The European Rugby League (ERL) is the

umbrella body An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for nations playing the sport 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 11 ...

football across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In the absence of other continental federations, ERL also controls rugby league in North America (including

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

), the

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

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 ...

History

2003-2019

The federation was founded January 2003 following an initiative between

Richard Lewis Richard, Rich, Richie, Rick, Ricky or Dick Lewis may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Field Lewis Jr. (1907–1957), American radio network owner * Dick "Rocko" Lewis (Richard Henry Lewis III, 1908–1966), American entertainer * Rich ...

, Executive Chairman of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

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 ...

(RFL) and his French counterpart Jean Paul Ferre. The RLEF's first constitution was approved in January 2004 and the federation's first Board of Directors was elected. This first Board of Directors consisted of Jean Paul Ferre as President/Chairman and Richard Lewis as Deputy Chairman with Nigel Wood and Nicolas Larrat being the other Board members. Representatives for Morocco, Italy, Serbia, Russia, Lebanon, Ireland, Scotland and Wales attended. Russia became a full member of the RLEF, joining Britain and France, and the RLIF soon after. At the time of its foundation, the RLEF placed a "particular emphasis on generating development funding within each country". Historically, much of the development work conducted in Europe had been funded by the RFL. Following the profitable 2008 World Cup, the RFL and RLEF prepared to bid for funds to enhance their activities. In December 2009, Kevin Rudd, a former Scotland rugby league international, stepped down as Executive Officer of the RLEF after more than five years in the post. RLEF Chairman Richard Lewis stated that Rudd "has done an outstanding job and created a platform, structure and competitions framework that can take us into the future". Rudd was succeeded by Danny Kazandjian. Kazandjian had previously been a key figure in the establishment of rugby league in Lebanon and had led the RLEF's development drive in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions as Director of Development for the Euro-Med region.

2020-present

The RLEF was renamed the European Rugby League in 2021, in line with the RLIF's renaming to the International Rugby League. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

, the European Rugby League banned Russia from all international rugby league competitions.

Competitions

ERL board

Current board

Former members: Chairperson: Maurice Watkins , Board Member: Blagoje Stoiljkovic

Membership

Currently eleven nations are full members of the federation; there are also fifteen affiliate members and nineteen official observers. Full members are entitled to a greater proportion of voting rights and to become members of 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 ...

. In order to become an associate member, a nation must meet the following criteria: * Implementation of a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

and rules that commit 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 ...

to acting in the best interest of rugby league, throughout the whole of their country. * Production of an annual financial report. * Running a league competition with at least four teams. * Implementation of a junior development programme. * The production of a Business Development Plan outlining an organisation's future aims, including aims to find part funding for staff positions. * A communications strategy. * An administrators, match officials and coach education strategy. The ERL stipulates that continued associate and full membership of the federation is subject to a check every two years to ensure that the minimum criteria are still being met.

Full members

Affiliate members

Official observers

* Albanian Rugby League * Belgium Rugby League Association * Bosnia and Herzegovina Rugby League Association * Bulgarian Rugby League Federation * Burundi Rugby League * DR Congo Rugby League XIII * Dansk Rugby League * El Salvador Rugby League * Ethiopia Rugby League * Hungarian Rugby League Federation * Kenya Rugby League * Latvia Rugby League * Libya Rugby League Association * Montenegro Rugby League * Palestinian Rugby League *

Polska Rugby XIII Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

* Saudi Arabian Rugby League Association * Sierra Leone Rugby League *

Sweden Rugby League The Sweden Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in Sweden. The Association was formed in 2009. The Swedish rugby league international side debuted in 2010 against their neighbours Norway. Honours 2013 Nordic ...

Former observer members

* Rugby League Association of Catalonia * Federația Româna de Rugby XIII * Trinidad & Tobago Rugby League Association * Emirates Rugby League

ERL national team results at World Cups

Official ERL rankings

References

External links

* {{Sports governing bodies in Europe International organisations based in London Organisations based in Manchester Organisations based in the City of London Sports governing bodies in Europe