Rugby League Norge has announced the appointment of a new head coach for their national team, with Australian-born Craig West taking on the role having been to Oslo to seal the deal.
West’s pedigree includes playing stints with Sydney club Newtown Jets and Pia Donkeys in France before making the switch to coaching with Villefranche in the Midi-Pyrenees region.
Upon arrival, West said, “The staff and players of RLN have made me feel very welcome and part of the rugby league family there straight away.”
His primary objective is to guide ‘Vikingene’ to a European Shield title against more experienced nations Malta and Germany.
RLN Executive Officer Warren Heilig commented, “Rugby League is a rapidly growing sport in Norway and we decided that to move forward we needed a specialist coach with good knowledge of the game but also experience of coaching in new frontiers. Craig was a perfect fit for us.”
Norway’s prospective international players will begin training for national team places on May 6th. In the RLEF EUROPEAN SHIELD they face Malta away, departing on July 1st for that clash and then Germany in Lillestrøm on July 9th.
For more information contact Warren Heilig on: Warren.heilig@rlef.eu.com
Reaction to the presence of rugby league at the recent United Nations’ Dignity for All festival, held in Beirut, has been hugely positive and deemed a great success by the organising United Nations Refugees and Works Agency, the host American University of Beirut and both the Palestinian and Middle East North Africa Rugby League organisations.
Although AUB won the exhibition match 28-10, the Palestinian XIII received tremendous support from fans and key officials alike. Busloads of relatives and friends, many of whom were wearing eye-catching red, black, white and green coloured t-shirts that had been produced especially for the day and waving the Palestinian flag, flooded the centre swelling the crowd to well over 2,000 an hour before kick-off.
Palestinian Rugby League founder Rabie El Masri, could hardly contain his pride after the emotional evening. “This match was very far away from the reality of two years ago; it was a dream for me,” he said. “Even more so for the Palestinian boys and girls. I went to the camps looking for players, I trained guys in all kinds of weather, we were laughing and happy playing rugby league even though some of them don’t have sports shoes. I did rugby league sessions in Nahr el Bared camp [largely destroyed in a 2008 conflict] and people were happy, the children were laughing.”
For more information contact Phil Caplan on: phil.caplan@rlef.eu.com
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