Time was, certainly before the launch of the Pennine League in the early 1970s, which was followed by the National Conference League (then known as the National League) a little over a decade later, that the notion of forging bonds with teams from another county, let alone another country, was fanciful.
Not now. Amateur Rugby League clubs these days are nothing if not cosmopolitan and there’s proof positive of that in today’s issue, with stories of highly unusual linkups for a couple of outfits which, to add extra lustre, would once themselves have been described as being outside the sport’s heartlands.
Bath have ventured into previously uncharted territory by establishing a partnership with the Spanish Rugby League which will involve player exchanges (I’m already excited about monitoring how that pans out) while Harrogate Fire Ants are getting behind their ‘sister club’ in New Zealand, Port Vila Fire Ants, by trying to raise funds for important improvements at the latter’s base. I hope readers with cash to spare may be able to help out.
Fire Ants is a wonderful moniker for any club to adopt, on a par with Hills Hoist (used by Hammersmith) for being memorable. Harrogate mainstay Stuart Morris tells me he selected the soubriquet because the fire ant has a tremendous capacity for work – that can only be very apt, I think, in terms of Rugby League players and teams. I reckon we’ll be hearing much more of the fledgling outfit Harrogate Fire Ants.
Bath’s announcement of the arrangement with the Asociación Española de Rugby League was followed, coincidentally, by a missive on behalf of the Rugby League European Federation, in which it was revealed that RLEF bosses will soon determine whether the 2021 Euro B, Euro C and Euro D competitions can go ahead in the light of the Covid-19 crisis.
For those who may not be aware, those ‘mini-leagues’ involve countries outside the top tier (Group A, which comprises France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Wales). Those nations are Czechai, Germany, Greece, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, and I find the concept exciting. Ok, most – in fact all – of those nations are a long way off matching Australia, New Zealand and England or Great Britain, and in some cases the standard may even be rather low. But that doesn’t really matter, not at this stage anyway. International Rugby League is taking place between teams of similar standing, and that’s the most important thing. Maybe some of those could establish links with British clubs similar to that launched by Bath and Spain. Everyone involved would surely benefit.
Finally, hats off yet again to the Rugby Football League and, in particular, to Head of Delivery, Community Games Competitions Kelly Barrett, for keeping grass roots clubs as fully informed as humanly possible throughout a seemingly interminable number of Covid-19 lockdowns – and for coming up regularly with innovations designed to maintain interest and lift the spirits. No one can allege that because no matches, other than a few pilot fixtures in the autumn, have taken place for almost a year, Barrett and her colleagues have been sitting around with their collective feet up.
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