INTERNATIONAL Rugby League has scrapped its grand plan to split up the World Cup, admitting the offers it received from potential hosts were not good enough to justify the strategy.
From 2030, the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments were to be held in different territories and separate years. Now the women’s tournament in 2028 and wheelchair in 2029 have been scrapped.
IRL chair Troy Grant said in a statement: “Through the ITT (Invitation To Tender) process, which attracted significant interest, we did not believe that represented the proper value for each of those genres as standalone competitions.
“The IRL was also overwhelmed with feedback from members, players and administrators, who felt that we have a unique forum where the three genres of our game are played together and that allows us a unique opportunity to bring the rugby league family together by keeping the three World Cups as the one event.
“The IRL Board has decided that the World Cups for 2030 will be men’s, women’s and wheelchair, so there will no longer be a standalone Women’s World Cup in 2028 and standalone Wheelchair World Cup in 2029.
“We look forward to continuing what was started at RLWC21 in England in 2022 as a very unique sporting offering, in that we are the only sport that offers men’s, women’s and wheelchair World Cups at the same time.”
The IRL board made the decision on Tuesday and it was ratified by the AGM on Thursday.
Ghana has been added as a full member of the IRL.