Twenty five club sides and over 250 players participated in the annual “Defenders of the Fatherland” nines tournament in Moscow on Saturday 23 February. The national holiday, which dates back to the Russian civil war in 1919, traditionally celebrates the country’s armed forces and, indeed, a soldierly mental steel was the order of the day as the boys, who ranged in age from 8-16 years, and the six open age teams all battled freezing conditions and a snow-covered field as well as each other.

“The day went rather well,” said Association of Rugby League Clubs (ARLK) official Victor Sapozhnikov. “The competition was well attended by kids with their friends and parents. It was well organised with some good matches and everyone was very happy.”

Four Moscow districts were represented: new youth club Aviator RLC, which sent an under-13s side, and university teams MGPU (Moscow Statue University) and PIFK (Moscow Institute of Physical Culture), represented the city centre; Centaur, from the Bibirevo district in the north, committed sides to all four youth categories as well as the open age competition; neighbouring Medvedkovo was represented by Storm and Olympus clubs and their eight teams; while the Babushkinskiy district, just to the south of the others, sent three teams. Shchyolkovo, from north east of Moscow, Nara and Vereya, from south of the city, all travelled from Moscow Region, with six teams.

Centaur RLC won three of the four youth categories, with Nara winning the other, while PIFK won the adults category.

Pictured: ARLK official Vadim Fedchuk hands out medals to one of the winning sides.