Thursday 20^th April saw London Skolars host their 2^nd Sky Try Primary RL Festival in partnership with Haringey School Sports Partnership. New River played host to 27 different teams, drawn from 14 schools in the borough, 270 children attended, with many it being their first experience of competitive Rugby League and they all left thoroughly impressed with the day.

One of the key objectives of the London Skolars Sky Try programme is to increase participation in Rugby League across London. The Festival most definitely did that, every single player who came along to New River yesterday would have had plenty of game time, and it was particularly pleasing to see schools who were playing for the first time develop throughout the day.

Community Development Manager Matt Cuss was delighted with how the day went ‘it’s been another fantastic event here and we were really pleased with the attendance today. To have 27 different teams, from 14 different schools in the borough is a huge achievement and a testament to the fantastic work that our Primary Community Coach Aston Stephenson is doing in and around the schools.’

We are really grateful for the funding we receive from Sky Try and the London Rugby League Foundation which enables us to reach into a much larger amount of schools than we have in the past. It’s a really positive knock-on effect, the more schools we are active in, the greater the number of pupils who experience Rugby League. The standard of the tournament was fantastic and we were delighted to see some of the schools who may only have had 3 or 4 weeks of delivery perform really well today.

The tournament not only served as a development opportunity for the pupils but also for older members of the Skolars, with the matches being officiated by London Skolars U18’s & U16’s players and students from our education partner Barnet & Southgate College. Events like these are fantastic ways for the players and students to develop confidence and lots of practical skills which they learn about during their Sport Studies at the College.

There was also a positive turn-out at London Skolars Minis this weekend following on from the tournament, with a number of pupils attending the Saturday session on the back of some good recruitment work from Dion Chapman. The Skolars have another tournament planned for May 25^th and will invite entries from the neighbouring boroughs also, so that the children have the chance to test themselves against new schools and new pupils.