Match officials from Germany, England, Ireland and Wales have taken part in the latest RLEF Level 2 match officials course in Cardiff, part of the EU-backed Training and Education Portal project.

RLEF tutor Danny McNeice led the activity, which was attended by eight other officials. “The group had a range of experience including former semi-professional officials in the RFL structure,” he noted. “Despite the different backgrounds all attendees worked hard, engaged in high quality discussions and took away a range to new skills to take back to their home countries.”

Wales’s James Jones was introduced to the educator pathway under the guidance of Ian Curzon, the head of Wales Rugby League’s match officials department. Recently qualified Level 1 Educators James Spencer and Paul Causby from Ireland attended, accompanied by Steve Hogan, the head of Rugby League Ireland’s match officials department, and promising official Declan Campbell.

“It was an informative and enjoyable course,” said Causby. “It's always good to expand your knowledge with other match officials and educators especially from other countries.”

Causby and Spencer recently oversaw a Level 1 course in Germany with their cluster colleagues. Bob and Max Doughton represented Nationaler Rugby League Deutschland, with Max qualified as an educator earlier this year.

“I really found value in the practice-based course which will help us enormously in the development of our match officials in Germany,” said Bob Doughton. “As usual, the off-field discussions proved just as valuable as the course material.”

The TEP is a three-year, €723.000 investment into capacity building through good governance and technical training, funded by €466.000 from the EU’s Erasmus+ project and the remainder from the RLIF and five of its full members. It is intended to build the knowledge and skills of the RLEF’s 21 European members, divided into six regional clusters, through high quality training and mentoring, while granting opportunities to share experiences amongst fellow Europeans dedicated to rugby league development.