AFTER eight years in Jamaica, rugby league appeared set for “another successful year of growth and expansion”, according to director Romeo Monteith.

“It’s been an incredible journey; 2012 was a solid year for us. We had a productive national competition with eight clubs competing, a five-team Intercollegiate Championship and activities in 12 high schools and some primary schools,” explained Monteith, who is also Rugby League European Federation development manager for the Caribbean.

Rugby League started out with four teams, wondering if a very demanding team sport would survive in a nation of gifted athletes focused on the most popular of organised activities.

Those teams “fanned the flames of a revolution”, said Monteith, with the league boosted and receiving recognition from the Sports Development Foundation which has helped to qualify dozens of coaches and match officials through partnership with GC Foster College and the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF).

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Jamaica Rugby League Association (JRLA) Ventley Brown plans to organise new projects in the new year.

“It is important that we continue to train and educate officials and coaches in the coming years. Our training courses will empower new ambassadors of rugby league while upgrading existing skills,” he pointed out.

He cited, as an example, Leon Thomas, who completed the first JRLA /GC Foster College coaching course in April and used the experience to start rugby league at Excelsior Community College (EXED) in Kingston.

EXED will become the newest and sixth institution to make up the Intercollegiate Rugby League Championship which begins in January 2013.

“It means alot to introduce the sport to new people,” said Thomas. “We are already having a positive impact on students and the support of the administration has been fantastic.”

The intercollegiate competition has been one of the great success stories, with over a dozen student athletes receiving scholarships in the past year, and who make up half of the national team.

With the growth of the sport, during which 10 youth teams in 2011 increased to 27 in 2012, and the proven ability of the JRLA to sustain and expand its frontiers, the governing body intends to seek full membership into the Rugby League European Federation and the Rugby League International Federation in 2013.

Monteith believes that full membership, along with continued support from the Sport Development Foundation and GC Foster College, will strengthen “our position in Jamaica’s rich sporting landscape”.

“It will help the JRLA to sustain and fuel the expansion of the sport in the region. The support of these institutions is critical in getting rugby league into our 14 parishes and the wider Caribbean,” he said.