The Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018
Tournament Manual
RUGBY LEAGUE EUROPEAN FEDERATION
House of Sport, 190 Great Dover Street, London, SE1 4YB
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0)20 3953 0420
Email: – Web:
THE RUGBY LEAGUE U19
CHAMPIONSHIP 2018
TOURNAMENT MANUAL
CONTENTS
Section / Page no.- / Rugby League Europe Federation Staff Contact Details / 3
- / Definitions and interpretations / 4
1 / Administration / 6
2 / Competition Structure / 6
3 / Dates of Matches / 7
4 / Squads / 8
5 / Laws of the game / 10
6 / Format of Matches / 10
7 / Doping Control / 11
8 / On-field Discipline / 11
9 / Playing Kit / 11
10 / Match-day Arrangements / 12
11 / Teams / 12
12 / Travel / 13
13 / Accommodation and Subsistence / 14
14 / Expenses and Visas / 14
15 / Match Officials / 15
16 / Match day Protocol / 16
17 / Tickets / 19
18 / Broadcast / 19
19 / Misconduct / 20
20 / Media Relations / 22
21 / Training Facilities and Equipment / 23
22 / Insurance / 24
23 / Miscellaneous Obligations / 24
24 / Financial sanctions / 25
25 / Payment timetable / 25
26 / Time of key dates and deadlines / 25
- / Annex 1 / 27
- / Annex 2 / 28
- / Annex 3 / 29
- / Annex 4 / 31
- / Annex 5 / 32
- / Annex 6 / 33
- / Annex 7 / 46
- / Annex 8 / 48
- / Annex 9 / 49
- / Annex 10 / 51
- / Annex 11 / 52
- / Annex 12 / 54
Rugby League Europe Federation Staff Contact Details
General Manager
Danny Kazandjian
Mobile phone+44 7983 477429
Tournament Director
Jovan Vujosevic
Mobile phone +381 63 86 68 458
Match Officials Manager
Tom.Mather
Mobile phone +44 77816 372761
Match Commissioners
Remond Safi
Mobile phone +961 3 404 345
CoachEducation
Martin Crick
Mobile phone +44 7741 287783
Media Manager
Phil Caplan
Mobile phone +44 7850 719412
IT and Web Communications Manager
James Vukmirovic
Phone +44 7891 898562
Definitions and Interpretation
(a)For the purpose of this Agreement the following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Commercial Rights” means all rights in or connected to the Tournament in the nature of advertising rights, merchandising rights, vending rights, rights to exploit data, rights subsisting in the form of copyright rights, licensing rights, hospitality rights, internet rights, sponsorship rights and all similar rights in each;
“Draw” means the live draw conduct by the RLEF to determine the fixtures of the Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018. The Draw will be streamed via Facebook Live from the RLEF offices at House of Sport, London, United Kingdom. The provisional date for a live draw is 29th September 2017.
“Force Majeure Event” means any event affecting performance of this Agreement by a Party arising from or attributable to acts, events, omissions or accidents which are not reasonably foreseeable by and which are beyond the reasonable control of a Party including, without limitation, any abnormally inclement weather, flood, fire, earthquake, epidemic or other natural disaster, war, terrorist action, strike or industrial action or civil commotion;
“Golden point” means a sudden death overtime system, used to resolve drawn rugby league matches in the Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018. If the scores of a Match is level at the end of 70 minutes, teams will play extra time. Extra time will be consecutive 5 minute periods with a 2 minute break between each period. Any score (try, penalty goal, or field goal) in this extra-time period secures a win for the scoring team, and the game ends at that point. If the scoring event is a try, no conversion is attempted;
“Host Nation” means Serbia (the Serbian Rugby League Federation);
“Intellectual Property Rights” means all current and future legal and/or equitable rights and interests in copyright and rights in the nature of copyright, design rights, patents, trademarks, domain names, business names, database rights, applications for any of the foregoing or any other intellectual property rights whether or not registered and whether subsisting in the UK or any other part of the world;
“Match” means a game in the Tournament;
“Match Officials” means all referees, touch judges, fourth officials, match commissioners and Tournament Director.
“Media Rights” means the right to broadcast, telecast, or transmit audio, visual or audiovisual content of or in connection with the Tournament using any means;
“Misconduct” means misconduct as set out in section 19 of the Tournament Manual;
“Misconduct Panel” means a panel appointed by the RLEF consisting of a chairman with appropriate experience in sports administration or legal qualifications and two side members with experience in the game;
“Party” or “Parties” means the parties to this Agreement;
“Participating Teams” means the men’s U19 national teams representing England, France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Serbia, Russia and Qualifier;
“Qualifier” means winner of the qualifying match for the Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018 between Italy U19 – administered by the Federazione Italiana Rugby League (“FIRL”) and Ukraine U19 – administered by the Ukraine Federation of Rugby League (“UFRL”) on Saturday 19th May 2018 in Fogliano Redipuglia, Italy, Stadio Fogliano, via Atleti Azzurri d'Italia. Kick off is at 4pm.
“RLEF” means the Rugby League European Federation;
“RLIF” means the Rugby League International Federation;
“Rules” means the RLEF operational rules and international rules and laws governing rugby league as specified by the RLIF from time to time;
“Squad Members” means all playing and non-playing members of a Participating Team’s squad.
“Territory” means the country of the Host Nation;
“Tournament”means the Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018 Tournament;
“Tournament Director” means the executive responsible for the Tournament;
“Tournament Logo” means a logo developed by the RLEF for the Tournament;
“Tournament Manual” means this document, administering the Tournament that has been signed by the Participating Teams and which includes the rules & regulations of the Tournament, the basis on which Participating Teams will participate and the on and off field disciplinary processes;
“Tournament Squad” means the squad selected by a Participating Team in accordance with clause 4.1;
“Tournament Official” means official appointed by the Tournament Director.
“Venue” means each venue at which a Match is staged;
“Young adult” means a human between the age of 18-21 years old, as defined by the government of the Republic of Serbia.
(b)Clause and Schedule headings are included for ease of reference only.
(c)A statutory provision includes a reference to that provision as modified, replaced, amended and/or re-enacted from time to time before or after the date of this Agreement and any prior or subsequent subordinate legislation made under it.
(d)Where any obligation pursuant to this Agreement is expressed to be undertaken or assumed by any Party, such obligation shall be construed as requiring the Party concerned to exercise all rights and powers of control over the affairs of any other person which that Party is able to exercise (whether directly or indirectly) in order to secure performance of such obligation.
1ADMINISTRATION
1.1General
The Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018 Tournament (the “Tournament”) shall be governed by the Rugby League European Federation (“RLEF”), who unless otherwise set out herein shall deal with all matters connected with or arising out of the Matches, or other matter, of the Tournament.
The RLEF Tournament Director in his absolute discretion shall determine any matter that may arise in connection with the Tournament for which no provision has been made within these or any other agreements. RLEF Central and Eastern Europe Regional Director Jovan Vujosevic is the Tournament Director. (Email: | Mobile: +381(0) 63 8668 458).
Two Venue directors will be subordinate to the RLEF Tournament Director.
This Tournament Manual includes the rules & regulations governing the Tournament. All Participating Teams, and their players and officials, are deemed, by acceptance of the invitation to play in the Tournament, to be bound by these regulations and any additions or amendments that may be notified to them prior to or during the Matches, together with the Rules of the RLEF.
Where this Tournament Manual refers to decisions being taken or actions made by the Tournament Director such decisions or actions may also be made by his nominated representative(s).
1.2Management meetings
There will be compulsory management meetings that should be attended by two representatives of each Participating Team. All three meetings will be the day preceding Match days, will take place at the teams’ accommodation, and will be attended by representatives of the Tournament Match Officials squad.
(a)Meeting 1 (4th August) – pm (precise time to be determined once all arrival times are known;
(b)Meeting 2 (7th August) – 10am
(c)Meeting 3 (10th August) – 10am
2COMPETITION STRUCTURE
2.1 Participating Teams
The following Participating Teams shall take part in the Tournament:
England – administered by the Rugby Football League Ltd (“RFL”)
France – administered by the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII (“FFRXIII”)
Ireland – administered by the Rugby League Ireland Ltd (“RLI”)
Russia – administered by the Association of Rugby League Clubs (“ARLK”)
Scotland – administered by Scotland Rugby League Ltd (“SRL”)
Serbia – administered by the Serbian Rugby League Federation (“SRLF”)
Wales – administered by Wales Rugby League Ltd (“WRL”)
Qualifier – winner of the qualifying match for the Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018
2.2Format
The RLEF will conduct a Draw to determine the fixtures of the Rugby League U19 European Championship 2018. The Draw will be streamed via Facebook Live from the RLEF offices at House of Sport, London, United Kingdom. The date for the live draw is 29th September 2017.
The Tournament consists of eight teams and each team will play three competition matches, as per section 3.1.
The Round 1 Matches will be determined by the Draw, with the winners moving on to the first to fourth place Matches while the losers enter the fifth to eighth place Matches.
The winners of the first to fourth place Matches play in the final while the losers would play for third place. Similarly, the winners of the fifth to eighth place Matches play for fifth place while the losers play for seventh.
The rounds will be categorised as follows:
Round 1:European championships quarter finals.
Round 2:Four semi-finals; The upper half of the draw named as European championships, the lower half semi-finals as the European Shield.
Round 3:Four finals; European championship, European Plate, European Shield and European Bowl
If any Match finishes in a draw at the end of regular time the winner shall be decided by a "Golden Point".
2.3 Tournament Consequences
The winner of the final will be crowned the Rugby League U19 European Champions 2018, while the eighth-placed team is relegated to the qualification competition for the 2022 Tournament.
2.4 Seeds
Seeded 1: England and France
Seeded 2: Scotland and Wales
Seeded 5-8: Ireland, Russia, Serbia, Qualifier
3DATES OF MATCHES
3.1Scheduling of Matches
The dates, venues and kick off times for all Matches will be decided and published by the Tournament Director whose decision in this regard shall be final. The Tournament Director at his sole discretion may reschedule or alter the date, Venue or kick off time of any Match. (Generally this would only be for unforeseen circumstances).
It is currently envisaged that the rounds will be played in 2018 as follows:
Qualifier – 19th MayItaly v Ukraine
4pm kick off
Stadio Fogliano, Fogliano Redipuglia
Match / Round 1 – 5th August / Match / Round 2 – 8th August / Match / Round 3 – 11th August
M1 / Wales v Russia
4 pm kick off
Venue 1, Belgrade / M5 / Loser M1 vs Loser M2
4 pm kick off
Venue 1, Belgrade / M9 / Loser M5 vs Loser M7
10 am
Venue 1, Belgrade
M2 / England v Serbia
6pm kick off
Venue 1, Belgrade / M6 / Winner M1 vs Winner M2
6 pm kick off
Venue 1, Belgrade / M10 / Winner M5 vs Winner M7
10 am
Venue 2, Belgrade
M3 / Scotland v Ireland
4 pm kick off
Venue 2, Belgrade / M7 / Loser M3 vs Loser M4
4 pm kick off
Venue 2, Belgrade / M11 / Loser M6 vs Loser M8
4 pm
Venue 1, Belgrade
M4 / France v Qualifier
6 pm kick off
Venue 2, Belgrade / M8 / Winner M3 vs Winner M4
6 pm kick off
Venue 2, Belgrade / M12 / Winner M6 vs Winner M8
6 pm
Venue 1, Belgrade
4SQUADS
4.1 Train-on / Tournament squads
Participating Teams must submit their squad size to the Tournament Director no later than Wednesday 28th February 2018. The squad can be maximum 23 players and minimum 21 players. (Confirming the squad size is necessary to determine each nation’s costs.)
Participating Teams must submit their Tournament Squad, to the Tournament Director no later thanMonday 16th July 2018 using the table provided in Annex 1.
Squads should be reproduced in Annex 1 in the prescribed format: players (first name-second name) in alphabetical order, grouped in clubs, in alphabetical order; written across the page (i.e. not in a list).
Example of presentation of a squad in the prescribed format:
Adam Johnson, Mark Smith (Bolton RLFC), Steve Ellis, Richard Parker (Finchley RLFC)…etc..
No information pertaining to squads shall be publicly distributed by the Participating Teams before the RLEF has announced the squads as per the Tournament communications plan.
4.219-man squad and Match-day squad
Participating Teams must submit to the Tournament Director their 19-man squads for Round 1 Matches no later than 4pm (UK) on Friday 3rd August 2018. (This is to ensure official previews can be distributed while teams are in transit on 4th August.)
19-man squads for Round 2 and Round 3 Matches must be submitted to the Tournament Director at least 24-hours before kick off.
All players named in the 19-man squad must be named in the Tournament Squad and all 17 players named on match-day must be named in the 19-man squads.
No information pertaining to squads shall be publicly distributed by the Participating Teams before the RLEF has announced the squads.
4.3 Changes to the squad
If an appeal to change a squad is made, changes must be agreed with the Tournament Director.
4.4Eligibility
Only players who have been verified as eligible as per the RLIF’s international eligibility rules and lodged with the RLEF will be permitted to be named in a 17-man match-day squad.
It is advised that all Participating Teams submit all players for eligibility checks to the RLEF no later than Friday 20th July 2018. Due to the high numbers of players that will participate in the Tournament Participating Teams are advised to organise eligibility clearances with the RLEF as early as possible and on a case-by-case basis, rather than in bulk.
4.5 Age group
The Tournament is an under-19 competition. All players should be born in either 1999 or 2000. However, if a Participating Team wishes to include players born in 2001 or 2002 they must apply to the Tournament Director in writing no later than Wednesday 4 July 2018.
Any application in writing must include the following (templates found in Annex 3):
(a) Written agreement from the player to play Open Age rugby league and acceptance of any associated risk with playing with adults and acceptance of any associated risk with playing adults who may be stronger and more physically developed than him;
(b) Parental or legal guardian’s consent in writing;
(c) Written confirmation from a medical practitioner with an understanding of the demands of elite rugby league to whom the player is known that the player is in a physical condition to play Open Age rugby and that this view is supported by a musculo-skeletal evaluation and /or other appropriate assessments;
(d) Written agreement from a medical officer with an understanding of the demands of elite rugby league employed or retained by the player’s home federation that the player is in a physical condition to play elite Open Age rugby league and that this view is supported by a musculo-skeletal evaluation and/or other appropriate assessments;
(e) Such other consents, agreements or confirmations (if any) as may be required by the player’s home federation or to comply with the local jurisdiction.
For the avoidance of doubt, no player under the age of 16 shall be allowed to participate in the Tournament under any circumstances.
4.6 Safeguarding and Child Protection
All Participating Teams accept RLEF Safeguarding Policy. All adults involved in rugby league have an obligation to protect the welfare of children. The underlying principle is that the welfare of the child is paramount.
Any safeguarding concerns should be directed to Tournament Safeguarding Officer.
Participating Nations will ensure that the RLEF Safeguarding policy is disseminated to all children who are part of their Squad, and to each child’s parent / carer. Following the Tournament each child participant will be asked to complete a questionnaire and return it to the RLEF on their experiences.
The Territory’s principal child protection agencies are the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Work and Social Security and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Youth and Sport and Ministry of Internal Affairs shall be notified of all Squad Members who are children and of the Tournament’s safeguarding plan. In addition, Serbian NGO “The Child’s Rights Centre”, has been notified of all aspects of the Tournament.
4.7 Team schedule
All Participating Teams must confirm their draft schedule no later than Saturday 31st March 2018 by completing Annex 10. The Tournament Director in his absolute discretion has the right to amend team schedules where facility availability requires such amendments. Every effort will be made to accommodate Participating Teams’ desired schedules.
4.8 Training
Each team is eligible for one two-hour training session on 6th, 7th 9th and 10th August 2018. If a team arrives early on 4th August 2018 a training session can be provided upon request. This training session should be included in the team schedule, in line with 4.6, above.
Teams must specify the times of their desired training sessions by completing Annex 10.
Any additional training sessions outside those specified in Annex 8 must be requested in writing to the Tournament Director. All associated costs of extra training sessions must be borne by the Participating Team. The RLEF cannot guarantee availability of facilities for additional training sessions.
The Sport Center Milan Gale Muskatirovic, which has two Olympic swimming pools plus three smaller pools has been made available to the Tournament for recovery sessions on 6th and 9th August from 8.45-10am at a total cost of €300, which will be shared by those teams wishing to use the facility. Participating Teams should indicate in Annex 10 whether they want to use the swimming pool on one or both dates. Transport cost to the swimming pools per team is €100 per day. (Consenting teams will be informed of their share once all teams have submitted Annex 8 by 31 March 2018 and shall have the right to opt out.)
5LAWS OF THE GAME