RUGBY LEAGUE NATION

 

 

Foundation Year - 1995

International Team - Morocco Rugby League

Highest finish in World Cup - One win Emerging Nations World Cup (2000)

Top level domestic competition - N/A

History - Morocco have been playing rugby league since 1995. The start-up of Rugby league in Morocco can be traced back to the French city of Marseille were over a million Moroccans live. Morocco originally became involved in rugby league via French players of Moroccan decent.

In 1995 Morocco participated in the Emerging Nations Word Cup. They played against Ireland and Moldova failing to register a win. Despite not performing on the field the World Cup had sown the seeds that would see Morocco take part in many more internationals over the coming years.

In 1999 Morocco played in pre-qualifiers for the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Morocco failed to win qualifying games against Lebanon and Italy and missed out on qualifying.

After failing to qualify for the main tournament Morocco participated in the 2000 Emerging Nations World Cup. Morocco created history by winning their first ever rugby league international by defeating Japan 14 - 8. Five days later excitement soon turned to despair when Morocco suffered a heavy defeat to the United States 50 - 10. The defeat ended their hopes of playing in their first ever final.

In March 2003 the Australian Police Rugby League Team made history by touring Morocco for the first time. The first game took place on the 4th of March. The Moroccan Emerging 13 were no match for the Australian Police going down 48 - 0. The Moroccans played again on the 6th but once again the visitors were to strong winning 54 - 0. The Moroccans used the games to help build for the Mediterranean Cup later in the year.

Morocco played in the Mediterranean Cup in late 2003 and again in late 2004. Morocco struggled against their hardened opponents France and Lebanon in both tournaments. Morocco only managed to win games against Serbia.

In early 2008 the Rugby League European Federation released European seedings with Morocco ranked 16th out of 16 European nations.

In January 2008 the RLEF announced that the Maroc Rugby League will take over as the official body in Morocco. The new body will have closer links to French Rugby league and will look to work on local competitions and junior development. They have already made progress with a plan to have rugby league introduced into Moroccan Universities along the lines of the domestic competition in Lebanon.

In November 2008 the RLEF staged a level one coaching course at Oudja University. Over 20 Morrocans from eleven universities from across Morocco took part in the three day course. This is a big boost for Morrocan Rugby League which will see the first domestic competition on Moroccan soil kick off in 2009.

In early 2009 Morocco were ranked 25th in World seedings by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF).

In July 2009 the Morocco national team played Catalonia and Belgium in the Euro-Med Challenge. Moroccco easily defeated both Catalonia and Belgium to take out the Euro-Med Challenge competition.

The recent success of the Rugby League World Cup will provide further funds to develop the sport throughout Africa. The Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) 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 Morroco could possibly be involved in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers. With the push to have a University competition along the lines of the Lebanese Rugby League, playing in the qualifiers is getting closer to becoming a reality.

Dear Readers, If you have first hand knowledge of the current Rugby League situation in Morocco we would love to hear from you. Please email us at: webmaster@rugbyleagueplanet.com or join our international rugby league Forums at http://forums.rugbyleagueplanet.com and let us all know what's going on in your part of the world.