THE International Rugby League have U-turned on holding their three World Cups separately in future.
In 2023, the IRL decided to split up the tournaments, with a standalone women’s event set to be held in 2028, a wheelchair competition the following year, and the men’s World Cup in 2030.
But they will now all be held together in 2030, as they were in England in 2022 and will be again next year in Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
The reversal comes after bids were invited for each of the separate events, with a total of 13 confirmed tenders.
IRL chair Troy Grant said the bids did not represent best value, and that the strength of feeling across the game also contributed to the U-turn at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“Through the (bid) process, which attracted significant interest, we did not believe that represented the proper value for each of those genres as standalone competitions,” explained Grant.
“The IRL was also overwhelmed with feedback from members, players and administrators, who felt that we have a unique forum where the three genres of our game are played together and that allows us a unique opportunity to bring the rugby league family together by keeping the three World Cups as the one event.
“We look forward to continuing what was started in England in 2022 as a very unique sporting offering, in that we are the only sport that offers Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair World Cups at the same time.”
While the women’s World Cup was held adjacent to the men’s in 2000, 2008, 2013 and 2017, and the wheelchair likewise in 2008 and 2013, they were only organised together for the first time three years ago.
The move was widely considered a great success, with players in all three receiving the same participation fees and every match across the tournaments being broadcast on live TV.
It shone a greater light on the women’s and wheelchair games than ever before, especially the latter in England as the hosts won the competition.
Work will now begin on devising qualifying processes for the 2030 World Cup.
Meanwhile, the IRL have awarded full member status to Ghana, taking that club to 15 nations.
Australia, Cook Islands, England, Fiji, France, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Serbia, South Africa, Tonga, Ukraine and Wales also hold the status.
Only IRL full members are eligible to enter qualifying for the men’s World Cup.