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U16s CHAMPIONS SPARK GROWTH IN KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA AS ROYALY BACKS RUGBY LEAGUE‏

Tuesday 9th March 2010

U16s CHAMPIONS SPARK GROWTH IN KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA AS ROYALY BACKS RUGBY LEAGUE

Rugby league is a sport for royalty. That is certainly the case in Saudi Arabia where the newly crowned Middle East North Africa U16 champions, Saudi Schools Select – who were sponsored by Ferrari - were contacted with a good luck message from a member of the Kingdom’s royal family, on the morning of their deciding game against Lebanon U16s last Saturday.

“The fact that a number of the royal Al-Saud family also play the game is remarkable,” said Saudi rugby league manager Chris Ratcliffe. “We made the front page of the Arab News on two consecutive days with our results.” That interest has increased following the return of the triumphant Camels to the desert kingdom as proud possessors of the MENA U16s trophy.

“Rugby league is the only sport played in the international schools here in Saudi Arabia where students can gain representative honours,” continued Ratcliffe, a St Helens native who is head of PE at Jeddah Prep & Grammar School. “Our victory and increased profile can only attract more and more interest from around the kingdom.”

That has already manifested itself in significant awareness from seven and eight-year-olds as well as girls who want to join the already established U12, U14 and U16s that play at JPGS and in the American International and British International Schools of Jeddah.

“The U14 and U12 teams here in Jeddah are very strong so the pool of talent is coming through and they are similar to the current U16s in that most are Arab boys playing rugby for the first time and really loving the experience.”

“Our biggest test is getting the other schools in the kingdom involved, whether it is in Dhahran, Al Khobar, KAUST (a university), Riyadh, Dammam or Yanbu. What we can offer in terms of fixtures should be enough to entice them to our sport. A truly national team and national sport is the ultimate goal.”

The Saudis, who began playing rugby league in 2008, are on their way to achieving that target with six of the victorious 18-man squad locals and the winning try being scored by one of them, centre Rakhan Al-Makhtoun.

The tournament is part of an initiative by regional partners to develop a series of competitions, with the next one an U14s Schools 9s, again to be staged in Beirut, in May. All three Saudi schools will make the trip with the intention that fixed dates will allow various Middle East nations to plan their participation.

“The players are really happy with their victory,” continued Ratcliffe. “The lads just want to play more games and that is the key thing. All the hard work has paid off. Who would have thought how much progress would have been made in just two years; now they are actually looking more and more like a rugby league team and I am impressed with their knowledge of the game

The Camels celebrate their triumph