997,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

hosted the Australian Super League test team, losing the series 2–1. The Australian side also played New Zealand. The

and

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

recognise these matches as having

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

status, while the

has declined to include in its records those of its rival. This actually means that

Matt Adamson Matt Adamson (born 14 August 1972 in Taree, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative (under t ...

Ken Nagas Ken Nagas (born 18 June 1973) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for the Canberra Raiders of the National Rugby League. Nagas primarily played on the . Canberra Raiders Nag ...

, Paul Green, Craig Greenhill,

Solomon Haumono Solomon Haumono ( to, Solomone Haumono; born 13 October 1975) is a former professional boxer and former rugby league footballer of Tongan descent. Early life He attended Newtown Boys High School, Newtown, New South Wales. He then went on to C ...

Julian O'Neill Brian Julian O'Neill (born 14 October 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a goal-kicking or and goal-kicker, during his 14-year top-grade career he played with sever ...

and

David Peachey David Peachey (born 21 April 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative , he played the majority of his club football in t ...

, all of whom only ever represented the Super League version of the Australian team, are listed as never having played a test for Australia in official Australian records.

Super League war

The creation of the board was expected to weaken the position of the Australian Rugby League, increasing their isolation. During 1995, more rugby league governing bodies outside Australia, such as France and Papua New Guinea, signed on with Super League, joining Britain and New Zealand. These agreements had the effect of "usurping" the international board's control of the sport and removing international playing opposition for the Australian Rugby League's representative sides. The director-general of the international board was the Australian Rugby League's chairman,

Ken Arthurson Kenneth Richard "Arko" Arthurson AM (born 1 October 1929) is an Australian rugby league football identity. Affectionately known as "The Godfather of Manly", he played, coached and was later an administrator at the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles cl ...

. In 1998, the Super League International Board was disestablished and replaced by 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 ...

(RLIF) as the ''Super League war'' ended in Australia and international rugby league reunited. The replacement saw worldwide governance of rugby league handed back to the sport's national governing bodies. John McDonald, the chair of the Australian Rugby League, became chair of the RLIF. Sir Rodney Walker was elected a member of the RLIF, beating Maurice Lindsay and signifying a power shift in the British game. Walker took the position of vice-chair. One of the Rugby League International Federation's first tasks upon assuming control was to re-codify the Laws of the Game following the divergence that occurred whilst the game was split. During their attempts to attract partners, the Super League International Board agreed to give a place in their planned 1998 world cup to the

New Zealand Māori rugby league team New Zealand Māori rugby league team is a rugby league representative side made up of New Zealand Māori players. The side represents the New Zealand Māori Rugby league. Like its union counterpart, the rugby league team previously competed in ...

at a meeting in Paris in 1997. Despite that world cup not taking place, the Rugby League International Federation repeated the offer for the 2000 World Cup and the team competed as "Aotearoa Māori".

References

External links