European Rugby League (ERL) has released its new strategy document coving the period from 2021 to the 2025 Rugby League World Cup, which has been bid for by France. The plan aims to continue to build on the growth of the sport that has taken place in the regions under its stewardship in recent years, whose members make up over three-quarters of rugby league playing nations globally.

The strategy has three key themes, competition structure; developing and enhancing membership; and improving overall governance standards, summarised as follows:

• Competitions - Deliver an inclusive competition framework which will cater for the needs of all nations and their variety of teams, with a focus on profitability and visibility.
• Developing Members - Facilitate the growth and sustainability of members with the aim of increasing the number of affiliate and full members of ERL.
• Organisational Excellence – To be recognised as the leading confederation in international rugby league and manage in a sustainable and value-led manner.

Each of those over-arching goals has four strategic objectives contained within them, which will drive the focus, prioritisation of resources and efforts of the organisation over the cycle.

ERL general manager, David Butler, commented: “We are pleased to be launching our new strategy and vision and to be able to demonstrate the direction that European Rugby League intends to take to continue to move forward. Our members have had their say in the development of the strategy over an extended period begun in 2019, and we will strive to enable further growth and improvement, and act as a positive influence upon all those involved.”

The European Rugby League 2021–2025 Strategy can be download by clicking here.