International RL Blog

An England supporter has started an online campaign to petition Wayne Bennett to only select players born in  England  or with an English parent for the national team. Bennett has been linked with attempts to entice the likes of  Blake Austin  and the Morris twins to elect for  England , with the trio qualifying through English grandparents. Dave Sinclair, from Leeds, has launched a  petition  aimed at Bennett. It states: "We, the fans, are unhappy about the rumours of the  England  Rugby League Team being flooded with Australian-born players, with tenuous links to English nationality. "We want our  England  team to be made up of English players, please. "If they weren't born in  England  or have an English parent (not grandparent) then they shouldn't take the jersey. This is the international game, not club rugby. It's about making the best of what you have, not sneaking 'ringers' (who might not actuall...

The RLIF is set to review eligibility criteria for international RL and is considering allowing players from Australia ,  New Zealand  and  England  to nominate a second country for which they qualify. Australia ,  New Zealand  and  England  would be classified as "Tier One" nations and all other countries "Tier Two."  An eligible player could swap from a Tier One nation to a Tier Two nation but could not swap between two Tier One nations.  The aim of the move is to increase the chances of Tier Two nations and make them competitive at international level. It would also still give players who qualify for Tier Two nations e.g. Tyson Frizzel the chance to play SoO. As the Kangaroos players receive approximately $20 000 (Australian) per game, the financial incentive of playing for  Australia  are obvious b ut the RLIF want to expand international RL and do not want to reduce the chances of  Fiji ,  Samoa , ...