IRL 2026 Membership Reclassifications
4th Jun 2026
IRL has announced several changes to its membership register following a series of resolutions voted by Full Members, including:
South African Rugby League Sporting Association reclassified from Full Member to Affiliate Member. due to the absence of a junior championship. IRL is working with SARLSA to implement a multi-phase technical education strategy in its active provinces.
Brazilian Rugby League Confederation, Cameroon Rugby League XIII and Ragbi Lig Dernegi (Turkish Rugby League Association) reclassified from Affiliate Member to Observer Member. None of the three countries have organised a domestic championship for at least three years, which is a core component of affiliate membership.
Observer Members Hungarian Rugby League Federation and North Macedonia Rugby League are expelled from the company following, respectively, at least three years of non-compliance with the membership policy and three years of non-submission of the annual membership audit and a lack of any rugby league development activity.
Compliance is assessed annually through the annual membership audit, with non-compliant members given a two-year corrective action period to address areas of non-compliance.
Ref - IRL [Viewed 8 Jun 2026] / FN-30