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Rugby Football League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rugby Football League |
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| Founded: 1895 |
| RLIF Affiliation: 1948 |
| Headquarters: Leeds, Yorkshire |
| Chairman: Richard Lewis (2002-) |
| Nations |
 England France Wales Ireland Scotland |
| Competitions |
| Super League Challenge Cup National Leagues Northern Rail Cup Rugby League Conference |
| Official Site |
| www.therfl.co.uk |
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in the United Kingdom. Based in Leeds it administers the Great Britain national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, the Rugby League National Leagues and Super League (Europe). The amateur/junior game is administered in association with the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA).
With the advent of Wales Rugby League, Scotland Rugby League and Rugby League Ireland, the RFL is increasingly becoming an English organisation.
The RFL is part of the Community Board which also has representatives from BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League and Student Rugby League.
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On 29 August 1895, 22 rugby clubs from across the north of England held a meeting in the George Hotel in Huddersfield, next to the railway station. They voted to secede from the Rugby Football Union and set up their own Northern Rugby Football Union, later known as the Northern Union (NU). The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisation. This has since been supplanted by Super League and the Rugby League National Leagues.
The RFL were originally based at 180 Chapeltown Road, Leeds but later moved to Red Hall, Leeds.
The RFL board consists of 5 members:
- Richard Lewis, the Executive Chairman for the Rugby Football League. A former tennis player, coach and Director of Tennis.
- Maurice Watkins, a sports lawyer from James Chapman & Co in Manchester. He is a director at Manchester United football club, a member of the FA Premier League Legal Working, a member of FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber and a Regional Director for Coutts Bank. He also holds the position of President of the British Association for Sport and Law.
- Bob Stott, an experienced Director in industry currently on the board of Morrisons Plc.
- Ian Edwards, a former Media Director at the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon. He was a sports correspondent for ITN and was Head of Sport at BBC Manchester from 1987 to 1989. He also has rugby league experience at French club Carcassonne and rugby union caps for Welsh club Cardiff RFC.
- Nigel Wood, finance director of the Rugby Football League. A former accountant for the BBC and chief executive of Halifax RLFC.
The head of refereeing in the RFL is former referee Stuart Cummings. The RFL decided that from the 2007 there would be 6 full time referees, previously referees had only been part time. The RFL still employs part time officials to supplement the 6 full time referees in the Super League and to be touch/in-goal judges in the Super League. The National Leagues are still refereed by part-time referees. There are currently 6 full time referees in the RFL:
- Ashley Klein
- Ben Thaler
- Ian Smith
- Phil Bentham
- Steve Ganson
- Richard Silverwood
Refereeing Appointments
There was some criticism of the RFL for allowing Steve Ganson, born in St Helens and also a former member of the St Helens RFLC fan club, to be an official in matches involving St Helens RLFC. Ganson was the video referee in the first match of the season between Huddersfield Giants and St Helens in which he disallowed a Huddersfield try. Ganson was also allowed to be the video referee in the local derby between Wigan Warriors and St Helens at the JJB Stadium. It was also suggested that Steve Ganson should not be allowed to referee games involving the Wigan Warriors who have a strong local rivalry with the St Helens club.
Ganson Gate
Ganson Gate is a term used by some rugby league fans to describe the refereeing mistakes during a Leeds Rhinos verses Bradford Bulls match at the Millennium Magic weekend. The referee Steve Ganson and video referee Ashley Klein made a series of mistakes which allowed Leeds to win the game in the last minute. Both referees apologised for their errors and were not allowed to referee in the Challenge Cup matches the weekend after.[1][2]
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| Competitions | Super League · National League · Challenge Cup · National League Cup · National Conference League · CMS Yorkshire league · North West Counties · Pennine League · Cumberland League · Hull & District League · Barrow & District League · Rugby League Conference · Midlands Merit League · London League |
| National teams | Great Britain · England · Ireland · Scotland · Wales |
| Federations | RFL · BARLA · Rugby League Ireland · Wales Rugby League · Scotland Rugby League |
| Former competitions | Championship · Premiership · Lancs/Yorks Cups · Lancs/Yorks League Regal Trophy · Charity Shield · BBC2 Floodlit Trophy |
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