Around the World in 80 Minutes

This is our new weekly article bringing you all the latest news from the Rugby League world where the light of focus has never been before.

United Arab Emirates drama

This week starts off with the shocking news that Rugby League is a fraud; well at least to the board of the United Arab Emirates Rugby Union Federation (UAERF) it is. The UAERF have claimed that the Rugby League Commission are using the word rugby to promote themselves fraudulently off the UAERF and using the term Rugby to promote their game when the UAERF claim to be the only authority to do so.

The story gets stranger with the president of the UAE's Rugby League commission having been arrested and has had fraud charges placed on him. The situation which has forced the UAE's premier competition the Nissan RL Cup Preliminary final between the Dubai Sharks and the Xodus Wasps having been cancelled with the grand final which is due to be played in a fortnight set for a similar fate. The fate of Rugby League in the United Arab Emirates hangs on the result of this situation and if things go the way of the UAERF then Rugby League could be completely wiped from the UAE and set back its introduction into the middle-east.

BUT before you think it doesn't go any further, on Sunday night the UAERF has put out a press release that has claimed that they are the sole operator of all Rugby codes and that whilst they support Rugby League being played in the UAE they believe it is wrong that the RLIF & RLEF have supported the country's rugby league competition and even believe that its wrong that the UAE have been placed in 29th position on the world rankings.

There will be more news in the coming days and weeks, so let's hope that a speedy conclusion can be reached but it's looking doubtful we will see a result by the time next article is out.

Representative weekend a boon for international showdowns

Meanwhile, in better international Rugby League news over the past two weekends the international game has flourished with plenty of international action over the past fortnight.

Last weekend in Australia, we saw five different international matches played right across the weekend, On Saturday we saw three test matches play, Papua New Guinea took on Fiji at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast as well as arch rivals Samoa and Tonga at the same venue. The games saw plenty of future and current NRL talent on show and saw Fiji defeat PNG 22-10 and Samoa beat Tonga 18-16.

Also on Saturday night in horrible conditions at Campbelltown Stadium, an important clash took place with the small pacific nation of Niue taking on South Africa. The match was a significant on because it was one of the first official recognised test matches that the small pacific island nations had played in. The South African team was an important part of the game with 19 of the 22 man squad all playing in the South African rugby league competition.

It was the first time in over 50 years that a South African team had toured Australia and given that majority of the squad are South African based it was an exciting time for them to re-grow the game and hopefully improve their ranking of 31st.

Niue used a team that was primarily based in Australia and New Zealand with 4 of their players based in the rising Victorian Rugby League competition. Niue stormed into the international scene back in 2011 when they reached the semi-finals of the Cabramatta International 9s, This set Niue's path to the International rankings and this match was an important step into proving they can compete with the teams qualifying for the 2017 World Cup.

In the end Niue didn't just show they can compete with these teams, they showed they could be a contender for qualification with a 48-4 demolition over the Rhinos.

Sunday saw two international matches being played at two very different locations, Australia took on New Zealand in front of 50,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium whilst down at the St Marys Leagues Stadium, Malta took on rivals Lebanon.

Both sides have a long history of rugby league and producing players of their respective cultures including Jarrod Sammut for Malta and Hazem El Masri for Lebanon.

The game was an even contest however a late surge from the Lebanese got them home and gave them a 34-16 win which meant they kept the Phoenician Cup for another year.

Lebanon are favourites to qualify for the 2017 world cup after missing out on the previous two world cups due to a penalty imposed by the RLIF in 2008 and a count-back in 2013.

Other matches played in the last fortnight included a 52-12 win for Belgium over the Czech Republic in Brussels at the end of April and an important 32-12 win for Spain over Latvia which was played in the Latvian capital Riga.