North lauds rugby league

RUGBY league is becoming a popular sport among primary school students in the North.

National Rugby League north development officer North Sanaila Dretivoli said the love for rugby league had grown vastly particularly with primary students of rural areas.

In an interview, he said the gala day held last month, which launched the sport for northern primary school schools attracted more than 200 students.

“Since that day we have noticed that more students want to know more about playing league,” Dretivoli said.

“And it’s encouraging to see students at the age of 10 being involved and taking a lot of pride in the game.

“They play with a lot of enthusiasm and interest and they are talented and gifted players.”

Dretivoli said they also had plans to include schools in Labasa, Bua and Cakaudrove.

“We will work with primary school students first and cover the schools in the North before we move to the secondary school level,” he said.

“The interesting thing about these students is most of them play soccer but they had no problems switching to rugby league.

“In seeing that, we are encouraged that these children can easily adapt and change to rugby league.”