College given cash grant to boost sport

A COLLEGE in North Tyneside has received a boost to encourage people to play Rugby League at Grassroots level.

The grant will fund new equipment for the school which will strive to engage inactive, sedentary and hard-to-engage students in Rugby League and provide opportunities for continued participation with progression pathways into local clubs.

Churchill Community College is set to receive £2,447 from the CreatedBy RLWC2021 Capital Grants Programme. Delivered in partnership between Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021), the Rugby Football League, Sport England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

The CreatedBy programme is a funding pot of up to £10million made available by the Government to support the legacy of Rugby League World Cup 2021 by growing participation in the sport.

The funding will support the college to purchase new balls, cones, bibs, strips, post protectors, tag belts and hit shields.

The new equipment will enable them to develop their programme of extra-curricular Rugby League. The school hope to develop additional extra-curricular clubs to encourage new participants into Rugby League, particularly new year 7 students.

Mr Dunn, Curriculum Lead, PE at Churchill Community College, said: “In recent years the school have increasingly utilised links with Newcastle Rugby Foundation and Newcastle Thunder to develop Rugby League within the school. This has resulted in clubs starting for most year groups, regular training and participation in local and national festivals and competitions. The funding is essential in allowing the school to continue its participation in Rugby League while also helping us to provide additional opportunities for new starters as we specifically look to engage those pupils who are inactive out of school or have significant barriers to participation.”

The Rugby League World Cup will kick off on 23 October 2021, with the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions taking place simultaneously, under one tournament banner for the first time.

Clubs, organisations and communities that run rugby league activities are encouraged to apply for this legacy funding by visiting www.rlwc2021.com/facilities. For further information visit their official social media channels.