{"id":62658,"date":"2025-10-08T18:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series"},"modified":"2025-10-08T18:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:49:06","slug":"eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series","title":{"rendered":"Eight Rugby Nations Impose Bans in Rebel R360 Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Eight of rugby\u2019s most powerful nations have announced their intention to issue international bans for any players who join the new breakaway R360 rugby league.<\/b><\/p>\n

England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia released a joint letter on Tuesday in which they urged men’s and women’s players to think carefully before accepting offers from the R360 organisation.<\/p>\n

The private R360 project intends to launch a multi-city rugby series in 2026. International federations see it as a threat.<\/p>\n

R360 representatives have reportedly approached leading rugby union and rugby league players around the world, to have them join the new competition.<\/p>\n

R360\u2019s organisers say they have agreements in place with 200 men’s players and approached leading players at the recent Women’s Rugby World Cup<\/b> in England. Those players have been told that R360 has secured funding for three years and intends to launch next September.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group of national rugby unions, we are urging extreme caution for players and support staff considering joining the proposed R360 competition,\u201d<\/b> the joint letter from the leading national rugby unions said.<\/p>\n

R360 was co-founded by former England rugby international Mike Tindall, who is married to Zara Phillips, a niece of King Charles III.<\/b>
\n\u201cWe all welcome new investment and innovation in rugby; and support ideas that can help the game evolve and reach new audiences; but any new competition must strengthen the sport as a whole, not fragment or weaken it,”<\/b> the nations’ statement said.<\/p>\n

Signatories to the joint letter accused the new series of being designed to generate profit.<\/p>\n

The nations said R360 does not provide guarantees over players\u2019 welfare or coexistence with international and domestic rugby calendars.<\/p>\n

“International rugby and our major competitions remain the financial and cultural engine that sustains every level of the game \u2014 from grassroots participation to elite performance,”<\/b> the letter read.<\/p>\n

“Undermining that ecosystem could be enormously harmful to the health of our sport.”<\/b><\/p>\n

In response, R360 said players should not be denied the opportunity to play for both their country and the new series. “Why would the unions stand in their way?”<\/b> the organisation asked in a statement.<\/p>\n

World Rugby, the sports’ governing body, is expected to hold a vote in 2026 to decide on the official recognition of the R360 league.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Eight of rugby\u2019s most powerful nations have announced their intention to issue international bans for any players who join the new breakaway R360 rugby league. England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia released a joint letter on Tuesday in which they urged men’s and women’s players to think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":62657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[1499,1501,2812,245,3374,311,470],"class_list":["post-62658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-australia","tag-england","tag-ireland","tag-lesotho","tag-new-zealand","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa"],"yoast_head":"\nEight Rugby Nations Impose Bans in Rebel R360 Series - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eight of rugby\u2019s most powerful nations have announced their intention to issue international bans for any players who ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eight Rugby Nations Impose Bans in Rebel R360 Series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eight of rugby\u2019s most powerful nations have announced their intention to issue international bans for any players who ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T18:21:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T18:49:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/10\/sm_1759936617.595175.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Eight Rugby Nations Impose Bans in Rebel R360 Series\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-08T18:21:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T18:49:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series\"},\"wordCount\":401,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/10\/sm_1759936617.595175.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Australia\",\"England\",\"Ireland\",\"Lesotho\",\"New Zealand\",\"Rugby\",\"South Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/eight-rugby-nations-impose-bans-in-rebel-r360-series\",\"name\":\"Eight Rugby Nations Impose Bans in Rebel R360 Series - 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