Northern Ireland

[Druzik]

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/05/09/RUGBYL_N_Ireland.html

LEAGUE MAKES ULSTER BOW

Rugby league breaks new ground later this month when four teams kick off the inaugural Northern Ireland Conference.

Strangford Sharks, East Belfast Bulldogs, Ballinahinch Bulls and Portadown Pumas will play round-robin fixtures culminating in a Grand Final in Portadown on June 20.

They will be joined by Antrim Storm, who hope to join the Conference in 2010, in launching the season with a Nines tournament at Portadown RFC next Saturday.

One of the men behind the pioneering move is former London Broncos full-back Gavin Gordon, who made his debut for Ireland in the 1995 Emerging Nations World Cup at the age of 17 and is now player-coach of Strangford.

"It was incredibly encouraging to see 19 players turn up for the first-ever training session this Wednesday," he said.

"I initially hoped to attract local rugby union players to our game and provide a platform from which league can grow in Northern Ireland but have already had interest from soccer and Gaelic football players."

[Ryan N]

May 9, 2009 21:10:14 GMT 10 Druzik said:

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/05/09/RUGBYL_N_Ireland.html

LEAGUE MAKES ULSTER BOW

Rugby league breaks new ground later this month when four teams kick off the inaugural Northern Ireland Conference.

Strangford Sharks, East Belfast Bulldogs, Ballinahinch Bulls and Portadown Pumas will play round-robin fixtures culminating in a Grand Final in Portadown on June 20.

They will be joined by Antrim Storm, who hope to join the Conference in 2010, in launching the season with a Nines tournament at Portadown RFC next Saturday.

One of the men behind the pioneering move is former London Broncos full-back Gavin Gordon, who made his debut for Ireland in the 1995 Emerging Nations World Cup at the age of 17 and is now player-coach of Strangford.

"It was incredibly encouraging to see 19 players turn up for the first-ever training session this Wednesday," he said.

"I initially hoped to attract local rugby union players to our game and provide a platform from which league can grow in Northern Ireland but have already had interest from soccer and Gaelic football players."

Here's the thing. Do we go against all international trends and make them a stand alone nation (Northern Ireland), thus weakening the strength of the Republic of Ireland?

[Druzik]

Do they play with Ireland or under GB?

I assume that if GB has split then they would come stand alone, unless they decide to go with Ireland.

Dunno what will happen there.

[Druzik]

Seems to be taking the form of a number of festivals:-

16 May 2009 - Rugby League Blitz 9s Portadown Rugby Club Tournament 1:30pm Chambers Park
30 May 2009 - Festival at Belfast - Portadown v Ballynahinch East Belfast v Strangford
13 June 2009 - Festival at Ballynahinch - Portadown v East Belfast Ballynahinch v Strangford
27 June 2009 - Festival at Strangford - Portadown v Strangford - East Belfast v Ballynahinch
4 July 2009 - Grand Finals day at Portadown - 3rd v 4th - 1st v 2nd

BBQ and Bar Available (don't know if that is just for the grand final or all fixtures)

also Portadown are hoping to play Antrim (pencilled in for today but remains as tbc on Pumas' fixture list).

[Ryan N]

May 9, 2009 21:17:52 GMT 10 Druzik said:

Do they play with Ireland or under GB?

I assume that if GB has split then they would come stand alone, unless they decide to go with Ireland.

Dunno what will happen there.

Well, in lots of other sports they just blend them with Ireland, so...

[Druzik]

May 9, 2009 21:50:26 GMT 10 Ryan N said:

May 9, 2009 21:17:52 GMT 10 Druzik said:

Do they play with Ireland or under GB?

I assume that if GB has split then they would come stand alone, unless they decide to go with Ireland.

Dunno what will happen there.

Well, in lots of other sports they just blend them with Ireland, so...

In soccer they play seperately no? Plus they are part of the UK, so should nt they come under GB if anything?

[Ryan N]

May 9, 2009 21:54:47 GMT 10 Druzik said:

May 9, 2009 21:50:26 GMT 10 Ryan N said:

Well, in lots of other sports they just blend them with Ireland, so...

In soccer they play seperately no? Plus they are part of the UK, so should nt they come under GB if anything?

Well yeah they should but it's not how they do it in Union. Plus a few of those teams were in the old Irish league no?

[Druzik]

Only portadown was.

OK... either way, at least RL is in Nth Ireland now!

[Marv]

NI or Southern Ireland wont be strong enough on their own, to keep the game strong as possible in Ireland the side should stay unified. as has been said RU Ireland is a unified team only Soccer is seperate and thats becasue of the historical links to religion.

Plus think about it 80% of Irish players are G/P players, They are Irish Aussies/English not NI/Eire/Aussies/English confused? I am!

[ashulster]

Quick update on news i know, incase no one knows.

Development officers where recently selected one for Munster / Connacht and one for Ulster / Leinster. So hopefully these guys can get a few things up and running.

Something i was very glad to hear is that there are plans for an Ulster rep side who hopefully will be playing games in the future.

I was to yonug to play in the NI conference this year because of insurance reasons but hopefully next year i can get involved.

[Druzik]

Aug 28, 2009 7:27:18 GMT 10 ashulster said:

Quick update on news i know, incase no one knows.

Development officers where recently selected one for Munster / Connacht and one for Ulster / Leinster. So hopefully these guys can get a few things up and running.

Something i was very glad to hear is that there are plans for an Ulster rep side who hopefully will be playing games in the future.

I was to yonug to play in the NI conference this year because of insurance reasons but hopefully next year i can get involved.

ash are you able to get links to articles at all, or if there arent any get the NI RL guys to contact me about maybe getting somthing written up on my website or in the magazined here.

[ashulster]

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118334477388&ref=search&sid=1006574378.1270469658..1

Thats the Ulster rugby league facebook, recently set up. I have the email address of Timothy Morton one of the guys who set that page up and is involved with Ballynahinch Bulls. I can PM that to you so you can use him as a contact for anything NI RL if you like.

www.pitchero.com/clubs/portadownpumasrlfc/

Thats the Portadown site, they say they will have any news about what will be happening next season.

[ashulster]

Any news of a possible article? did you get in contact?