EASTERN EUROPE

[ATLANTISMAN]

What a wonderful story for the polish lad who played in the final today:)

Being married to a Russian girl and having travelled and made friends throughout Poland/Belarus/Ukraine/Russia I really do believe that we should target these counties for a massive expansion campaign.

Rugby League is a natural for these countries.

LETS DO IT:)

 

Paul

[Henson Park Old Firm]

don't forget the Lithuanians

[cookey]

His mother was a Polish international rower,who previously worked as a gym instructor at the Village,Headingley/North Leeds.

[Eddie]

17 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

What a wonderful story for the polish lad who played in the final today:)

Being married to a Russian girl and having travelled and made friends throughout Poland/Belarus/Ukraine/Russia I really do believe that we should target these counties for a massive expansion campaign.

Rugby League is a natural for these countries.

LETS DO IT:)

 

Paul

I’ve thought for a long while that Eastern Europe would be ripe for Rugby League, I’ve been all over Eastern Europe and love the place too. 
 

When you say we though, and let’s do it, what do you mean? I know the Polish RL are asking for help from the UK and Australia, would you be interested in that? I’d be up for sponsoring a team or something if anyone else on the forum was, like we did with the Hyenas last year (who sadly haven’t been able to play in our kit yet ). Or even better sponsor some youth development. 

[Eddie]

This is the article I was referring to, and specifically the last paragraph. http://www.intrl.sport/news/triton-warszawa-win-inaugural-poland-rugby-league-grand-final/
 

Any players, volunteers or officials with Polish heritage wishing to get involved in supporting the development of rugby league in the country, please get in touch with; 

Poland - Łukasz Łucka - lukaszlucka@gmail.com

UK and Ireland - James szymik - Jamesszymik@hotmail.com

Australia - Alex  Kowalski -  alk_kowalski@hotmail.com

[Tommygilf]

Considering the levels of migration to RL heartland areas by Eastern Europeans in recent times, its certainly an area the sport can look to grow into both in the UK and in those nations. In a similar (but better) way to Ireland, Scotland and Jamaica we should be using both to support eachother.

[ATLANTISMAN]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Considering the levels of migration to RL heartland areas by Eastern Europeans in recent times, its certainly an area the sport can look to grow into both in the UK and in those nations. In a similar (but better) way to Ireland, Scotland and Jamaica we should be using both to support eachother.

I agree lots of Russians to from Latvia and Lithuania too in the UK (Remember around 40% of these countries are Russian speakers)

 

Paul

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

I agree lots of Russians to from Latvia and Lithuania too in the UK (Remember around 40% of these countries are Russian speakers)

 

Paul

And for, shall we diplomatically call it, "historical reasons", these are ethnic Russians too in Eastern European nations. 

Either way the game should be looking to the Eastern European communities on our doorstep to grow just as the NRL have with the Pacifika in Oz and NZ.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

It’s just a stereotype that Eastern Europeans or Russians are all massive body builder types. In reality there are no more Ivan Drago type characters than in the UK.

[Eddie]

29 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

It’s just a stereotype that Eastern Europeans or Russians are all massive body builder types. In reality there are no more Ivan Drago type characters than in the UK.

There are to be fair (more than in the UK I mean), certainly in Poland and Russia. Have you ever been to either of those places?

[Manfred Mann]

Prop Mikolaj Oledski (Leeds) and second rower Jack Gosiewski (Manly) could be the core of a Polish national team that could qualify for the 2025 World Cup if development of the game in Poland was accelerated today. Oledski would be 27 and in his prime while Gosiewski would be 31 and should still be very good, But of course at least another 17 top quality Polish players would have to be unearthed and trained in either Super League or the NRL by then if a Polish team was to be competitive, the way that Fiji and PNG will be in 2021.

[Eddie]

22 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

What a wonderful story for the polish lad who played in the final today:)

Being married to a Russian girl and having travelled and made friends throughout Poland/Belarus/Ukraine/Russia I really do believe that we should target these counties for a massive expansion campaign.

Rugby League is a natural for these countries.

LETS DO IT:)

 

Paul

So what are we going to do about it then Paul, any ideas? 

[gingerjon]

23 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

What a wonderful story for the polish lad who played in the final today:)

Being married to a Russian girl and having travelled and made friends throughout Poland/Belarus/Ukraine/Russia I really do believe that we should target these counties for a massive expansion campaign.

Rugby League is a natural for these countries.

LETS DO IT:)

 

Paul

You’re aware of the history of rugby league in Russia?

[iangidds]

Money is required to do this, i live in Eastern Europe and am convinced they suit our game but we have zero cash for expansion! If we paid 30k a year as a starter here we would have hundreds of great athletes playing the game but the reality is we cant pay a cent to anyone in eastern Europe

[Hela Wigmen]

9 minutes ago, iangidds said:

Money is required to do this, i live in Eastern Europe and am convinced they suit our game but we have zero cash for expansion! If we paid 30k a year as a starter here we would have hundreds of great athletes playing the game but the reality is we cant pay a cent to anyone in eastern Europe

And £30k each for a number of countries is hundreds of thousands the game hasn’t got. 

[Eddie]

11 minutes ago, iangidds said:

Money is required to do this, i live in Eastern Europe and am convinced they suit our game but we have zero cash for expansion! If we paid 30k a year as a starter here we would have hundreds of great athletes playing the game but the reality is we cant pay a cent to anyone in eastern Europe

Where do you live, out of interest?

[ATLANTISMAN]

3 hours ago, Eddie said:

So what are we going to do about it then Paul, any ideas? 

Hi Eddie,

 

Sorry not to have replied earlier I was out on a 3/4 hour walk to the pub with the dog in the next village

Totally aware of ALL the history, indirectly we have Putin to blame for closing down the casinos in Moscow (One was owned by the financial backer who loved Rugby League) this dried up the cash that was needed.

The game now in Russia is a sad small time player compared to 10 years ago however all is not lost Rugby Union has not made the gains that they hoped after the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and it would only take a small amount of money and good organisation to get things back to what they were before again.

I really have no idea about any input from the RLEF but would love to hear from anyone involved.

 

 

[Eddie]

20 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Hi Eddie,

 

Sorry not to have replied earlier I was out on a 3/4 hour walk to the pub with the dog in the next village

Totally aware of ALL the history, indirectly we have Putin to blame for closing down the casinos in Moscow (One was owned by the financial backer who loved Rugby League) this dried up the cash that was needed.

The game now in Russia is a sad small time player compared to 10 years ago however all is not lost Rugby Union has not made the gains that they hoped after the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and it would only take a small amount of money and good organisation to get things back to what they were before again.

I really have no idea about any input from the RLEF but would love to hear from anyone involved.

 

 

What do you think of people on this forum (who wanted to contribute) trying to do something for youth development or club development in Poland? Even if we could raise two or three hundred quid it would probably go a long way in terms of training equipment etc?

[Manfred Mann]

Serbia should be a priority because of the advanced development of Red Star Belgrade.

It is possible that the Serbian national team, if it qualified for the World Cup in 2025, could call upon full back Tom Trbojevic (Manly), centre Tom Opacic (North Queensland), centre Nikola Cotric (Canterbury Bankstown 2021), and lock Jake Trbojevic (Manly) if they were not selected for Australia, plus a host of second division players.

If all four of these were to play for Serbia in 2025, and a couple of halves, a hooker, and several good forwards were unearthed, Serbia would have a powerful team. So developing Serbia should be top of the list for Eastern Europe.

[langpark]

Trouble is, Serbia, for such a small country, is an over-achiever in sports, regularly punching above their weight in several sports, especially basketball, tennis and water polo. So it is hard to attract the most athletic kids to a sport that does not offer much of a pathway.

I don't disagree with what you are saying though, definitely use the little resource we have to try and build on some of these existing foundations. 

[Eddie]

10 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Serbia should be a priority because of the advanced development of Red Star Belgrade.

It is possible that the Serbian national team, if it qualified for the World Cup in 2925, could call upon full back Tom Trbojevic (Manly), centre Tom Opacic (North Queensland), centre Nikola Cotric (Canterbury Bankstown 2021), and lock Jake Trbojevic (Manly) if they were not selected for Australia, plus a host of second division players.

If all four of these were to play for Serbia in 2025, and a couple of halves, a hooker, and several good forwards were unearthed, Serbia would have a powerful team. So developing Serbia should be top of the list for Eastern Europe.

It’s a bit early to be thinking about the 2925 World Cup. 

[Bearman]

14 minutes ago, Eddie said:

It’s a bit early to be thinking about the 2925 World Cup. 

See, that's what we do wrong. We are always going for short term thinking and not taking the long view

[Hela Wigmen]

I really don’t think a 929 year-old Tom Trbojevic will do well in the 2925 World Cup. 

[Damien]

10 hours ago, langpark said:

Trouble is, Serbia, for such a small country, is an over-achiever in sports, regularly punching above their weight in several sports, especially basketball, tennis and water polo. So it is hard to attract the most athletic kids to a sport that does not offer much of a pathway.

I don't disagree with what you are saying though, definitely use the little resource we have to try and build on some of these existing foundations. 

On the other hand Serbia has one of the lowest average wages in Europe. A little bit of money in Serbia would go a a heck of a lot further than most other places,

[RP London]

11 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Serbia should be a priority because of the advanced development of Red Star Belgrade.

It is possible that the Serbian national team, if it qualified for the World Cup in 2925, could call upon full back Tom Trbojevic (Manly), centre Tom Opacic (North Queensland), centre Nikola Cotric (Canterbury Bankstown 2021), and lock Jake Trbojevic (Manly) if they were not selected for Australia, plus a host of second division players.

If all four of these were to play for Serbia in 2025, and a couple of halves, a hooker, and several good forwards were unearthed, Serbia would have a powerful team. So developing Serbia should be top of the list for Eastern Europe.

love the fact you edited the post (not sure what you had spotted) but left the 900 year error in!