Rugby league in Lebanon has passed a significant milestone with a celebration of the tenth anniversary since domestic competition began in the country.

“Everyone involved, past or present, in Lebanese rugby league, should take some time to reflect on the growth of the sport here and feel good about themselves,” said LRLF president, Mohamad Habbous, a Canadian-Lebanese from Montreal who became involved through playing with Balamand University in 2002.

“The unbelievably testing environment in which the game has not only survived but thrived is a testament to the will of Lebanon’s rugby league community. Our growth is not only an important example for the country itself but has made us, I believe, an important part of the rugby league world, with the Middle East ripe for development.”

Lebanese rugby league’s reach now spans 11 schools, five clubs playing an eight-month championship, a five-team university championship, which features some of Lebanon’s most famous and influential institutions, and national teams at under-16, 18s, 20s and senior level. A member of the Lebanese Ministry of Youth and Sport and a Full Member of the Rugby League European Federation, the LRFL also expects to achieve that status with the RLIF in 2012. The LRLF has run annual coaching and match officials’ courses since 2005 and acts as a leader in the region, where rugby league is on an upward trend.

Chief operating officer Remond Safi, whose involvement also began in 2002 derives deep satisfaction from the sport’s growth. “We started with no funding, no presence whatsoever, just a passion for the game,” said the former army lieutenant and Bulldogs junior. “Since then rugby league has witnessed an incredibly encouraging rise in popularity, based principally on its strategy of ownership and non-partisanship. Young Lebanese have embraced not only our sport, but also the opportunity to invest, morally and physically, in a truly Lebanese project that they can see is benefitting Lebanese civil society, through the life lessons the sport imparts on its participants, but also Lebanon’s good name abroad.”

In 2003 the Lebanese sports ministry created the Lebanese Rugby League Committee, the forerunner to the fully recognised LRLF. “We’ve got our own strategy,” continued Safi, “and it works very well. We help run community programs, get schools lined up to feed universities and universities to feed the clubs with the whole community around it.”

Like so many sports that are without a long history in Lebanon, rugby league suffers from a lack of substantial government financial support and a crippling lack of green space. “Our sport is supported primarily by the players and the Lebanese rugby league community,” Safi added. “We have always found a way to get things done as those involved recognise how valuable a model this project is to their country. I can see rugby league been played all across Lebanon across all ages in the next decade.”

Pictured from left: LRLF president Mohamed Habbous and Lebanese Minister of Youth and Sport, Faisal Karami.