The Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) has typically been overshadowed by different occasions within the sport, and significantly by the ‘different’ Rugby World Cup – union’s. However, new rules and a plethora of superstars unfold throughout the Pacific nations make the continuing version price a watch.
A cursory have a look at the historical past of the RLWC will present you one factor: Australia have completely dominated the occasion, profitable 12 of 16 editions, with solely New Zealand and Great Britain/England profitable the opposite 4.
At first, which may make the event really feel slightly lopsided, monopolised, or even perhaps monocultural. But truly, that isn’t fairly the case if you look slightly deeper on the sport, and it’s altering face, aided by some evolving worldwide eligibility rules.
Let’s get one factor straight: Rugby league is a sport dominated by Australia, because the NRL is by far the most important and greatest product, attracting prime gamers from throughout the Pacific and even the UK at occasions. England’s Super League, which additionally has a French facet, is the one competitors that comes remotely near competing with it, nevertheless it’s barely comparable.
To illustrate that time financially, the NRL lately signed the biggest broadcast deal in Australian sporting historical past, price $5.3 billion (AUD) for seven years. In distinction, the Super League’s broadcast take care of Sky is reported to be price £21.5 million per season – that’s nearly 20 occasions much less each year.
Australia’s staggering dominance
Displaying the dominance of the NRL in sensible participant phrases: Out of the 230 gamers chosen throughout the ten nations on the ongoing World Cup, 151 of them (~66%) play within the NRL. Further, it has been reported that roughly two-thirds of all of the gamers within the competitors are Australian-born. That’s outstanding when you concentrate on it…
In the complete World Cup, two out of three gamers had been born in Australia, and that’s to not point out the various who moved there at a younger age, which blows the full Aussies out to over three-quarters of the complete participant pool.
To add much more complexity to that: Rugby league is simply highly regarded in two of Australia’s six states – New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland – which have a mixed inhabitants of about 14.5 million. That is lower than the Netherlands, Cambodia, or Ecuador.
Rugby league doesn’t have the worldwide attain of union, which is performed way more broadly. Many rugby strongholds, reminiscent of South Africa and Ireland, barely have rugby league scenes in any respect.
Even New Zealand may be very a lot a union nation; even supposing it produces a bunch of NRL gamers and hosts a franchise, the Warriors. Apart from the incoming Papua New Guinea-based group, the Auckland outfit are the one elite rugby league entity within the Southern Hemisphere exterior of Australia.
In the complete Hemisphere, there may be one absolutely skilled competitors. In that, there are 19 groups if we embody the 2 incoming ones. All however two of these are primarily based in Australia; of these 17, 9 are positioned in Sydney alone, with 10 in NSW (11 for those who embody Canberra).
On the face of it, it’s very clear the place the beating coronary heart of the sport is: Sydney, significantly its western suburbs, together with components of regional NSW and, in fact, Queensland.
It’s straightforward then to know why the centrepiece of the Australian season is the inaugural State of Origin collection – which pits one of the best of NSW-raised gamers in opposition to one of the best of Queensland’s.
Up till final yr, gamers weren’t allowed to swap between the three so-called ‘Tier 1’ nations – Australia, New Zealand & England – at worldwide degree. That meant, if Australian gamers opted to signify a distinct Tier 1 nation at worldwide degree, they might not be eligible for choice in State of Origin.
The inverse was additionally true: Once you went to play Origin, you had been successfully electing to play for Australia, and that meant no switching to New Zealand or England, even for those who met the opposite eligibility necessities.
Game-changing eligibility evolution
This is the place the NRL received inventive and adjusted the rules forward of the 2026 World Cup. As of this yr, now you can play for a Tier 1 nation aside from Australia and nonetheless seem in State of Origin. To put this one other means: You can now play for NSW or Queensland after which signify New Zealand or England on the World Cup.
This is precisely what NRL star Kalyn Ponga, New Zealand’s fullback, has carried out. Ponga represents Queensland, and since he had additionally represented Australia on the 9s World Cup in 2019, he was ineligible to change to New Zealand, the house of his forefathers and the place he spent a portion of his childhood. Despite fulfilling the fundamental eligibility necessities to play for the Kiwis, he was locked into Australian illustration underneath the outdated rules.
Another key instance of those new rules in follow is veteran centre Dane Gagai, who efficiently appealed to change from Australia to New Zealand, regardless of having represented the Kangaroos seven occasions in full 13-a-side Test matches up to now.
The IRL, the physique that runs the sport on the worldwide degree, already had very relaxed rules round worldwide eligibility to permit gamers from the Tier 1 nations to play for the ‘smaller’ Tier 2 or 3 nations. The huge beneficiaries of this method have been the Pacific nations: Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and the Cook Islands, who all have sides on the ongoing World Cup.
There are, in fact, limitations to the switching of allegiances: You should be eligible for the nation you switch to by means of residence, start, dad and mom or grandparents, and you can not signify multiple nation per calendar yr. If you’re transferring between Tier 1 and a couple of/3 nations, you are able to do so a number of occasions, however in case you are transferring between Tiers 2 and three, you are able to do so solely as soon as each 4 years.
Samoa and Tonga, specifically, have constructed formidable sides over the previous few years by tapping into the useful resource of NRL stars who’ve ancestry on the islands, a few of whom have even performed for Australia or New Zealand up to now.
Sometimes, these gamers have even represented multiple lower-tier nation, as is the case of Sydney Roosters ahead Siua Wong, who beforehand performed for Fiji however now performs for Tonga, and was born in New Zealand however went to highschool in Australia.
This may sound like a very unique case research, however these trans-Tasman, even pan-Pacific tales are remarkably frequent in rugby league…
Pan-Pacific cross-pollination
To identify just a few, Samoa have known as on NRL stars Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton, Brian To’o, and Junior Paulo, who had been all raised in Sydney and have represented NSW in State of Origin, in addition to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, who not solely performed for Queensland, however even Australia as lately as 2024, in addition to the Indigenous All-Stars, given he has Torres Strait Islander ancestry.
Like Wong, Tonga’s Katoa brothers, Isaiya and Sione, had been each born in New Zealand, however moved to Sydney at totally different ages. Addin Fonua-Blake was raised in Sydney, and beforehand represented New Zealand. Jojo Fifita is one other who was born in New Zealand however raised in Australia – a Queenslander; he has additionally performed Origin.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is one more star who was born in New Zealand, moved to Australia at a younger age, now represents Tonga however beforehand performed for the Kiwis. Similarly, Jason Taumalolo was raised in New Zealand till he was scouted and moved to North Queensland as a young person.
The Cook Islands now boast the providers of Valentine Holmes, who performed over 20 occasions for Australia up to now, in addition to for Queensland. Fijian captain Apisai Koroisau additionally performed State of Origin, however for NSW, being one other from Sydney. Koroisau’s cousin, Sunia Turuva, performs for Fiji as nicely however can also be from Sydney’s west. Almost all the Lebanese team are Australians with Lebanese, and infrequently combined, roots and most of them emerged out of Sydney’s western suburbs.
If you even wished an argument for the way the NRL overshadows the Super League, England have even poached just a few Aussies to bulk out their facet, with Roosters pair Victor Radley and Hugo Savala each born-and-bred Sydney-siders, whereas regional NSW product Ben Talty and Queensland’s AJ Brimson have additionally been enticed over, with the latter having performed for Australia in 9s.
There’s multiple means to take a look at this demographic ecosystem. On one hand, it’s extremely monocultural, with so many league stars coming from just some major hubs on the east coast of Australia, with a wholesome crop of Kiwis thrown in.
However, the more true means to take a look at it is perhaps to say that the true heartlands of rugby league are simply very various – multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual. That range has allowed the sport to amplify itself out of being simply Australia and New Zealand, simply the NRL, or simply NSW vs Queensland.
What’s extra, with the assistance of some inventive rules, this inherent cultural complexity has allowed the sport to unfold its unbelievable wealth of expertise round a number of nationwide groups within the hope of constructing the RLWC a greater product for followers.
Australia may go on to win one more World Cup title on November fifteenth – they edged their main rivals New Zealand in an epic tournament opener last week, solely including gloss to their favourites tag. But even when they do, that will not change the truth that the RLWC is much more fascinating than it seems to be at first look.
And who is aware of, possibly that is the yr we see a brand new winner, with Samoa and Tonga off to spectacular begins.
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Pat Dempsey is a senior editor on Flashscore’s world information desk. Based in Europe however from Australia, his experience lies in soccer and cricket. You can learn his feature articles here and discover him on LinkedIn.
