The International Rugby League (IRL) is defending the changes it has made to the qualification process for this year’s, and future, Rugby League World Cups. It follows criticism of the revamped format by one of the nations that didn’t qualify for RLWC26. That country is Jamaica and the director of rugby with Jamaica Rugby League, Romeo Monteith, made it clear in an interview with RLP that he and his fellow executives on the Caribbean island are disappointed with the IRL’s changes as the Reggae Warriors won’t be competing as a result.
Monteith said it is even more disappointing to see that there are now fewer opportunities for all regions to be represented at the World Cup, which he said is not representative of the world game. He was referring to the IRL’s introduction of more inter-conference regional championships and the World Series, which were all aimed at filling the final few places for RLWC26. In defense of those changes, IRL chairman Troy Grant says he and the Board understand nations who have previously participated in World Cups feel the new format creates fewer opportunities for them, but he thinks the comment needs to be taken into full context.
“The reality is the IRL is working on creating greater, genuine pathways and opportunities for nations to compete in a World Cup through genuine growth pathways, not token participation where they are NOT competitive, and having too many teams detract from the commercial and competitiveness sustainability of the World Cups,” he says. “The reality is that with France withdrawing late as hosts of RLWC26 and a shorter runway to organise RLWC26, fewer teams were the only affordable way to ensure the Cup is successful both on and off the field. There are nations that consequently miss out but that’s the short term not necessarily the longer-term situation.”
The number of teams competing at RLWC26 has been reduced from 16 to 10 as part of the IRL’s efforts to streamline the competition and Grant says he believes it’s realistic to the sustainability and affordability of World Cups, which he says will now be the most competitive and contested in history. “The World Cups are not a participation competition,” he continues. “It is the pinnacle trophy for our sport that should be competitive and hard fought after with the winners not clear before the tournament starts and I believe that is the case for RLWC26.”
Grant says Rugby League World Cups won’t necessarily stay at 10 teams. He says the IRL is focusing investment into regional championships and pathways into a World Series which lead to World Cup qualification. “It is a genuine pathway and allows for real growth in the game not arterial growth in competitiveness,” he adds. “It will take time to mature and will have longer term benefits for nations in participation for the game as well over time. We are working on Accelerator nation initiatives to FastTrack some of the growth and will be talking about that more soon. The number of competing teams for each World Cup is decided upon with each World Cup’s design, capability, logistics and sensibility to ensure they are successful.”
One other criticism Monteith had about RLWC26 is that he suggested the bulk of teams will consist mainly of NRL and Super League players, which he said doesn’t benefit players from countries who don’t play in those leagues. “Most nations will presumably select mostly professional players from the two professional competitions in the world, however, there will be a good number of players across the three competitions from semiprofessional and or amateur competitions as well,” he says. “The sport wants to showcase the best athletes our games have and I’m very confident that will be the case. I’m very excited about this year’s World Cup and how attractive it will be and a wonderful showcase for our sport worldwide.”
Looking ahead to the next World Cup, Grant says the Board is finalising the construct of RLWC30. “We have agreed a path forward at our last meeting in Singapore and I’m very excited by what the Board have built. We will be making announcements about RLWC30 during RLWC26.”
