BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Exclusive: A fight has erupted between rugby league and rugby union in Norway, with dual governing body the Norwegian Rugby Federation (NRF) controversially expelling Rugby League Norge (RLN) and its 13-player clubs from its organisation.
In Norway rugby union and rugby union co-exist in the same federation, the NRF, and have done so peacefully for more than a decade.
But over the last weekend a bitter code war has broken out in the country, with RLN and its member clubs suddenly removed from the NRF and left without representation, allegedly in response to contact from World Rugby, the world governing body of rugby union.
However, according to several sources, it was the actually NRF who asked World Rugby to exclude the RLN and its rugby league clubs, on the allegedly unfounded accusation that the RLN wants to stage its own coup to kick out rugby union.
This move has stunned and angered rugby league administrators and volunteers in Norway, who strenuously deny any existence of a coup.
Rugby league started in Norway in 2008 and the country is an affiliate member of European Rugby League (ERL), the governing body of the sport in the continent.
According to sources in the past both codes have worked together well to promote both sports across the country and encourage participation.
“In Norway, and in many other emerging nations where both union and league are small sports, the national sport governments puts rugby union and rugby league into the same federation,” a source said.
“In Norway that hasn’t been an issue for the last 12 years”.
But questions have been asked why the NRF has taken this extreme action without consulting its members first.
“There is an attempt to end the agreement between codes, which has formally been in place for the last three years, with limited consultation from their membership, Matthew Shaw, vice-president of Sogndal Rugbyklubb, told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“The NRF have justified this by providing correspondence from World Rugby, but the letter never said to terminate the agreement with immediate effect, it simply asked to be in a meeting with the NRF and NIF (Norwegian Olympic Committee.
“However since the NRF produced this letter it has become evident that they were the ones to contact World Rugby.
“This has left many of us confused as to why the president took this action. I may be incorrect but it appears that the current president has suggested this agreement is unlawful when they were involved in establishing this agreement.
“This seems bemusing to me and I am curious as to why this has only happened following several clubs request to hold a new AGM.”
A spokesperson for ERL told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads in a statement: “ERL is aware of the issue and is working, in concert with the International Rugby League (IRL), to resolve the matter with the sport’s governing bodies in Norway. Playing of the sport is not affected.”
More to follow
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