Countries playing league

[milton]

I am putting a list together:

1. Australia
2. NZ
3. PNG
4. Fiji
5. Tonga
6. Samoa
7. Cook Islands
8. England
9. Ireland
10. Scotland
11. Wales
12. France
13. USA
14. Jamaica
15. Russia
16. Germany
17. Holland
18. Serbia
19. Lebanon
20. Japan
21. Singapore
22. Canada
23. Georgia
24. South Africa
25. Niue
26. Argentina
27. Czeck Republic

Others with a different county for base/ not fully developed

28. Italy
29. Greece
30. Estonia
31. Malta
32. Morroco
33. New Caladonia
34. Portugal
35. Solomon Islands
36. Belarus
37 Tokelau
38. American Samoa

Unsure
39. Moldova
40. Kazakhstan
41. Ukraine
42. Austria
43. China
44. Norfolk Islands
45. Tartastan
46. Kenya
47. Norway
__________________



Have i missed any??

 

[yakstorm]

Possibly best to break the nations up into appropiate groups:

Nations with Senior & Junior structures
Australia, Cook Islands, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, New Zealand, PNG, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Tonga, Wales

Nations with Senior only structures
Argentina, Japan, Jamaica, Lebanon, Morocco, New Calendonia, Samoa, South Africa, USA

Nations with teams but no structured competition
Canada, Germany, Holland, Estonia (Likely to move soon), Georgia (Likely to move soon)

New/Developing Nations
Belarus, Malta, Portugal, Greece, Italy

 

[Big Bunny]

I have a list as my signature but I don't list Belarus because no news from a credible source has come out of there and I won't list Niue because they are a team of expats in NZ and won't ever be more because Niue's population is just too small. Another nation is Solomon Islands, but I'm not clear on their status.

 

[Big Bunny]

Oh, there's also Tokelau, but I think they were in the same position as Niue when playing the the Pacific Cup during the 80's.

There's also the extinct nations Moldova and Kazakhstan and one I'm not sure of its status in the Ukraine.

 

[Sun_Down]

I saw a China RL website a while ago...I dont think theres much going on there though...

 

[Der Kaiser]

Germany will run a 9a side comp in Bavaria as well as 2 Austrian sides-Linz and Innsbruck joining.We will also look to have Germany v Austria play each other hopefully at 13 a side on 17th June!

 

[screeny]

Germany will run a 9a side comp in Bavaria as well as 2 Austrian sides-Linz and Innsbruck joining.

Ah....Anschluss. Excellent.

 

[milton]

I added more getting closer to 50

 

[screeny]

Yakstorm put Morocco as a nation with a 'senior structure'....the only Moroccan senior structure is in the south of France, playing in the French league and the Med Cup.

 

[Big Bunny]

Yakstorm put Morocco as a nation with a 'senior structure'....the only Moroccan senior structure is in the south of France, playing in the French league and the Med Cup.

I must have imagined that tour by Lebanon Espoirs to Morocco then.

 

[SalfordRedsWA]

Why have some of you listed England, Scotland etc and not as the UK as a whole as you have listed Australia as one and not NSW, Qld, Vic etc??

 

[yakstorm]

Why have some of you listed England, Scotland etc and not as the UK as a whole as you have listed Australia as one and not NSW, Qld, Vic etc??

England, Scotland and Wales all operate as seperate 'international bodies' and are also funded and run as such now. There is also a long sporting history of Wales, England and Scotland as seperate bodies, you only need to look at other sports such as Associated Football (Soccer), Rugby Union, Netball, Cricket even Lawn Bowls. They are also recognised by their appropiate governments as independant international sides, and allowed to enter sides as appropiate.

This is not the case in Australia, as all the state bodies are directly affiliated with the ARL who are also the only body allowed to create an international side in Australia for Rugby League.

 

[screeny]

I must have imagined that tour by Lebanon Espoirs to Morocco then.

So you think an outgoing or incoming tour signifies that a domestic structure is in place?

Any fool can group together some rah rahs and get them to play a game of RL or two.

Surely you must be the tiniest bit suspicious of Morocco, or do you still truly believe that there's some meaningful domestic structure in place over there, even though absolutely no evidence has been produced to support such a notion?

 

[In-goal]

Portugal what's going on there?

 

[Big Bunny]

So you think an outgoing or incoming tour signifies that a domestic structure is in place?

Any fool can group together some rah rahs and get them to play a game of RL or two.

Surely you must be the tiniest bit suspicious of Morocco, or do you still truly believe that there's some meaningful domestic structure in place over there, even though absolutely no evidence has been produced to support such a notion?

No I don't believe it signifies structure, but by your own logic you should. You stated that you consider a French based team to be 'senior structure' and I certainly believe that Morocco at least matches that. Beyond that, Lebanon faced two different sides. Now, union players or not they had enough interest to play rugby league and go to the effort of inviting the Lebanese to play them at that game, not union.

I don't know if there's much rugby league in Morocco but I'm not so blind as to believe the line that there's none, when quite clearly no person would ever bother to launch a website dedicated to it without mentioning it to the public, giving their address and contact details along with posting photos of junior players. They might be the only club in Morocco and certainly it's been proven that the French based guys ARE aware of Berrechid's existence but it's a lot more than NO evidence.

Do I believe that there's a regular league? No I don't, but there's too much documented to suggest that there's nothing there as per your belief.

 

[screeny]

I reckon there's no structure in Morocco, true. Now, what is structure? Well, different people will have different definitions, but loosely speaking I would consider regular week-in-week-out RL coaching over a designated RL season as a structure.

The reason I mentioned the Moroccans in France is that they're the only Moroccans who play regular RL, in my opinion.

As for the Espoir tour perhaps the Morocco RU players like playing RL so jump at the chance whenever the opportunity arises?

The only thing I heard about Berechid, which I completely accept exists, is that MBarki tried to stop them going to ROtterdam by complaining to the embassy they would all try and claim asylum or abscond in Holland!

The RLEF should clarify the Morocco situation for the good of the game.

 

[milton]

any more countries come along?

 

[Mr_Ugly]

I think you could probably knock Kenya off that list, and I haven't heard anything out of Argentina or Canada for some time.

Also, I think Norfolk Island is a territory of Australia, and ditto American Samoa in relation to the US, and New Caledonia the French.

Also, does anyone actually know what the state of play actually is in the Solomons?

There was talk of Lithuania sending a team to the Tallin 9s, but I don't know if anything came of it. Also, I think someone found reference to Latvia on one of the Russian sites, but if they were involved it would appear to have been a one off and some time ago.

Similarly there was reported interest in Chile at one stage, but I don't think anything came of it

Czech Republic and Austria are only potentials at this stage, although that should change this year.

The Venice 9s might also see Italy move categories, and the Greeks similarly intend to get a domestic comp up in about August I think (albeit made up largely of Australian players ... a strange tactic if you ask me).


MRLA ... is happenning in Malta this year?


EDIT:
Incidentally, Estonia are working on setting up their first dedicated RL club.

03 03 06
Tallinn rugby club chairman John Slade had a productive meeting with the rector of Tallinn University on the subject of setting up there own university team.
Its always difficult with university rugby teams due to the turn over of students but its certainly worth a shot.

With its own Estonian rugby coaches who have gone through the university system it has a very good chance of working.

Rugby League seems to be the first choice with its simpler rules for both the girls and boys.

 

[brendothejet]

In terms of countries qualifiying as countries i believe we should adopt the olympic viewpoint.

If the nation exists in the eyes of the IOC then they are a seperate entity. If not include them with their parental nation.

In terms of recognising them as a league nation we start on the slippery slope of developing nations based in aus vs based at home....

im not going there again.

 

[Mr_Ugly]

Fair enough ... do Norfolk Is, American Samoa and New Cal count as countries to the IOC?