[2] According to Collins (2000), the imbalanced voting rights were a result of the RFL being the representative for the "mother country" and the other members being keen to demonstrate their loyalty to the Crown.

Over the next few years the IRLB held meetings with the outcomes forming the Rugby League World Cup which made its début in 1954.

In the view of Harry Edgar, from the Board's establishment "until his death in 1986, Bill Fallowfield was a dominant figure in its activities.

"[3] Oxley reveals, "a lot of the really positive things were initiated by the British - certainly on rule changes, and the move to actually expand the role of the Board.

"[3] Oxley states: "it was a British idea to introduce the levy on all Test match receipts to go into an international development fund.

[3] Oxley states that it was the British who "established the procedure that the Board should meet on a more regular basis - at least once a year - and should look at ways of helping the expansion of the game.

[5] The Australians had always been strong in supporting expansion of the game including places such as "South Africa, America and Canada".

[3] After the Australian Rugby League introduced the World Sevens in 1988, the International Board took a much more active part in worldwide developments.

[3] Maurice Lindsay has been credited with ensuring the 10-team 1995 World Cup was accompanied by an Emerging Nations tournament of seven teams, supporting international growth.

[6][7] The SLIB gave its Pacific island members full voting rights in a display of its democratic values towards the game, although some were sceptical that the representatives of the powerful richer nations would allow themselves to be overruled.

[9] The meeting in Sydney at which it was agreed to form the RLIF was held at the request of the Australian and New Zealand Rugby Leagues.

[3] The French were happy to cut ties with SLIB and join the new Federation as, allegedly, "they never saw a penny of the £1 million they believed they had been promised to sign up with Super League".

[3] The RLIF's scheduling of competitions made shortly after its formation, specifically the timing of world cups, was criticised by Graham Clay, editor of Open Rugby magazine for opting for a four-yearly cycle beginning in 2002 that would mean rugby league facing strong competition from other major sporting events for corporate sponsorship.

[19] At a special general meeting held in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, a new constitution was approved that gave New Zealand, Australia and England permanent seats on the RLIF board, with provision made for an additional seat each by May 2011 for the RLEF and a soon-to-be-formed Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation (APRLC), once RLEF and APRLC were granted Associate Membership status by the RLIF.

The APRLC was incorporated in April 2011 with member nations New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

This prompted a walkout by the Rugby Football League's Richard Lewis who believed he should have succeeded Australia's Colin Love.

Serbia and Lebanon were each granted full membership of the RLIF at the annual general meeting held in Manchester, England in May 2012.

Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Trinidad and Tobago were expelled due to inactivity.

[23][24] Under the International Rugby League Constitution, the Board of Directors consists of 12 members from pre-defined representative nominations.

[30] The rule change did not apply to players who had played for a country in a Test series or non-World Cup related tournament.

Under the structure, matches deemed of higher importance such as World Cup games, Tri-Nations and other major tournament finals draw more points than mid-season Tests and other internationals.

Nations which have played less than a certain number of matches deemed acceptable over a three-year cycle will be penalised under the current point structure.