RUGBY LEAGUE NATION

 

 

Foundation Year - 1988

International Team - Tokelau Rugby League

Top level domestic competition - N/A

History - Tokelau is a small cluster of Islands located in the Pacific. Tokelau have been playing rugby league since the late 1980's

Tokelau's first major international rugby league event was the Pacific Cup in 1992. The Pacific Cup involves other pacific nations along with indigenous teams from Australia (Aborigines) and New Zealand (Maoris). They performed well for a small nation with wins over Norfolk Island and American Samoa.

Tokelau's small population usually means they call on players from abroad in Australia and New Zealand when playing rugby league internationals.

Tokelau were late inclusions in the 2006 Pacific Cup competition. New Caledonia withdrew a week before the tournament was due to start leaving Tokelau with little time to prepare. Tokelau did not fair well in the Pool. They were grouped with Tonga and NZ Maoris and suffered two heavy defeats. Tokelau did restore some pride with a shock win win over Samoa in the 5th place play-off.

In 2007 Tokelau took part in the South Pacific Games. For the first time the South Pacific Games had a Rugby League 9's tournament involving 6 nations . Tokelau beat Niue 16 - 10 in the play-off for 5th spot.

In early 2009 Tokelau were ranked 30th in World seedings by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF).

The pacific nation gets plenty of exposure to Rugby League via NRL and International games that are beamed into the Pacific via free to Air TV. The recent Rugby League World Cup will hopefully provide more funding to assist with the continued development of the sport in the pacific.

Dear Readers, If you have first hand knowledge of the current Rugby League situation in Tokelau 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.