The Rugby League European Federation has released its annual report for 2011, highlighting encouraging growth in a number of areas. Labelling the year as, “progressive”, chairman Richard Lewis remarked that, “through the RLEF’s stewardship, rugby league on the Continent and beyond is heading in the right direction. The sport continues to make great strides, both on and off the field, and it is very satisfying to see it prosper at all levels as we continue to build up to the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.”
The newly released figures for the number of domestic matches played demonstrate that a number of national governing bodies are making significant progress in increasing participation numbers. Jamaica and Scotland, for example, have more than tripled their domestic activity in 2011, while the number of matches in the Czech Republic, Italy and Norway doubled. Germany and Ukraine had their busiest years to date, with both also commencing youth development programmes.
Supporting the domestic growth, the RLEF’s Technical Strategy played a pivotal role in 2011, with 76 coach and match official candidates attending the launch seminar in London, in March and May respectively. The project is set to finish early in 2013, which will see each participating country equipped with a fully qualified technical department.
Two new Full Members – Lebanon and Serbia – and four new Affiliate Members were accepted and financially, the RLEF had its most successful year, with contracts worth over €200000 signed with the European Commission and the value of the European Cup sponsorship with Alitalia doubling to €50000.
“All in all everyone involved in the RLEF can be satisfied with the 2011 achievements,” said general manager Danny Kazandjian. “Encouragingly, some of the local structures put in place last year look certain to produce an even more exciting set of results this year, with the number of players, matches and months in which the sport is played all set to increase considerably.”
Strategic partnerships with the Commonwealth Games Federation and UK Sport International were also hailed as major breakthroughs for the sport in 2011, with increased development in the Caribbean and parts of Africa lined up for 2012.
View the annual report here: http://www.europeanrugbyleague.com/rlef/annual_report