Almost 30 coaches, including three women, and eight match officials have been certified as a result of courses held during the recent European U19s Championship in Belgrade.
Delegates from ten nations attended across five days of activity, with accommodation and ground costs for the candidates covered by the Serbian Rugby League Federation who in turn were granted funds from Belgrade City Council towards the event.
The level 1 coaching course was run by ERL lead coach educator Martin Crick, who was assisted by David Lahr from Czechia. “In many ways it was the best course that we have run,” said Crick. “It’s the biggest group we’ve ever had but the key thing was that everyone came of their own volition, paid their way here and clearly wanted to learn.
“A lot of the candidates were new to rugby league - Americans, Albanians, Bosnians – and the levels of enthusiasm and energy were tremendous. They came on leaps and bounds.”
Crick added: “There were several who couldn’t speak English but the others acted as translators for them which showed real initiative, the group gelled and worked really hard in hot conditions and over long days and they’ve got work to do when they get home.”
That work will see the coaches move from certified to accredited under the CATO scheme which involves planning delivering and reviewing six linked training sessions.
James Jones ran the match officials’ course which saw Greece’s Maria Avzoti and Poland’s Zuzanna Orlik appointed as interchange officials to games taking place in the last day of the Championship, while Malta’s Lionel DaSilva was appointed as a touch judge for the USA v Ukraine game, giving him instant on-field experience.
“It’s been a fantastic experience getting the officials through level 1 and part of the officiating team on finals day which shows how well they progressed,” noted Jones. “It was a very good group of women and men and it’s great for European rugby league.
“To bring them into a review environment after matches with the officiating squad and former top referee Thierry Alibert was a privileged place to be and not many get to do that. They took a lot from that and it’s something I hope we can repeat in the future.”