{"id":348776,"date":"2026-03-26T12:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/348776\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:17:09","slug":"major-nation-on-the-brink-of-being-removed-from-2026-rugby-league-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/348776\/","title":{"rendered":"Major nation on the brink of being removed from 2026 Rugby League World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup<\/a> is locked in to kick off on October 15, with Australia<\/a> and New Zealand<\/a> to do battle at Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

However, a major, qualified nation could very well be sitting on the sidelines come October if decided by International Rugby League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fiji<\/a> Bati are at risk of missing of the tournament due to Fiji<\/a> National Rugby League’s (FNRL) failure to submit its Annual Membership Audit, as well as failing to in 2023, 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Simply put, it is a major threat to the nation’s membership status.<\/p>\n

As a result, FNRL will be recommended to the IRL board for reclassification to affiliate membership.<\/p>\n

But what does that mean?<\/p>\n

According to IRL Head of Membership and Competition David Butler, reclassification to affiliate membership would mean Fiji<\/a> Bati lose IRL voting rights and eligibility to enter the 2026 RLWC.<\/p>\n

As for their options, FNRL can either accept the reclassification or appeal the decision.<\/p>\n

\"WarriorsDane Gagai (L) of Australia tackles Taane Milne (R) of Fiji during the Rugby League World Cup men’s semi-final match between Australia and Fiji at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on November 24, 2017. \/ AFP PHOTO \/ Patrick HAMILTON \/ –IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE– (Photo credit should read PATRICK HAMILTON\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When contacted by\u00a0the\u00a0Fiji Sun<\/a>,\u00a0FNRL Chairman Apenisa Dansey remained tight lipped on the situation.<\/p>\n

“I have had a virtual meeting with the IRL secretary general and this was one issue that he brought to my attention,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He has instructed that our football administrator, Mr Epeli Tagivetaua to get in contact with Mr Butler who will be help him out by virtual meeting.<\/p>\n

“Mr Tagivetaua has been contact with Mr Butler and working a best solution that we can be compliant with our membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Fiji<\/a> Bati were forced to withdraw from the competition, their place would likely be filled by either Jamaica<\/a> or South Africa, who were the runners-ups of the inter-confederation qualification tournament, with an impromptu playoff match seemingly the most viable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Rugby League World Cup is locked in to kick off on October 15, with Australia and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-348776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}