At a recent meeting in its new offices near London Bridge, the RLEF Board discussed the instigation of a wider European calendar, to include evolving the three-tier European Championship and expanding the age group competition.
“We made clear progress on the subject of the European Championship,” said RLEF chairman Maurice Watkins. “All parties are keen to work together as we enter our new eight-year strategic cycle, to ensure that our senior competition is as strong as possible and supported by a coherent structure offering stability and aspiration to all our members.
“Also discussed were the results of a membership-wide consultation on increasing the RLEF’s youth competition, on which we will continue to work with them to establish the best possible outcome for our sport.”
The RLEF has confirmed that it will conduct a live draw for the U19 European Championship 2018, set to take place in August in Belgrade, Serbia. Top seeds England and France will be kept in opposite groups, as will second tier seeds Wales and Scotland.
Details of the full draw (which, as well the above four countries and our Serbian hosts will include Ireland, Russia, and the winner of the qualification match between Italy and Ukraine) will be communicated in due course .
