Reggae Warriors kick off a rugby revolution
SURPRISE SUCCESS
FAR from West Yorkshire, a rugby league revolution is happening in sunny Jamaica.
Qualifying for their first ever Rugby League World Cup after defeating USA last month in the final of the Americas Championship, the Reggae Warriors are ready to take on the world’s best.
As you would expect, Jamaica will bring a carnival atmosphere to England in 2021 but maybe unexpectedly, their side will contain some West Yorkshire flair.
Alex Brown, who started his career at Huddersfield Giants in 2009 and who currently plays for Dewsbury Rams, talked to The Examiner alongside Sheffield Eagles player Joel Farrell, about what being a part of Jamaica rugby league means.
Brown said: “To me, it has just given me the love again for rugby.
“I fell out of love with it for a couple of years, you know just playing and not really saying ‘oh I love this, I’m loving this game’. I’m thinking I may retire soon, but honestly this has given me so much energy, so much.
“I just can’t wait to start the season.”
Farrell told us: “It just means a lot because being over here there’s little pockets of Jamaican communities around but there’s not one massive community.”
“Being around camp with them lot [the Jamaican squad] for a full week, everything’s Jamaican.
“You talk Jamaican, walk Jamaican, it’s what you do isn’t it?”
It is clear the pair have huge pride in being a part of this Jamaican side, and Brown recognises just how big of an achievement qualifying for their country’s first ever World Cup is.
“It’s a good achievement”he said. “We lost two years ago [in the 2017 qualifiers] and people went, ‘hard luck, you shouldn’t have qualified anyway.’
“But now they’re opening their eyes and saying, ‘look these boys are good and they’ve qualified’.
“So that’s the main thing for us, we want some recognition, we’ve got that now and everyone is digging us.”
This World Cup will unite the Jamaican communities around the country, but Yorkshire will have a very special place in Farrell’s mind.
He said: “It’s exciting isn’t it? It’s a new market.
“It’s exciting as there’s loads of Jamaican people around us but we’ve got nowhere to all come around together.
“We’ve got the carnival to be together but then at a sporting event we’ve got nothing.
“Now we’ve managed to do this and, hopefully, we’ve got a lot of people in Huddersfield, Bradford and Leeds.
“There’s pockets people everywhere.”
Jamaica qualified after defeating USA in Jacksonville in November, a game which Farrell remembers very well. He said: “I played 75 minutes in the middle. My legs were gone, I had nothing left in me. I was cuddling every tackle.
“I felt worse on the side-line than I did on the field, I was crouched down just trying to breathe.
“But when that final whistle went, I’ve never had a feeling like that in my life.
“It was the best moment I’ve had in my life, nothing has ever meant as much as that.”
When that final whistle blew, and Jamaica had qualified, attention soon turned to 2021 and who Jamaica could face. Brown however, has only one team in mind.
“That would be good, to have England against us.
“We’ll definitely go and play for the win, not just settle for being there, we want to go for the win.”
It was the best moment
I’ve had in my life, nothing has ever meant
as much as that