Rugby League was first played in Wales in 1907 with clubs joining the Northern Union. We have run professional clubs since then. Click here to read the history.
We have also entered sides in the RFL Challenge Cup since 1908 and have had Welsh international winners since 1900.
The first Wales international side was fielded on January 1st 1908 where Wales beat New Zealand 9-8 in the world’s first official rugby league test match.
We have run domestic leagues since the start of the 21st century. Click below for the history.
The current Wales Rugby League organisation was formed in 1995 and is a descendant of the Rugby Football League’s Welsh Commission [1926]. In 2005 WRL received full governing body status and was recognised collectively by the RFL, the British Amateur Rugby League Association and the Welsh Sports Council.
An original Affiliate Member of the RLEF when that organisation was formed in 2003, Wales became the twelfth member [full] of the RLIF following a meeting in Melbourne in May 2010, and a full member of the RLEF in October that same year.
WRL employed its first professional chairman in 2006. The chair presides over a Board representing the key stakeholders in the game, with directors having been drawn from the Welsh clubs, the RFL, the professional clubs, co-opted specialists and the Welsh Assembly.
Whilst completely separate bodies, WRL has a good working relationship with the RFL, the NGB for rugby league in the United Kingdom which is based in England. Indeed the RFL were the main instigators of establishing WRL by helping to form a new WRL Board in 1995 and funding full or part-time development posts in Wales since 1997.
