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Rugby league is a full contact football code and spectator sport played in various countries around the world and governed by the Rugby League International Federation. As of 2010 there are currently 27 nations fielding domestic leagues that meet the World Cup eligibility requirements. Further to this there are over 30 others that are playing at an emerging level status at varying degrees of international competition and are in the process of developing the game in their nations. The global player pool is estimated to be in the millions. Although one of the last football codes to be developed, since the modern 1990's professional era the game has expanded outside of its traditionals heartlands in Australia, England, France and New Zealand. As a result many players of European, American and Pacific Islander background have risen to the top professional level in the two major domestic leagues, the National Rugby League and Super League. Whilst individual international test matches between nations have been staged regularly since the sport's inception in 1908, the first multi-national tournament was held in France in 1954, making it the first World Cup of either rugby code and the first to be officially known as the "Rugby World Cup".〔Folkard, 2003: 337〕〔SPARC, 2009: 28〕 ==Africa== Rugby league is a growing sport in Africa, with the game first introduced to the continent in the early 1960s. The vast distance of teams from the game's heartlands has at times affected the development of the sport but new advances in the 21st century have seen a major increase in the number of internationals scheduled. Many high calibre players from the continent have progressed to the top club leagues, including Younes Khattabi, Jamal Fakir, Tom van Vollenhoven, Fred Griffiths and Jarrod Saffy. The large ex-patriate Moroccan population in the south of France has resulted in a growing interchange of players between the two countries. Rugby league in Africa is played in South Africa, Gambia,〔https://warringtonwolves.com/rfl-news/the-full-blood-project/〕 Morocco, Burundi, Nigeria and Ghana.〔http://www.rlef.eu.com/south_africa/introduction〕〔http://www.rlef.eu.com/morocco_xiii/introduction〕〔http://www.rlef.eu.com/news/article/564/ghana-rugby-league-takes-to〕 ''Countries that meet current World Cup qualification criteria:'' ''Other countries with a history of the game:'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Geography of rugby league」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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