St. Helens Primary Contact League has been established to fill an identified gap within the schools’ competition framework and has seen 12 Primary Schools taking part with a large number of year 5 and 6 pupils introduced to contact rugby league.
This has provided a progression route from tag rugby which has become an integral part of Primary School sport.
The league will run for six weeks at two central venues: Haydock High School (Wednesday’s 3:30pm- 5th, 12th March & 2nd, 9th April) and Cowley Language College (Thursday’s 3:30pm- 6th, 13th March & 3rd, 10th, 17th April).
The concept began around 12 months ago and is the result of a partnership between St. Helens Service Area, St. Helens RLFC, the local authority school sports partnership and is being backed by St. Helens Sure Start extended hours programme.
Service Area Co-ordinator Matt Daniels said: “The league provides school children with the opportunity to experience rugby league and will hopefully result in bolstering player numbers within junior sections of the local amateur clubs.”