Record Year for the Victorian Rugby League

[DIEHARD]

Record Year for the Victorian Rugby League

The Victorian Rugby League (VRL) is pleased to announce that 2014 has been the most successful season for player participation levels in Rugby League within Victoria, increasing player registrations by 17 percent in the past 12 months to surpass the record participation level set in 2013.

The increase in participation levels illustrates the growing awareness and acceptance of Rugby League in the state, with Victoria closing in on Western Australia as becoming the premier Rugby League base outside the traditional states of New South Wales and Queensland.

2014 VRL Participation

3,371 total registrations

2,871 male registrations (85.2% of registrations) and 500 female registrations (14.8%)

2,321 junior registrations (68.9%) and 1050 senior registrations (31.1%)

86 registrations by person of indigenous heritage (2.6%)

Key to the increase in participation for 2014 has been the introduction this season of a new club, the Melton Broncos Rugby League Club, in addition to the development and promotion of a Women’s Tackle program. The new women’s initiative, presented in a Gala Day format, represents the first time the VRL has had a season based tackle program for women.

VRL General Manager, Brent Silva, paid tribute to the VRL Clubs and their volunteers in response to this growth. “2014 has been a fantastic year for the growth of Rugby League in Victoria. This achievement would not have been possible without the fabulous effort our clubs and volunteers have put in. These results are a tribute to their hard work.” Mr Silva also added: “The VRL are also grateful to the Melbourne Storm who actively support the local playing community, the NRL and their Game Development Officers and Sport and Recreation Victoria, without their collective backing these results would not be possible.”

The VRL has strived to improve and enhance the environment of the local Rugby League Community to ensure that more participants find themselves in healthy and inspiring places to play and engage in Rugby League. This has included increased social responsibility programs partnering with Sport and Recreation Victoria to deliver a number of initiatives.

An important development in 2014 has been the inception of the “Club Respect” campaign (developed by the Be The Hero program), which focuses on respect towards all, with an emphasis on raising community awareness about violence. The VRL is proud to be associated with this campaign and the positive message that it sends to the wider Rugby League community.

In June, the VRL became the first sporting code within Victoria to formally partner through an MOU the Good Sports program, an initiative aimed at promoting and managing safe alcohol consumption within clubs and the wider community. ‘

2014 has also seen an excessive growth to social media reach. The VicRugbyLeague Facebook account has grown an extraordinary 300%, whilst the @VicRugbyLeague Twitter account was launched with weekly live scoring of VRL Matches and now has over 700 followers. The Victorian Rugby League also launched a YouTube Channel where Video Highlights of VRL Matches and Representative Games are produced. These videos have been seen by an audience of over 33,000.

The VRL is committed to growing Rugby League within Victoria, whilst being recognised as a leader within the Victorian sports fraternity and the wider community.

[Titan4Life]

Good work, Victoria might finally be understanding which is the better code.