The Pardubice Jets Rugby League Club are extremely proud to announce that they have been allocated a grant of 10000czk by the Pardubice Municipal Government to develop the sport amongst local youth & promote an International Rugby League Tournament in the local area. This is a significant development in the recognition of Rugby League in the Czech Republic as it is the 1st time that government funding has ever been awarded to a domestic club in the sport’s brief history in the country.
Pardubice Club President, & Czech Rugby League Development Manager, Andrew Mulhall, stated: “Like many countries in Rugby League’s developing world we have found that it is incredibly difficult to convince local and state governments that there is a considerable difference between the 2 rugby codes, that each has a rich and diverse culture and history of its own, and that in the 21st century Rugby League is not a rebel breakaway from the Union establishment, but an independent, vibrant and fast-paced orientated sport in its own right which dominates the sporting landscapes of many parts of the world, not least In Australia and New Zealand & parts of Great Britain and France. “
The Czech Sports Association, the governing body of sport in the Czech Republic, which has the power to allocate state finances to national sporting bodies, does not recognize Rugby League as a separate sport from Rugby Union. As such, while Rugby Union - having become deeply entrenched in the Czech sporting landscape over the last 70 years since British-trained Czech and Slovakian airmen brought the sport back to their nation of birth after assisting in the liberation of their homeland from Nazi occupation - receives all nationally allocated government funding aimed at ‘rugby’, and thus despite falling numbers in terms or participation in contrast to the ever widening appeal of Rugby League, Rugby Union continues to be able to financially consolidate much needed infrastructure within the Czech Republic in a manner that is still inconceivable to those involved in the development of Rugby league in the country.
Despite all of this, prominent Pardubice academic, politician and sporting identity, šimon Karamazov, was pleased to help with the development of Rugby League, albeit on a local scale in Pardubice, opining: “I have been very happy to help the Pardubice Jets with this development. Not only are the people associated with the club providing a valubable new sporting outlet for the youth of this region, but by staging an international tournament in Pardubice they are both bringing foreign & domestic tourists into the region & providing much appreciated stimulus for the both the local and national economies. I hope many Czech people will be there to watch the International 9s tournament in our Summer Football Stadium on 24.4.11, and that they will go away with a deeper understanding of what an exciting game Rugby League can be”.