Rugby League to be taught in Bristol Schools

Bristol schoolchildren will get a chance to play Rugby League this week, when Bristol Sonics launch the city’s first ever schools coaching programme. Sonics coaches will teach teenagers the basic skills of the 13-a-side code at three schools starting on Tuesday 16 March, with a five further schools due to take part in the pilot scheme later in the spring.



Bristol Sonics Head Coach Karl Fearnley will head to City Academy in Easton on Tuesday for the first of three coaching sessions at the specialist sports college, before moving on to Brinsham Green School in Yate on Wednesday and The Grange School & Sports Academy, Warmley, on Thursday. It will be the first time that Rugby League will be taught in schools in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, some eight years after the launch of the Sonics, the city’s RL club. Pupils from these three schools, alongside others from the five further schools who will receive specialist coaching in coming weeks, will get a chance to compete against each other at Bristol’s first schools Rugby League Nines competition, which is set to take place at Filton College at the end of April.



Should any of the teenagers involved wish to play more Rugby League over the summer, the Sonics will be running under 13 and under 15s teams from the Aretians RFC base, starting in May. In addition, a ‘summer school’ coaching programme for teenagers in South Gloucestershire will begin in May.



Bristol Sonics Head Coach Karl Fearnley said: “This is an important moment in the development of Rugby League in Bristol. For the first time, school pupils in the city will be given a chance to try out a sport that they have previously been denied access to. It is our hope that the coaching provided will enthuse them and that they will want to continue to play one of the most rewarding and exciting sports around.” Bristol Sonics



Chairman Phil Cole said: “This is arguably the most exciting development in the history of Rugby League in Bristol. With the Sonics firmly established as one of Bristol’s most successful amateur sports clubs, we felt it was time that we, together with the Rugby Football League, offered school children an opportunity to try out the sport. Hopefully it is just the start of a schools coaching programme that will grow year on year, giving more and more kids the chance to play The Greatest Game.”



Rugby League has been played in Bristol since the late 1980s, but opportunities for youngsters to try the game has been limited. This summer more teenagers than ever before will be given the opportunity to play the game, which is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK. With schools in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Swindon and Somerset also taking part in a West-wide scheme masterminded by the Rugby Football League, next week marks the start of an exciting period of development for the 13-a-side code in the region. Bristol Sonics schools coaching programme is being sponsored by Caffe Gusto and IP Performance.