The Spanish Rugby League Association ( es, Asociación Española de Rugby League, AERL) also known as España Rugby League, is the

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 ...

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 11 ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The body was officially founded in 2013 and has held affiliate-level membership of the

Rugby League European Federation The European Rugby League (ERL) is the Umbrella organization, 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 (in ...

since 2015, making the national team eligible to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup.

History

The first rugby league in Spain was played in the region of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

in 2009, with a

Catalonia national rugby league team The Catalonia national rugby league team represents Catalonia in the sport of rugby league football, running under the auspices of the Associació Catalana de Rugby Lliga. History Rugby league started in Catalonia in autumn 2007, with the advic ...

playing several matches against European nations. However, desiring to represent only Catalonia and not the entirety of Spain, the Catalonia team was denied

RLEF 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 Americ ...

membership and disappeared from international competition shortly afterwards. Rugby league in Spain began once again in 2013. The governing body was formed on 28 August 2013 and awarded observer status of the RLEF on 27 December 2013; the announcement coming on 13 January 2014. Affiliate membership was achieved in early 2015.

National team

The national team played its first match on 25 May 2014, defeating

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. The first captain was Aitor Davila and the first Spanish try at international level was scored by Gonzalo Morro.

2017 World Cup qualifying

Spain took part in the very first match of the qualification process for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

, when they travelled to Riga to face Latvia. The Spanish side won the match 32-12 and progressed to the European C competition, which is the next phase of qualification.

References

External links

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Rugby league in Spain

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 11 ...

2013 establishments in Spain Sports organizations established in 2013 {{rugbyleague-stub