York Valkyrie enjoyed a self-funded pre-season trip to Morocco for warm-weather training without breaking the bank.
GERMANY, Poland, Hungary, Uganda. Those are just some of the many unorthodox rugby league destinations that York Valkyrie chief Lindsay Anfield has taken her teams over the years.
The Women’s Super League-winning coach added a new country to the list as the Valks ventured out to the historic city of Marrakesh in Morocco.
While trips abroad are nothing new in our sport – with Super League and Championship clubs making at least one trip to the south of France every season – it is a rare occurrence in the women’s game.
The major stumbling block is, of course, funding. While the likes of Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves can afford to send the men for warm-weather training in Tenerife, the coffers aren’t deep enough to be able to give the girls the same luxury.
Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped Anfield from organising annual excursions – even beyond the European continent.
Question is, how did a Women’s Super League side fund a four-day trip to Morocco? And perhaps more importantly, why?
Morocco isn’t exactly a hotbed of rugby league, but the African nation aren’t complete strangers to the beautiful game. In fact, the Morocco national rugby league team competed in 20 official international fixtures between 1995 and 2019.
That, however, didn’t change the look of surprise and confusion on the faces of staff at Marrakesh international airport and the nearby hotel as 25 young women turned up with funny looking egg-shaped balls under their arms.
While the Valkyrie were given a warm welcome, it didn’t stop the locals from asking questions. For instance, who are these women? Why are they here? Are they famous? What do they do? And perhaps the most commonly, why are those footballs so deformed?
The look of confusion soon turned to amazement as the locals were informed that the champions of England had just entered the venue.
During the Valkyrie’s arrival, the Aqua Mirage hotel was out-of-season. This meant there were only 300 guests in the 2,000-capacity establishment, with the Valks making up nearly 10 per cent of the visitors in the hotel. You can imagine who garnered most attention that week.
Daily training sessions often saw intrigued onlookers standing by, taking pictures and asking more questions. You can bet your bottom dollar that the Valkyrie experienced an influx of Moroccan followers on social media.
Speaking of dollars, you may be interested in finding out how on earth the York women managed to fund a trip to north Africa. You won’t be surprised to learn that just like all the previous Anfield excursions, this one was also self-funded. However, it didn’t cost as much as most would expect.
Flights to Marrakesh in January can be found in abundance – most of which are with low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet. Valkyrie players flew on different flights, but none of them splashed more than £80 on return tickets.
Then you have the question of hotels. The point of York’s trip was to engage in warm-weather training, embrace a different culture and build team cohesion. With that in mind, the Valkyrie went for the all-inclusive four-star Aqua Mirage hotel which consisted of three restaurants, two swimming pools, a giant aqua park and most importantly, a training pitch.
The normal cost of such facility can be extortionate, especially for a group of this size. However, a little bit of negotiation saw the Valkyrie secure a special deal, worth £190 per individual.
With food part of the all-inclusive experience, the only other expense was the cultural aspect of the trip. That included a couple of visits to the infamous market, plus a tour through the Sahara desert on camels and quadbikes. All that came to just over £35 per person.
When you do the maths, the basic cost of the trip comes to just over £300 per individual. That is a small price to pay for what will be one of the highlights of the year for many of the players.
Looking at those economics, you have to ask yourself whether the sport could follow in the Valkyrie footsteps and coordinate more international projects.
There are positive signs in that department when you consider January’s pre-season fixture in Amsterdam between Hull KR and York Knights. We also can’t forget Castleford Tigers and their pre-season encounter with Valencia Huracanes.
Going out to a hot destination for training is one thing, but leaving a rugby league mark on those places is another.
Whether it’s a few extra social media followers from Morocco, or a handful of new rugby fans from the Netherlands, there is a real argument to be made for British clubs making an impact on the international scene.
