RUGBY LEAGUE NATION

 

 

Foundation Year - 2006

International Team - Rugby League Norway

Top level domestic competition - N/A

History - Norway is a new rugby league playing nation and continues the trend of European nations taking up the sport.

Rugby league was introduced into schools in north east 2006 with the hope of setting up an ongoing schools competition.

In Feb 2008 Norway were unranked in European rankings but were awarded official observer status by the Rugby League European Federation. Since 2006 rugby league has not made much headway in Norway until recently. In late 2008 a committee was formed in Oslo with the goal of growing the sport in Norway.

In 2009 Rugby League Norway was born after Warren Heilig noticed that there was an opportunity to start a rugby league competition. Heilig had observed the standard of RU in Norway was low with only one level of competition. This meant the less experienced players could not get much game time. Heilig thought he should try and get the younger less experienced clubs and players from the bigger clubs to join a second tier competition playing rugby league. Rugby League Norway saw the advantage rugby league had over Union. Rugby League was easier for people to learn so instead of relying on expats Rugby League Norway could attract more locals to the sport.

Norway's first ever rugby league event "The Scandinavia Cup" will be held in Oslo Norway on 30th-31st of May 2009. The event is an International tournament and will have teams from Denmark, Sweden, Catalonia, 2 from Germany and 3 from Norway participating. After this event a Norwegian national team will be selected to play a first ever test against the Great Britain Pioneers.

After these two major events which will both have features on local television, three local clubs have agreed to play intermediate rugby league matches. The clubs involved are Oslo Rugbyklubb, Oslo University and Tonsberg Rugbyklubb. Due to the proximity to the Swedish border a Swedish team from Gothemburg has agreed to join the competition until the popularity of league grows in Sweden and they can start their own competition. Rugby League Norway hope after the first year the popularity of League will take off enough to start a new club from Oslo which will be the first ever dedicated rugby league club in Scandinavia.

The recent success of the Rugby League World Cup will provide further funds to develop the sport throughout Europe. The Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) will now have more funds to invest in development officers and continue assisting rugby league's growth. With the right support nations like Norway could take the next step and setup a local top level rugby league competition.

Dear Readers, If you have first hand knowledge of the current Rugby League situation in Norway we would love to hear from you. Please email us at: webmaster@rugbyleagueplanet.com or join our international rugby league Forums at http://forums.rugbyleagueplanet.com and let us all know what's going on in your part of the world.