Dansk Rugby League, the RLEF’s smallest member, has completed its participation in the three-year Training and Education Portal project, co-funded by the EU, and which is building the sport’s technical capacity in Europe by holding a match officials course in Copenhagen.

Rugby League Ireland educator Paul Causby, himself a graduate of the project, which sees his national federation paired with and mentoring Denmark, trained Harry James from the local organisation. Causby, who also delivered the course in a third cluster nation, Germany, said, “It’s great to see young enthusiastic people involved in trying to grow the game in Denmark.”

The local association’s president, Richard Naylor, said, “We appreciate this initiative from the RLEF. It is up to us to generate more interest and take greater advantage of similar offers. Up until now we have had to source referees from Germany, Sweden and the UK, so if we just get willing, engaged and competent referees out of this - and that looks very likely - then it will be a step in the right direction.”

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