The newly formed Polska Rugby XIII, which established its association under Polish law last week, has hosted the first technical activity in Lodz, as part of the RLEF’s EU-backed Leadership Devolution Project.

Five Polish candidates received their Level 1 Match Official qualification after attending a course led by PRXIII trainee educators Lukasz Lucka and Jacek Galeza, and monitored by RLEF Educators Denys Cherniev and George Stilianos.

“The keen Polish officials turned up with a great appetite to learn,” said Stilianos. “I was impressed with how quickly they took on board the rules and referee signals, then were able to implement them on the field the following day during the friendly match.”

Lucka, who founded PRXIII, added, “The seminar was another key step for rugby league development in Poland. Two of the candidates were completely new to rugby league and loved the experience.”

A coaching course will now run in June with the initial aim of setting up youth clubs in two other parts of Lodz. The LD project, which has received €195.000 from the European Commission, is intended to increase the governance and technical capacity of participating members.

Pictured: Polish match official educator-trainee Jacek Galeza runs a drill with Polish refereeing candidates, observed by the RLEF's Denys Cherniev.