NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo says the Australian game is “100 per cent committed” to international Rugby League and will create a dedicated representative window at the end of every year.
Mid-season international rounds recently took place in each hemisphere but they appear likely to be the last, certainly in the south, because of a new broadcast deal returning all three matches in the State of Origin series to midweek.
International Rugby League (IRL) are currently putting together a calendar for the next twelve years, with a focus on an extended period at the end of every season for international matches – a prospect Abdo describes as “incredibly exciting”.
“The (ARL) Commission are 100 per cent committed to international football,” said Abdo.
“We are all incredibly excited about the re-birth of international football coming out of what we have been restricted to the last couple of years.
“It is the X-factor we have with Rugby League – the opportunity that we have to really grow the international game.”
“What we are doing is thinking strategically about the season and the construct of the season… (including) an international window in October and November.
“Instead of having just a single round we can start to think about tours, we can start to think about tournaments, and we can start to think about regular content every year, instead of just doing a one-off.”
The recent mid-season round was marred by it taking place on different weeks in the two hemispheres, and Abdo said: “Strategically it makes sense to have a dedicated international window that harmonises across the world, that has all the players available.”
IRL Chairman Troy Grant aims to finalise a calendar for 2023 and 2024 shortly after this autumn’s World Cup, and next year confirm a schedule for much further into a future.
“It’s a twelve-year calendar, but we’re just making sure we get the first years right and commercially sound between now and ’25,” Grant told the BBC’s Five Live Rugby League podcast.
“Once that is announced the work will continue in ’23 for the remainder of the 12 years.”
Grant said there is a “high possibility” of New Zealand and Australia touring England in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
Further ahead, he said “tournament-type events” would be prominent in the calendar, encouraging multiple countries to tour at once and for competitions to take place in each hemisphere between their leading nations.
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