HANetf, Europe’s first full service ‘white label’ ETP platform, is delighted to announce it will be the headline sponsor for Scotland Rugby League for the upcoming Rugby League World Cup. HANetf will be main shirt sponsor for both the men’s and wheelchair teams.

RLWC21 was postponed from 2021 due to covid and is to be played in October and November. It will be the 16th staging of the World Cup making it the oldest World Cup in any rugby code. This year, more teams than ever will compete for the Rugby League World Cup, with four groups of four nations competing in stadia across England. Scotland are in the same group as Australia, the current world champions, Fiji and Italy. All games will be live on BBC1 and the BBC online platform. The tournament will also be covered globally, including on Fox Sports and Sky Sport in Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

For the first time, the wheelchair competition will be part of the Rugby League World Cup main event. Rugby League Wheelchair World Cup 2021 will be contested by eight teams. Scotland will be based in Sheffield and will be in Group B including France, USA and Wales.

Scotland’s men’s team will place its first game on the 16th October against Italy at St James Park in Newcastle. Scotland Wheelchair will play its first game against USA Wheelchair on 4th November at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

The Rugby League World Cup is one of the longest running World Cup tournaments in world sport. The Rugby League World Cup was first raised by the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII (FFRXIII) in the 1930s, however it took until 1953 for the rest of the then International Rugby League Board (IRLB) to accept the proposal. Taking place in 1954, the World Cup celebrated the 20th anniversary of France as a Rugby League nation, and featured four nations, Australia, New Zealand, France and Great Britain.

In 2008 the Great Britain international team separated into Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Since then the Scotland Rugby League has gone to gain a well-respected international pedigree, being ranked 15th in the world and 4th in Europe. The team won the Rugby League European Championship in 2014.

The sponsorship is designed to widen the awareness of the HANetf brand, being the first time the company will feature on terrestrial and satellite television in the UK and globally. As part of the sponsorship HANetf are running events with the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) around the key dates of the Scotland matches, with the first being held in Edinburgh.

One of the founders of HANetf has a long history in rugby league. Hector McNeil founded London-based professional team London Skolars and helped set up Scotland Rugby League in the 1990s. More recently, alongside his wife Sara Giwa-McNeil, he helped found Ghana Rugby League. HANetf also runs the largest ETF event in Europe, named Capital Challenge, that also incorporates Rugby League. Following a morning of ETF presentations and discussions, over 1000 attendees attend a Rugby League hosted at the grounds of the historical Honourable Artillery Company in the heart of the City of London. The event is run in partnership with the Chartered Institute for Securities Institute (CISI). The event has established itself as the best attended ETF event in Europe and is in its 17th year.

Hector McNeil, co-CEO and co-Founder of HANetf comments:

I’m thrilled HANetf are to sponsor Scotland Rugby League for the upcoming Rugby League World Cup. The Rugby League World Cup is the pinnacle event in international Rugby League and one of the World’s largest sporting tournaments. Like no other form of the game, players compete with the pride of their nation at the heart of every performance. Since the international Great Britain team separated into the four nations in 2008, Scotland’s international team have gone from strength to strength. It is also great that we will be sponsoring that Scotland’s Wheelchair Rugby League team. I believe Wheelchair Rugby League is incredibly exciting to watch and is among the most inclusive sport of all, with non-disabled people welcome to compete, as well as both men and women being able to play in the same team.

As a proud Scotsman I am very excited to see how Scotland progress. I don’t see why the team can’t make it to at least the quarter-finals and beyond. It’s also incredibly exciting to think that the world will be able to see the HANetf brand on the front of the shirts in a match against the current champions and giants of Rugby League, Australia.

Victoria Hogg, Chair of Scotland Rugby League

Hector McNeil was instrumental in the founding of Scotland Rugby League and we are delighted to be working with HANetf at this very exciting time for Scotland Rugby League. Both our Men’s and Wheelchair squads are looking forward to taking part in this great event, which sees the Wheelchair World Cup being run alongside the Men’s competition for the first time ever. Coverage of the sport via terrestrial and satellite television will showcase our great sport both here in the United Kingdom and globally and we are proud to be part of both World Cup competitions.

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