International Rugby League series cancelled 5 days after being confirmed

In a bizarre and sad twist, an international Rugby League series has been cancelled just five days after being confirmed.

It was announced on September 5th by European Rugby League, the governing body for the sport in Europe, that France would host World Cup quarter-finalists Lebanon in a two-test series at the end of the year.

The games, slated for October 13th and 19th, would be used to help prepare France for their Rugby League World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on October 22nd.

The winner of that game against Ukraine would face the winner of the other qualifying semi-final, Wales versus Serbia, with the victor progressing to the World Series in 2025 and a chance to feature at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.

It’s now been confirmed, just five days after the initial announcement, that France will not host Lebanon with the two-test series cancelled due to clubs down under refusing to release their players.

International Rugby League in shambles again

The news that the tests against Michael Cheika’s Lebanon had been cancelled was confirmed by the French Rugby Federation who released a brief statement detailing why.

It read: “Due to circumstances beyond the control of the Federation, the two international matches scheduled between the France team and the Lebanese team, on Sunday, October 13, 2024 at 3 p.m. at the Balussou Stadium in Pamiers and Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 8 p.m., at the Stadium Municipal d’Albi, are cancelled.

“This decision is motivated by the fact that Lebanese players playing in the Australian professional league have not been released by their clubs, an essential condition for the holding of these matches.”

It’s a huge shame that clubs have such a grip over the international game and can be allowed to do this and it highlights the attitudes down under towards growing the sport more worldwide.

Plenty of the Lebanon side hail from Australia with the nation having a huge Lebanese community and whilst there are several Lebanese international players in the Northern Hemisphere, namely Abbas Miski of Wigan Warriors, they remain just a handful.

As it stands, France will head into their qualifier against Ukraine without any preparation and rugby league loses two more of its elite-level internationals, a sad indictment on where the sport is.

Late October and early November will see England host Samoa in a two-test series of their own, something that was previously threatened to be cancelled as well.