MOROCCAN RUGBY LEAGUE NATION OVERVIEW
Page updated: 8/3/13
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 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 Moroccans from eleven universities from across Morocco took part in the three day course. This is a big boost for Moroccan Rugby League which will see the first domestic competition on Moroccan soil kick off in 2009.
In July 2009 the Morocco national team played Catalonia and Belgium in the Euro-Med Challenge. Morocco easily defeated both Catalonia and Belgium to take out the Euro-Med Challenge competition.
In 2012 a new rugby league club “Sporting Berrechid” was established in Berrechid Morocco. It is considered the most powerful club in Morocco providing 50% of players for the national team. The same national team ran Lebanon close in the 2012 Middle East North Africa Championship (MENA)
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 Morocco could we continue to develop rugby league at all levels.
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.
MOROCCAN INTERNATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE RESULTS
2012 Rugby League Results
Jul 7th Morocco 26 – Lebanon 30 (MENA Championship)
2009 Rugby League Results
Aug 15th Morocco 46 – Belgium 12 (Euro-Med Challenge)
Jul 4th Morocco 29 – Catalonia 6 (Euro-Med Challenge)
Jun 6th Morocco 32 – Italy 10
2008 Rugby League Results
Jun 27th Morocco 62 – Catalonia 12
Feb 23rd Morocco 44 – Serbia 6
2007 Rugby League Results
Dec 10th BARLA 52 – Morocco 4
2004 Rugby League Results
Oct 9th Morocco 20 – Serbia 20 (Mediterranean Cup)
Oct 5th Lebanon 48 – Morocco 14 (Mediterranean Cup)
Oct 2nd France 46 – Morocco 6 (Mediterranean Cup)
2003 Rugby League Results
Oct 25th Morocco 58 – Serbia 4 (Mediterranean Cup)
Oct 22nd Lebanon 60 – Morocco 0 (Mediterranean Cup)
Oct 19th France 72 – Morocco 0 (Mediterranean Cup)
Mar 6th Australian Police 54 – Morocco Select 0
Mar 4th Australian Police 48 – Morocco Select 0
2000 Rugby League Results
Nov 20th United States 50 – Morocco 10 (Emerging Nations World Cup)
Nov 15th Morocco 14 – Japan 8 (Emerging Nations World Cup)
Nov 13th BARLA 60 – Morocco 2 (Emerging Nations World Cup)
1999 Rugby League Results
Nov 11th France 80 – Morocco 8
Lebanon 104 – Morocco 0 (World Cup Qualifier)
Italy 34 – Morocco 0 (World Cup Qualifier)
1995 Rugby League Results
Oct 24th Ireland 42 – Morocco 6 (Emerging Nations World Cup)
Oct 18th Moldova 24 – Morocco 19 (Emerging Nations World Cup)
