International RL Blog

For the last few weeks I have been searching through various on-line and off-line media outlets to find some information about the series of RL Nines festivals which are currently taking place in the UK. To put it mildly, it has been very difficult but if organised and marketed correctly, these festivals could provide a significant boost to international RL and provide new opportunities for players. I suggest that the international element is emphasised with a core group of countries taking part and it wouldn't be difficult to make a commitment that teams representing England, Wales, France, Australia, NZ would compete throughout. The festivals should be held with as wide a geographical spread as possible with an intention to expand and (at least) England, Wales and France would be a good starting point. Invitations could be issued to other teams, nations or organisations such as BARLA, NZ Maoris, Australian Aborigine, Jacksonville Axemen, Queensland Residents, GB Army etc or per...

The next Four Nations competition is scheduled to take place this Autumn in the UK and should involve England, Wales Australia and NZ. There is a major problem. No dates/venues have been confirmed and thus it is impossible to to buy, or even plan to buy, tickets. It is less than four months until the scheduled start and potential spectators throughout the world are still in the dark. This is our annual opportunity to put our sport and our fantastic athletes in the shop window and show the world what they are missing. There have been rumours of a double header at Wembley but nothing has been confirmed. The RLIF met recently and I have been waiting for some news to no avail. There is nothing on the RLIF website which just directs visitors to other sites and the Four Nations link wasn't working the last time I tried Other sports plan their showcase events years in advance and then concentrate on high quality promotion/marketing in to order gain the maximum possible exposure a...

I'm still unhappy with the "Exiles" name and would prefer "ANZAC XIII" or even "Other Nationalities. I don't like the "International Origin" title either because it most definitely is not an "International" or an "Origin" match. Despite these reservations, I thought the International Origin Match was reasonably entertaining although it seemed quite shallow and false but a reasonable crowd meant that it could be judged as a success. As always happens in internationals, the play the balls were much slower than normal and I don't understand why this should be so. It produced a close scoreline and an exciting match but all the players involved are used to playing SL interpretations and this should have continued. The Exile Dad Army were more committed than I expected and gave England the tough game they were looking for although the defeat will not impress our Australian and NZ opponents who will field much stronger (an...

The RFL will continue their nines competition on 7/6/11 at a series of venues across the north of England involving various established clubs and others including Cumbria. I can remember enjoying similar ventures including the British Coal nines (won by Warrington and shown on BBC 1 on Sportsnight) and the World Nines played in Fiji. It is a good showcase for our game, an excellent way of introducing newcomers and great way of spreading the word It is hoped that nines will become a popular vehicle for the sport in the same way 20-20 has helped boost the popularity of cricket. Some clever and effective marketing will be needed to achieve this and TV coverage will be vital. I suggest that the competition should be given an international flavour rather than relying on club teams with the addition of some interesting guests e.g. Cumbria, GB Police, GB Army ... etc. It would be easy to organise teams to represent England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Australia and NZ while the partic...