RUGBY LEAGUE NATION

 

Foundation Year - 2006

International Team - Austrian Rugby League

Top level domestic competition - N/A

History - Austria is a new Rugby League playing nation and continues the trend of European nations taking up the sport.

In 2006 Austria were involved in a development tri-nations series against Germany and Estonia. Austria narrowly went down to Germany 34 -32 in their first international rugby league game.

Austria's second tri-nations game created history by being the first international rugby league game played on Austrian soil. Played at Partenion, Austria won the game beating Estonia 56 -32. Austria finished 2nd in the series but were unlucky not to finish 1st after loosing to Germany by 2 points.

On the back of their 2006 performance Austria were ranked 13th in the 2006 RLEF European rankings. The Rugby League European Federation released the rankings for January 2008. Austria were unable to regain a place among the 16 listed nations.

The recent success of the Rugby League World Cup will provide further funds to develop the sport throughout Europe. The Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) will now have more funds to invest in development officers and continue assisting rugby league's growth. With the right support many more nations including Austria could possibly be involved in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers. Austria's first hurdle will be to develop a top level domestic rugby league competition.

Dear Readers, If you have first hand knowledge of the current Rugby League situation in Austria we would love to hear from you. Please email us at: webmaster@rugbyleagueplanet.com

Sep 2nd Austria 56 - Estonia 32 (Central Euro Development Tri-Nations)

Jun 25th Germany 34 - Austria 32 (Central Euro Development Tri-Nations)