Touch of Yorkshire in Jamaican hopes
FORMER England dual-code international Jason Robinson is delving into his roots as the son of a Windrush immigrant as he helps prepare Jamaica for their World Cup baptism.
Robinson, 46, the former Wigan favourite who helped England win the Rugby Union World Cup in 2003, is working as Jamaica’s operations director in the run-up to this autumn’s Rugby League World Cup in England.
Robinson is hoping the Reggae Warriors - who have Huddersfield Giants’ Ashton Golding and Michael Lawrence in their squad – will stand out on the pitch when they go up against New Zealand, Lebanon and Ireland in their group fixtures.
They qualified at the third attempt after beating Canada and United States in 2018 and have a training camp arranged for the end of June as well as a warm-up match against fellow newcomers Greece at Castleford in October.
“There’s jokes around Cool Runnings, but I’ve played in three World Cup finals and I know the demands,” Robinson said. “We want to be as competitive as possible.
“We’ve got a real mixture of guys, playing at all different levels. There will be some guys coming over from Jamaica and it’s going to be great for seasoned campaigners like Michael Lawrence and Ashton Golding, while we’ve Dom Young over in the NRL.
“The key is to prepare well and, come the World Cup, give a good account of ourselves.
“Everybody knows Usain Bolt but not many people know about Jamaica Rugby League.
“It’s going to be massive for rugby league in general. It will bring muchneeded exposure to the game and will certainly be a great platform for the players. We’ve just got to make sure that we do Jamaica justice, both back on the island and here in the UK.”
Jamaica are expecting plenty of support from Yorkshire, and in particular the Chapeltown area of Leeds where Robinson was raised by his Scottish mother.
“We’ve been working hard to engage with the Caribbean community and we aim to bring colour and a festival atmosphere to the World Cup,” said Robinson.
“I came from Chapeltown and then went on to win a rugby union World Cup. How many more kids could there be that turn out for the Rhinos or Huddersfield? There’s a lot of talent there but it’s untapped.”
“It’s an opportunity to dig deeper into our heritage,” he added. “There’s a lot of personal journeys, with people getting back in touch with their roots.”