"International calendar paying dividends" - "IRL is planning on publishing its new strategy this year"

[Hopie]

https://www.intrl.sport/article/734/how-the-international-calendar-is-paying-dividends-

A masterclass in spin and propaganda looking back, but I am interested to see what our overlords have planned for the future if/when it comes out.

As ever, England need a fixture list to advertise before the end of the tournament if they are to build on any spike in interest, but it just doesn't happen in the NRL sphere of influence. 

[Damien]

Nothing like taking credit for stuff you had no part in.

[Tommygilf]

I did like how it was the NRL and PVL, as well as the RFL and Simon Moran.

No love lost there!

Taking credit for the Ashes is insane.

[Damien]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

I did like how it was the NRL and PVL, as well as the RFL and Simon Moran.

No love lost there!

Taking credit for the Ashes is insane.

Yeah I noticed that too, so blatant.

[Eddie]

To be fair the Pacific Championship does look like a decent comp, I’d love it if we could have something half as good in Europe, but claiming that the IRL are responsible for the return of the Ashes is just far fetched. 

[Hopie]

16 minutes ago, Eddie said:

To be fair the Pacific Championship does look like a decent comp, I’d love it if we could have something half as good in Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_Four_Nations

[Pulga]

45 minutes ago, Eddie said:

To be fair the Pacific Championship does look like a decent comp, I’d love it if we could have something half as good in Europe, but claiming that the IRL are responsible for the return of the Ashes is just far fetched. 

The Pac Championships is an NRL property anyway.

[StandOffHalf]

1 hour ago, Pulga said:

The Pac Championships is an NRL property anyway.

Are they even real internationals? Do they use NRL laws?

[langpark]

Here's a part I find "interesting"...

Other decisions around the commercial calendar taken in 2023 included:

• Greater focus on World Cup qualification and the creation of the IRL Rugby League World Series

I remember this in 2023.  Their definition of "greater focus on qualifiers" was to drastically slash them to just two available spots.  8 teams had pre-qualified based on their form from four years ago, leaving only two available spots for the rest.  So 80% of WC spots are pre-allocated four years in advance.  Some "greater focus" that is! 

[Dave T]

God bless the IRL!

[Dave T]

Absolute gaslighting a-holes.

So in 2023 they voted to introduce a new Pacific Nations, that launched in 2019 and had only been on hold due to Covid cancellations and the World Cup.

They also voted to heroically bring back the Ashes after a 22 year hiatus - ignoring the fact that we had an Ashes scheduled, and cancelled due to Covid, in 2020.

Saying that the Aussies toured for the first time since 2003 is just nonsense. They came and played 3 games, which is fewer than they played when they came to the UK in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2016, plus another couple of trips for World Cups during that period (plus a couple of years of cancellations for COVID).

Absolute weasels.

Edited June 2 by Dave T

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Absolute gaslighting a-holes.

So in 2023 they voted to introduce a new Pacific Nations, that launched in 2019 and had only been on hold due to Covid cancellations and the World Cup.

They also voted to heroically bring back the Ashes after a 22 year hiatus - ignoring the fact that we had an Ashes scheduled, and cancelled due to Covid, in 2020.

Saying that the Aussies toured for the first time since 2003 is just nonsense. They came and played 3 games, which is fewer than they played when they came to the UK in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2016, plus another couple of trips for World Cups during that period (plus a couple of years of cancellations for COVID).

Absolute weasels.

Lets face it the IRL's contribution to the big ticket items is a press release with a new calendar every few years when the NRL change their mind and to say yes you can play that game when the NRL and RFL arrange something and tell them they are doing it.

[Dave T]

2 minutes ago, Damien said:

Lets face it the IRL's contribution to the big ticket items is a press release with a new calendar every few years when the NRL change their mind and to say yes you can play that game when the NRL and RFL arrange something and tell them they are doing it.

The actual good news story here is the increasing central levy, maybe they could give us some genuine context around what that is used for and the sense of scale of it. They intentionally erase any mention of World Cup income to make this sound better too.

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

The actual good news story here is the increasing central levy, maybe they could give us some genuine context around what that is used for and the sense of scale of it. They intentionally erase any mention of World Cup income to make this sound better too.

Yeah that peeked my interest too. You'd imagine it would be a percentage from the bigger tier 1 games by the sound of it. Considering how little the IRL has it would take much from things like the Ashes and Pacific Championships to have a decent effect.

[Click]

The IRL is like a bad supply teacher at school, pretending to supervise the kids but is really just there to mark the attendance sheet.

[welshmagpie]

They never stick to any timeline they set themselves but this is of interest, given it is much needed for most (if not already existing in Europe!):

“IRL is planning on publishing its new strategy this year, including a regional competition component. This will provide nations with a regular, coherent representative pathway sitting a level below the world cup finals, allowing national federations to develop on and off the field.”

A reminder of these also:

 

 

[rlno1]

On 02/06/2026 at 16:13, langpark said:

Here's a part I find "interesting"...

Other decisions around the commercial calendar taken in 2023 included:

• Greater focus on World Cup qualification and the creation of the IRL Rugby League World Series

I remember this in 2023.  Their definition of "greater focus on qualifiers" was to drastically slash them to just two available spots.  8 teams had pre-qualified based on their form from four years ago, leaving only two available spots for the rest.  So 80% of WC spots are pre-allocated four years in advance.  Some "greater focus" that is! 

All their decisions are based on whether it can make money and that is basically it.

Edited June 3 by rlno1

[JohnM]

Not much to add to what has been said already. Saints preserve us from words such as "pathway". Creating one does not mean it will be used. What we need, I believe, is a simple, straightforward, fixed, reliable,  predictable,  fulfilled fixture list, not a series of contrived competitions.

The artlcle also seems to skip any mention of the shambles of the creation of the 2026 world cup. 

Oh,  and since when has a 3 game series counted as a tour? 

Edited June 3 by JohnM

[Jonty58]

I enjoyed the Ashes series but I am not sure how competitive the series was.

Aggregate scores were

70- 18

[langpark]

9 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

A reminder of these also:

Using rankings to determine World Cup spots is the most boring and almost anti-sporting way to decide WC spots.

Also, playing in a WC is so heavily weighted compared to other regular fixture, that those top 8 will only deeper entrench themselves in the top 8 time and time again, making it increasingly difficult for any of the others to ever break into the top 8.

I also look forward to the top shelf gymnastics and maneuvering they will perform in order to accommodate Lebanon - yet again.  Time after time they break their own rules in order to include them.

[Sports Prophet]

I understand why some would feel using rankings as the qualification metric is not ideal.

What it does do is focus on those nations hovering around the 8 (Fiji, France, Cooks, Serbia, Holland and Ukraine) to crack on and get some fixtures in the calendar or they may see themselves missing out.

Agree or disagree with the format, to make it, you will have to be playing matches.

[Damien]

The issue with the top 8 automatically qualifying is that is way too many in a 10 team format. It was fine when it was planned as 16 but once that was changed to 10 teams then it should have been changed to 4 and the 4 semi finalists.

The bigger issue with the IRL rankings is that it will massively suit the nations in this World Cup and the present incumbents. They have a massive advantage. And of course that is then heavily weighted towards the southern hemisphere NRL heritage teams.

What we have this year is what suits the NRL and makes it nice and cheap and easy to organise. However it is not reflective of world RL, its a Pacific Championship with a couple of add ons. That what is easy for the NRL this year isnt going to be easy for the next country, which I presume will end up being England/UK/France in some form, and will be far more costly.

Edited June 3 by Damien

[rlno1]

2 hours ago, Jonty58 said:

I enjoyed the Ashes series but I am not sure how competitive the series was.

Aggregate scores were

70- 18

1984 Ashes series in Australia was 63-19...six years later Gt Britain were seconds from winning the Ashes. Things can change, develop and improve.

Edited June 3 by rlno1

[Worzel]

On 02/06/2026 at 08:44, Dave T said:

The actual good news story here is the increasing central levy, maybe they could give us some genuine context around what that is used for and the sense of scale of it. They intentionally erase any mention of World Cup income to make this sound better too.

Wasn't the central levy distributed to those key international growth markets of York and Bradford? 

[Trebian]

On 02/06/2026 at 08:42, Pulga said:

The Pac Championships is an NRL property anyway.

The Pacific Championships are part of the NRL's commitment to the Australian government to develop RL in the Pacific and admit the PNG Chiefs into the NRL in return for $600m over 10 years. They are a great spectacle and have drawn a lot of interest in Oz and NZ as well as across the islands. Again, its about putting on a show and that is something the NRL are starting to get good at.