As part of the comprehensive 18-month RLEF-EU Leadership Devolution Project, the RL European Federation has run its first ever technical development course conducted for Continental candidates. The EU has committed €195.000 to the project which is intended to increase the capacity  and administrative base of the European federations and associations.

Hosted by the Asociacion Espagnola de Rugby League (AERL) at the Municipal Sports Centre in Alzira, Valencia, 11 candidates from across Spain became Level 1 match officials after attending the one-day course that was part delivered by AERL’s Spanish match official tutor trainees Ezequiel Perez Fuster, Cristian Maurin and Antonio Palacios - two from Valencia and one from Madrid - who began their training in Latvia in October.

This course was a benchmark, though, in that the two lead educators were both products of the RLEF’s own tutor training programmes; Guido Bonatti (Italy) and Radoslav Novakovic (Serbia) who both managed the tutor training and assessed course delivery, under the overall moderation of the RLEF’s Danny McNeice (UK).

McNeice, the former Midlands match officials development officer for the RFL, said: “The course in Spain proved to be a great demonstration of how far the development of match officials tutoring in Europe has come. To see Spanish tutors being trained by Italian and Serbian trainers demonstrates the Europe-wide skills base we have now developed.”

Pictured: Serbian RLEF match official tutor Radoslav Novakovic delivers a session to Spanish canddiates.