The Tongan National Rugby League continues to claim its expulsion from the International Rugby League was illegal as it heads towards a hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The CAS will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on September 22.
Tonga was suspended from the IRL following a tumultuous period that began in September last year with a player revolt over the sacking of national coach Kristian Woolf.
The TRNL was expelled in February this year.
As Kaniva News reported earlier this month the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation recommended that Tonga Ma’a Tonga Rugby League be considered for full membership of the International Rugby League.
The TNRL appeal is separate from any approval of Tonga Ma’a Tonga as a member of the IRL.
The TNRL is appealing its expulsion, arguing that the IRL investigation was flawed, based on dubious grounds, and did not follow its own rules.
TNRL secretary William Edwards said the expulsion was triggered by a complaint from the –that it was concerned that the mismanagement of Tongan Rugby League could damage the commercial success of the British Rugby League Lions tour of New Zealand in late 2019.
Edwards was appointed to the TRNL board in March last year following the removal of the previous board by the Tongan Supreme Court,
Edwards argued that the complaint was invalid because it was about an anticipated breach, not something that had actually happened.
TNRL officials have complained that while their appeal is underway the IRL was working to help establish a new governing body for Tonga.
They claimed this is outside of the international body’s constitutional mandate.
The TRNL initially co-operated with the IRL, but this stopped after its lawyers wrote to the IRL last November claiming the international body had no power to suspend a member pending an investigation.
The IRL said it had been working with members of the Tongan rugby league community who it deemed to be acting in the best interests of Tongan rugby league.
“IRL has not imposed nor tried to impose structural reform on one of our members.”
Tonga has qualified for next year’s Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) by making the semi-finals at the 2017 World Cup. It has to regain membership of the IRL before it can compete in the UK in 2021.
