nope

Then lets stop the bullsh*t then.

No bull$h!t here. Italy are definitely in the European Cup.

They dont play Rugby league in Italy.


A bunch of uni brow fellas from Sydney is not an international side.

Padova isn't in Sydney. Do a bit of research before you flop it out onto your keyboard.
And don't do the lazy thing of asking me to prove your point. Do your own looking.

Yeah, lets google the name of a place in Italy. Thats proof the game exists there!


No clubs.

None.

Nothing.

Interesting debate guys being actually played?

According to the RLEF, to become an associate member you need to fufill, amongst others, 2 key criteria:
1. a domestic comp
2. a junior development policy

To my knowledge:

we have:

England
Russia
France

fulfilling this criteria -

also Wales
Scotland
Ireland
Serbia
Lebanon

And that is IT!

Catalunya started to run a domestic 9team comp in 2009 - it was relatively easy to implement given the structure of the Spanish/Catalan sporting organisation - clubs are multi-sport hubs - benfiting from numerous members and great facilities - all having a RU section, they opened a RL section once the Rahrah season has finished

Czech Republic and Germany are implementing some actions to spread the gospel amongst the youth -

But unfortunately, what people calls a "country playing RL" is most of the time, a single bloke with the best will in the world trying to gather players with more or less connection with the relevant country on sporadic occasions - and this is the case for Italy - unfortunately

I am more than happy to be proven wrong and be brought evidence of Local domestic comps elsewhere - I mean regular fixtures not one day events

Thanks

case 1. "My Grand Ma was Italian!" You're in! "Never been there - don't speak Italian "- Don't matter - you're in!
case 2 "I bought a house near Venice "- you're in!
case 3 "I just bought a Fiat" you're in!
etc...

Case 1 on and 2 are true! Heritage rule + residency rule!

The rugby league competition started before the rugby union season had finished.



Sadly this happens in many sports.

Catalancs, Thank you for the information -

So, the season started in Catalunya before RU has finished!
That is good that they could achieve it - did it clash with RU?

To follow up on your despised comments:
The fact that once or twice a year, someone pulls together a dozen of guys with more or less connection with the country to prentend the game is played ther is simply foolish.

We are fooling ourselves meanwhile the long, hard and patient development work is not done and the roots are not laid!

RU is miles in advance over RL in Europe. Not to mention other popular team sports...

No worries. There were a couple of clashes with the rugby union, but games of both codes were rearranged to accomdate the other.
All the teams that took part in this year's competition have asked to take part next year.

[[iquote]Rugby league is a a minority sport that is only just starting out in some of the few European countries were it is played.
[/i
Agreed! It is just interesting to see how the RFL/RLEF market this with grandiloquent emphasis FACT

Since the RFL is investing money - I guess - I would wonder if the Ratio £ invested vs. hours of RL played by new people is good value!