Scotland Rugby League | |
---|---|
Founded | 1994 |
IRL affiliation | 2011 |
RLEF affiliation | 2003 |
Responsibility | Scotland |
Key people | Keith Hogg (Chair) |
Competitions | Scottish National League |
Website | scotlandrl.com |
As of 30 June 2009 |
The Scotland Rugby League is the governing body for rugby league football in Scotland. [1] It administers the Scotland national rugby league teams.
The Scotland Division of the Rugby League Conference serves as the domestic competition. It was founded with five teams in 1997 and was administered by Scotland Rugby League. It has been administered by the Rugby League Conference since 2006 and became full members of the International Rugby League in 2007.
In 2024, the body was downgraded to affiliate member due to noncompliance with the full membership criteria. [2] [3]
SRL Leagues | ||||||||
Name | Tier | Established | Winners | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scottish National League | 1 | 1997 | Strathmore Silverbacks | |||||
Scottish Cup | 1 | 1997 | Lomond Valley Raiders |
The Scotland national rugby league team represent Scotland in international rugby league football tournaments. [4] and are nicknamed The Bravehearts. [5] For most of its history, Scotland (along with the other home nations) were represented as Great Britain which ceased playing in the World Cup starting in 1995 (which Scotland did not qualify) and fully disbanded following the 2007 All Golds Tour, [6] Following this, Scottish players play solely for Scotland, apart from the one off 2019 Great Britain Lions tour. [7]
The team formally began in 1995, [5] making them the newest international rugby league team in Great Britain. In their first match they played Ireland, losing narrowly. Since then, Ireland has become the team's main rival, the two teams having played each other many times in their short histories. In 2000 they qualified for their first ever World Cup, but failed to make an impact, losing all three of their group matches; [8] however, their biggest losing margin was just 12 points. [9] In 2008 they beat Wales over two matches to qualify for the 2008 World Cup. [10]
In 2016, Scotland competed at their first every Rugby League Four Nations. They competed against Australia, New Zealand and traditional rivals England. [11]
Scotland became the first nation outside of the three traditionally strongest Rugby League nations to take a competition point with their 18–18 draw against New Zealand in Workington. Scotlands other results were a 12–54 loss to Australia and a galant 12–38 loss to England. [12] [13]
The SRL board consists of the following: