U19 European Championships - 2024 set-up confirmed

[gingerjon]

14 July - Serbia v Ukraine, Scotland v USA

17 July - Winners of those matches face England and France, losers play off for 5th and 6th

21 July - 3/4 Play off, Final

All in Belgrade. https://europeanrugbyleague.com/articles/2407/2024-european-u19s-championship-adds-tra...?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2L_1J-K7inuv98TmNZda5JySY5jquk2fz_RAmLRzFu5k--a5xI0zL4oYo_aem_AW3oWU0tUFsga4A-5k8GTGzhuH9s3CBzBtvxAx0TXdI6depLVzzYy_IaxPJX9K1veHJqQ-3AMM19zK_Njo5B9_p4

Next one proposed for 2026.

[bird]

Wales and Ireland out, Scotland and Italy in. Who made that call?

[sam4731]

2 hours ago, bird said:

Wales and Ireland out, Scotland and Italy in. Who made that call?

Probably doing a foreign exchange programme with USA and they'll be contesting the Americas championship.

[barnyia]

It says on the French federation site that it's 6 teams, 

Serbia v Ukraine winner plays England in the sem and USA v Scotland winner plays France  in the other semi, then 5v6  play off, 3v4  play off and final

 

[OriginalMrC]

USA? Surprised Wales and Ireland aren't in. Did they not qualify?

[barnyia]

I don't think you need to qualify you just need to have a team, 

[NRLandSL]

34 minutes ago, barnyia said:

I don't think you need to qualify you just need to have a team, 

So I assume Wales just haven’t bothered to enter, seems an incrediblely silly decision. What the Wales rugby league board even doing if there playing no first team internationals and no youth internationals.

[Gomersall]

Scotland heritage team will be in with a shout.

[Gomersall]

https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/05/21/nrls-vegas-venture-helps-inspire-first-usa-youth-team/

[Damien]

27 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

So I assume Wales just haven’t bothered to enter, seems an incrediblely silly decision. What the Wales rugby league board even doing if there playing no first team internationals and no youth internationals.

Wales Youth certainly do play fixtures, the 16s and 19s played 4 last year, and are far and away the best of the developing home nations on the youth front.

[DoubleD]

Europe's borders sure are expanding if the USA are now part of it

[John bird]

1 hour ago, DoubleD said:

Europe's borders sure are expanding if the USA are now part of it

Look at it like Israel being in the Eurovision Song Contest.

[Gomersall]

47 minutes ago, John bird said:

Look at it like Israel being in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Or Australia.

[Gomersall]

1 hour ago, DoubleD said:

Europe's borders sure are expanding if the USA are now part of it

Nothing wrong with having a guest team involved IMO, no matter where they are from.

[langpark]

11 hours ago, bird said:

Wales and Ireland out, Scotland and Italy in. Who made that call?

Where did you see Italy on the list?

Wales not playing, yet Scotland playing is an interesting one. I do not believe teams qualify for this, they simply send an expressio of interest. Perhaps money was an issue for some?

Either way, pretty exciting to USA joining, will be interesting to see how they go!

[Gomersall]

30 minutes ago, langpark said:

Where did you see Italy on the list?

Wales not playing, yet Scotland playing is an interesting one. I do not believe teams qualify for this, they simply send an expressio of interest. Perhaps money was an issue for some?

Either way, pretty exciting to USA joining, will be interesting to see how they go!

The RLE article in the OP link is a tad confusing. They mention England winning in 2022 in Italy. I think that’s where the confusion is from. Italy aren’t listed in barnyia’s post above where he links the FFRXIII website.

[OriginalMrC]

I'm still not sure what's going on with this championship. We have a country at war, a non European country, a country that hasn't played a home game in years along with an up and coming country. Yet no Ireland, Wales or Italy. Surely those 3 countries should be targeting tournaments like this as part of their development. 

[John bird]

36 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I'm still not sure what's going on with this championship. We have a country at war, a non European country, a country that hasn't played a home game in years along with an up and coming country. Yet no Ireland, Wales or Italy. Surely those 3 countries should be targeting tournaments like this as part of their development. 

excuse my ignorance but is the Ukrainian team picked from players actually from Ukraine or Ukrainian refugees living in the UK?

[OriginalMrC]

2 hours ago, John bird said:

excuse my ignorance but is the Ukrainian team picked from players actually from Ukraine or Ukrainian refugees living in the UK?

As far as I know they are all players based in Ukraine. They have 10-15 clubs and over 500 players 

[John bird]

19 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

As far as I know they are all players based in Ukraine. They have 10-15 clubs and over 500 players 

That’s amazing considering all that’s going on in that country.

[Whippet13]

57 minutes ago, John bird said:

That’s amazing considering all that’s going on in that country.

Ukrainian sport in general continues, it is to maintain some normality to life, build links with Europe and show the Russians they will not simply give up on daily things because they are under attack.

A number of the older RL players are in the armed forces, but the youth are pretty much unaffected. 

I think I read somewhere that the last time Ukraine played Russia in any team sport was an RL international, Ukraine won.

[welshmagpie]

On 21/05/2024 at 14:23, NRLandSL said:

So I assume Wales just haven’t bothered to enter, seems an incrediblely silly decision. What the Wales rugby league board even doing if there playing no first team internationals and no youth internationals.

They’ve got 3 U16 internationals, 3 U19 internationals plus 3 men’s internationals in the pipeline. 

[welshmagpie]

Just now, welshmagpie said:

They’ve got 3 U16 internationals, 3 U19 internationals plus 3 men’s internationals in the pipeline. 

U16s

01/06: Ireland (A)

29/06: Scotland (H)

03/08: England Community Lions (A)

U19s

25/06: Ireland (H)

05/10: Ireland (A)

25/10: France (A)

[Archie Gordon]

30 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

They’ve got 3 U16 internationals, 3 U19 internationals plus 3 men’s internationals in the pipeline. 

Thanks.

But what is the reason they are not going to Serbia?

[welshmagpie]

13 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:

Thanks.

But what is the reason they are not going to Serbia?

I’d hazard it’ll be something to do with having a younger squad than usual or allocating sponsorship monies to already arranged fixtures. I’m only guessing here. This largely U17 group of U19s could target 2026