ONE of Rugby League’s greatest untapped sources is that provided by former students who played the sport while at university or college.

Men such as Bev Risman, Niel Wood and, latterly, Abe Kerr have sought to rectify the omission, with varying degrees of success.

Another possible route could be to focus on former student internationals.

Scotland has a reasonably successful alumni group operating via WhatsApp which has organised reunions for players at major Rugby League events under the stewardship of leading administrators Kevin Rudd and Graeme Thompson.

The other question that is relevant is ‘what does the game need or want from its student alumni?’.

England Universities team manager David Butler believes that the student national teams can draw on the support of past players to help raise funds, sponsorship and profile for the incumbent players.

He says: “If every player who has ever played for England over the 40 years and more history donated £10 each year, the programme would pay for itself each year.

“That would provide an amazing experience each year for the team, with players then joining the alumni as they graduate to continue the momentum.”

Butler has ideas about how to recognise former players: by awarding caps, recording heritage numbers and presenting playing and scoring statistics.

But for England, the situation is not perhaps quite as straightforward is it might appear.

The first England Students international took place in 1984, but detailed player records have only been kept since 2014, when the team was rebranded to England Universities, making tracking the first 30 years of the movement difficult.

“Records are patchy pre-2014” reflects Butler. “We need to think of a way of presenting the factual data we have for the more modern era, while not rewriting history or forgetting about the
first 30 years’ worth of players and involving them in a way which recognises their efforts and commitment, even if we do not hold as much data as we would like.”