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Murrayfield to host biggest ever Scottish Schools Rugby League Tournament

Thursday 26th March 2009

Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium will host the biggest ever Scottish Schools Rugby League tournament on Sunday 3 May as part of engage Super League’s Magic Weekend.

More then 180 children from 14 Primary Schools across Scotland will be involved in the competition which will be played on pitches adjacent to the main stadium prior to the first engage Super League game on the Sunday.

To mark the launch of the tournament, which aims to encourage those playing Rugby League at school to join their local community club, the engage Super League trophy visited Sunnyside Primary School in East Glasgow.

Mark Senter, the RFL’s Scotland Development Manager, said: “We’re on the cusp of something big in Scotland with Rugby League proving immensely popular in the schools which we visit to deliver coaching sessions.  The Magic Weekend will only build on this and give our development programme added momentum.

“All the schools involved in the tournament at Murrayfield have been selected due to their geographical locations near a current or proposed new community Rugby League club and our aim is to marry up the schools with the local clubs. East Glasgow in particular is fast becoming a hotbed of Rugby League and the pupils at Sunnyside Primary School, many of whom watch engage Super League on Sky Sports, couldn’t wait to have their pictures taken with the famous trophy.

“If we are to have a Scottish side in the Championship or Super League in future years then the grassroots has to be developing players, and hopefully the legacy of the Magic Weekend will be that more and more children are playing club Rugby League in Scotland.  Who knows in the future one of the kids who plays in this tournament could be stars of the future.”

The Magic Weekend on May 2-3 sees all seven games from Round 12 of engage Super League taking place at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in one big carnival-style weekend.

All of the Scottish Schools involved in the competition will have squads of 13 players and two teachers. The tournament will be non-competitive, round robin and games will be played using tag rules with teams of 9 a-side.  Following the climax of the competition all children will receive a certificate for participating and will take part in a parade of Murrayfield Stadium at half-time of one of the engage Super League fixtures.

To build excitement ahead of the Magic Weekend community staff from a number of engage Super League clubs will be visiting the schools involved in the competition to deliver coaching with the idea that each school will be ‘adopted’ by a professional team.  The engage Super League trophy will also be touring schools.

Scottish schools participating:

Bargedie Primary School – North Lanarkshire

Haghill Primary School – Glasgow

Newton Primary School – South Ayrshire

St. Angela’s Primary School - Glasgow

St. Catherines Primary School - Glasgow

St. Augustines Primary School – Glasgow

Sunnyside Primary School - Glasgow

Tannochside Primary School – North Lanarkshire

Carluke Tigers School – tbc – South Lanarkshire

Airdrie Hawks School – tbc – North Lanarkshire

Edinburgh Eagles School – tbc Edinburgh

Fife Lions School – tbc – Fife

Jordnahill Pheonix School – tbc – Glasgow

Hillfoot Rams School – tbc – Clackmannanshire

A two day pass for the Magic Weekend is priced from just £10 for concessions and £25 for adults and supporters can purchase tickets by calling 0871 226 1313 or by visiting www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk.

Saturday 2^nd May

Salford City Reds v Harlequins RL         ko 3pm

Wakefield Wildcats v Bradford Bulls       ko 5pm

Wigan Warriors v St Helens                    ko 7pm

Sunday 3^rd May

Huddersfield Giants v Celtic Crusaders   ko 12.30pm

Hull FC v Castleford Tigers                    ko 2.45pm

Catalans Dragons v Leeds Rhinos          ko 5.00pm

Warrington Wolves v Hull KR                 ko 7.00pm

Visit the dedicated Magic Weekend website – www.themagicweekend.co.uk