Current season or competition: | |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2011 |
| Number of teams | 3 |
| Region | International (RLEF) |
The Milan Kosanovic Cup is an international rugby league football competition played between the Russia Bears, Ukraine and Serbia. The inaugural match will be played in Ukraine. [1]
Rugby league is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 m wide and 112–122 m long. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in Northern England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules progressively changed with the aim of producing a faster, more entertaining game for spectators.
The Russia national rugby league team represent Russia in international rugby league tournaments and other rugby league fixtures. The Bears, played their first fixtures against two British club sides: York Wasps and Fulham RLFC. In 2013, Russia became a full member of the Rugby League International Federation.
The Ukraine national rugby league team was established in 2007 to represent Ukraine at rugby league football. Ukraine is in the fourth tier developing nations along with Estonia and Latvia. The national side played their first international game as a nation playing against the Great Britain Students going down 36-18. Ukraine was originally scheduled to play in the 2008 European Bowl but withdrew at the last minute due to problems with the teams visas.
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The cup is named after Milan Kosanović, the first Serb to play Rugby League at Wembley Stadium.
Milan Kosanović, also known by the nickname of "Milo", was a Yugoslav Serb professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. He played at representative level for English League XIII and Yorkshire, and at club level for Bradford Northern, Wakefield Trinity and Featherstone Rovers, as a hooker, i.e. number 9, during the era of contested scrums.
The Serbs are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group that formed in the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit the nation state of Serbia, as well as the disputed territory of Kosovo, and the neighboring countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro. They form significant minorities in North Macedonia and Slovenia. There is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in North America and Australia.
The original Wembley Stadium was a football stadium in Wembley Park, London, which stood on the same site now occupied by its successor.
