5 Questions with ERL

[JoneslessBishop]

Strange there was no mention of the Wolfpack in the Canada piece. I was particularly impressed with the amount of teams playing In the Czech Repupblic

[CanaBull]

Strange there was no mention of the Wolfpack in the Canada piece.....

 

Look at the complete lack of interest on social media from the Wolfpack about the Wolverines performances at the weekend, U17's tour etc. The only thing they mentioned about Saturday night was the Tragically Hip concert, not that it wasn't important, but it wasn't the only thing going on, especially in terms of Rugby League in Canada and growing the fan base.  Massive missed opportunity in my opinion.

 

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to why.

[JoneslessBishop]

There need to be a very strong connect between the Wolfpack and the Canadian federation, even if there are very few Canadian players at the Wolfpack initially. I hope egos aren't getting in the way

[Everything Rugby League]

 

5 Questions with ERL: Kenya Rugby League

Stuart Morris from LeagueCulture spoke with Glenn Jamieson from KRL for us recently about Rugby League in Kenya.

1) How many teams are in Kenya?

We have seven teams, six are in the Rift valley four in Nakuru (main city and government of rift valley and Kenya's 3rd largest city) another from Kiti 15 mins out of Nukuru and one in Gilgil 45 mins south of Nakuru and also one in Baringo, Gilgil is looking into women's rugby league it is a large catchment area including one of the main bases for the Kenyan Army in the town.

There are also several primary schools and youth teams, but an issue has been we introduce league to a school ( most public schools have very little sports equipment, when they introduced free education in 2003 schools were overwhelmed with students and sports got left behind ) we provided balls, cones, travel expenses to play other schools, drinks and meals for all children and helpers, unfortunately not all schools have welcomed rugby league, and sadly the children are the ones missing out, but lucky most can appreciate and see the benefits to the children.

2) What further opportunities are there?

There is a huge hunger for league here so many approaching us we haven't even touched Nairobi even though we are getting many requests to do so, but finances stopping us from expansion at this stage in saying that, because of recent controversies in several sports many major sponsors are looking for other avenues for their sponsorship, also we want a strong base before we grow too fast, which I believe we have.

As we gain senior teams we also don't want to lose focus on the original goals in Kenya of providing League to children who would otherwise never have the opportunity to participate in sports, so we are continuing to offer league in the less fortunate communities of Nakuru, and have expansion plans to introduce youth teams to as many as possible in Africa's biggest slum Kibera in Nairobi, we are hoping to start that project next year, the government are building high rise apartments to house its residents and we are hoping during the building the government may allow rugby leagues grounds in the vacant areas, and we will try to put a proposal to the government next year.

We have seen some real talent emerge, many would fit into club level in Australia, New Zealand or possibly the UK without too many problems, one, in particular, a 12 year old training with the seniors and doesn't look out of place despite his size he has great ball and evasion skills and could go a long way in the future, so we also plan to form relationships with clubs globally over the next year or so, to give those players opportunities for their future, we are hoping foreign club may give Kenyan players an opportunity in playing league overseas by helping with their passage and perhaps helping find employment

Where does the money come from ?

You may remember our givealittle page that lasted one year and raised about $180 nzd which was fantastic in fact most of that came from the UK ( we spend about $10,000 a year on league here ), that page was run by the Spark foundation a charity division of Spark a telecommunication company in New Zealand, we have now set up an identical Givealittle page, the Spark Foundation love the idea of children less fortunate getting the chance to participate in league and had drink bottles, bags, caps, note books and pens 25 of each item made-up for us to deliver to Kenya.
The school that received these is Nakuru Teachers Primary School, the school has taken to league and been very supportive of rugby league with all children getting the chance to participate, the school is happy for it grounds to be used by other league teams and competition anytime, which is great as access to sporting venues for training and games can be very difficult in Kenya.

4) Who has given you support?

Kenya rugby league has been very lucky to have a great hard working Development officer Lawrence Okello, Lawrence has a passion for rugby league and is a primary school teacher which has been essential as he has had access to the school system something we couldn't have done with him,

We have support from New Zealand prime minister John Key and the minister of foreign affairs who have contacted the embassy in Canberra, Australia ( also looks after NZ affairs ) on our behalf to try to get government recognition and a meeting for us but we have had no luck with them or the Australian embassy in Kenya, we also have support from former NZ prime minister and former Patron of NZ rugby league Helen Clark who put us in contact New Zealand Labour MP Louisa Wall (dual international in rugby and netball) who auction a signed warriors jersey in the New Zealand parliament that was donated by the CEO of the warriors NRL team and that was purchased by Labour MP Stuart Nash for $500 nzd.
Just last week we got a meeting with the ministry of sports in Nairobi, something we had been trying to get for some time, there was a lot of positives that came out from our meeting and the government has indicated that they will support rugby league.
We also have had a lot of guidance and support from the Rugby League European Federation in particular MEA Regional Director Remond Safi.

5) What challenges do you face in Kenya?

The fact that most is Kenya had no knowledge of rugby league has been a problem, with many having trouble understanding there is a difference between League and Union, This has been a large issue with registration and government recognition with them believing rugby union can be the only recognized code, but we believe the recent meeting with the ministry of sport has cleared this up, and of course rugby union see us as a threat to union and have also tried to stop our growth, for example our development officer Lawrence introduced league to his school and after a couple of months the principal who is involved in rugby union banned league in the school, another school directly across the road whose kids still had rugby league in school, allowed the children from the banned school to use their school after school hours, once the principal found out he demanded that our development officer stop or he would lose his job, he continued and eventually left to another school because of this, the new school was very welcoming of rugby league and the technical college down the road seeing league have also taken the sport up. Finances will always problem being that many clubs will struggle to support themselves ,most of the funding for training gear, kit etc for each will need to come from a central body until rugby league's profile grows with at this stage is primarily funded by myself and my wife Caroline.

Thanks for speaking with us Glen.

Follow their progress below:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Kenya-rugby-league-892678664132950

 

Donate to the cause here: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/rugbyleague4kenyanchildren#

[Everything Rugby League]

 

5 Questions with ERL: Federazione Italiana Rugby League

We spoke with Fabio DiPietro from the F.I.R.L.recently about Rugby League in Italy.

1. Tell us a bit about your country

Everyone knows a little bit about Italy. Italy is in Europe, faces Mediterranean sea, and it is a beautiful country with a rich history. 

2. How long has RL been played in your country?

Rugby League was first played in Italy in 1949. This was thanks to Ginnastica Torino who switched from Rugby Union to Rugby League. At the beginning of 1960's there were 2 divisions and lot of clubs playing Rugby League. Then Rugby Union, with political help, caused Rugby League to collapse. In 1995, Italy started playing Rugby League again via participating in the Coca-Cola World Sevens tournament in Sydney, Australia. After several years playing in the tournament, Rugby League came back to Italy in 2002 when Italy played the Republic of Kazan and the Scotland Students side in Padova. 

In 2006, we started to think about our own domestic competition. In 2007 the Federazione Italiana Rugby League was created with some domestic activity and international matches. 2016 has been our largest domestic rugby League season since we started.

3. What are you in most need to help the game grow?

We need full time development officers to work with schools & clubs to help raise the profile of Rugby League in Italy. We are working very hard to achieve full recognition from the Italian National Olympic Committee but this is a very difficult task.

4. What is the biggest challenge that you face?

Without having Rugby League on TV, our biggest problem is making the image of Rugby League popular, and gaining passionate Rugby League fans as we are.

5. What is dream scenario 10 years from now for your RL organisation?

We are talking about 2026 so our dream is to have a solid domestic championship, a solid junior championship and mini rugby league development in our local schools. We would love to have gained official government recognition and maybe have a professional Rugby League club playing in theSuper League full of Italian players.

Thanks for speaking with us Fabio, all the best.

Follow their progress below:

Website: http://www.firl.it/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ItaliaRugbyLeague/?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/italia_rlxiii

[DoubleD]

Fantastic to hear about Kenya, didn't even know there was development there!

[Evil Homer]

Fantastic to hear about Kenya, didn't even know there was development there!

You wonder why they're not involved with the RLEF..

[Cookiepuss]

I love reading this. 

[Everything Rugby League]

Here is our accompanying video for 5 Questions with ERL- Kenya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NBBNbMixw0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NBBNbMixw0

[Everything Rugby League]

 

We spoke with Brazil’s Hugo Fróes about the great work currently being done to get Rugby League up and running there.

 

Tell us a bit about your country.

Brazil, as everyone knows is a stunning country with a unique natural beauty, great food and friendly people.

Brazilians are also passionate about sports, especially football, which dominates the television and is undoubtedly the national sport. In second, but far away from football, we have volleyball, practiced by most women in general. Also we practice basketball and individual practice sports such tennis, swimming and running which are quite disseminated. Motorsports and martial arts are very well known as well.

Rugby union is the fastest growing sport in the country today, and it is his shadow, we are developing rugby league.

 

How long has RL been played in your country?

Rugby league began in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil in 2013 if I am not mistaken, with Wander Ferraz. In São Lourenço, we started in 2014, but are still individuals and not joint practices.

 

What are you in most need to help the game grow? I think we need refereeing courses, coaching courses, sports management applied to sport in particular. The knowledge we have about the sport is superficial. We also need to the help of rugby league’s governing bodies to help spread the game in Brazil.

 

What are the biggest challenge that you face?

It is quite complicated, we have no equipment for training or even balls. And as I said earlier, the knowledge of rugby league here is very superficial. Any support or investment, even if very little will help to lift the sport here.

 

What is your dream scenario 10 years from now for your RL organisation?

Brazil has a huge potential! We love contact sports (MMA , Boxing, Rugby Union and others) and rugby union in Brazil is very elitist and the Confederation injects money only in the southern richest states and southeast. Rugby league could cover this gap in the market. We would love to have a national league and national team and why not, Brazilian athletes playing semi- professionally and professionally abroad. That would be a huge dream, and what makes me most excited about is that we do not need so much to achieve this.

 

Finally, I appreciate the opportunity and the support of the ERL . I also thank the friends who help us to develop the sport in Latin America. Robert Burgin of Latin Heat , Carlos Varela (Argentina Confederation of Rugby ) and Wander Ferraz of Brazil. We are organizing the first rugby tournament involving Argentina , Chile and we the St. Lawrence Rugby, representing Brazil , Argentina in November and if anyone can help , please donate to our crowdfunding .

https://www.gofundme.com/BrazilRugbyLeague

 

https://www.facebook.com/EverythingRugbyLeague/photos/pcb.1239529679445570/1239526276112577/?type=3&theater