NORWEGIAN RUGBY LEAGUE RE-VAMP AS MORE COACHES QUALIFY

22 Jan 2015

The 2015 NRL season, which kicks off in mid-April and ends with a final in Bodo in November, will see Eastern and Western conferences formed. Flekkefjord Tigers, Porsgrunn Pirates and new side Farsund Bobcats make up the west, while Oslo Capitals, Bodo Barbarians and Lillestrom-Trondheim will play in the east. In addition, a 9s competition will allow new teams and areas such as Arendal, Tromso and Sandnes to be introduced to the sport.

Fourteen representatives from eight rugby league clubs have taken part in Rugby League Norge's first-ever Level 1 Coaching Course at Ulleval Stadion, Oslo. Martin Crick, the RLEF's Coaching Manager, oversaw the course which included tutor training with three trainee Norwegian coach tutors as well as the two-day Level 1 course.

Susanne Mål of Flekkefjord Tigers said, “There were a lot of useful tips. It was good to teach the basic skills to new players so we can develop the sport.”

One of the new tutor-trainees, Isaac Schmidt, from the champions Oslo Capitals and a Norwegian international, added, “All the participants were enthusiastic which created a great environment for learning. The course gave me an extra boost in motivation to contribute to coaching rugby league in Norway.”

RLN’s bid to increase participation has seen a concerted effort to develop the association’s administration with a new organisational structure agreed at their recent AGM. Enrique Guy takes over from Kim Seglem as president with Lars Haigh the new vice-president. All clubs have agreed to adopt a set of guidelines that encourage a respect policy to the core values of the sport; excellence, integrity, self-discipline and humility.