Leeds Rhinos Foundation in partnership with ESF events will be hosting over 6,000 people at Butlin’s resort in Skegness in May welcoming 200 community rugby league teams for the UK’s biggest junior rugby league festival.
Rhinos Challenge which has been running since 2013, has sold out for the 5th consecutive year, increasing the number of teams taking part to 200, up from 152 in 2017.
The festival run in partnership with the UK’s leading specialist sports tour operator ESF Events, sees a complete rugby league takeover of Butlin’s award-winning resort in Skegness with 6,000 junior rugby players and their families hosted in accommodation on site.
The ultimate tour experience combines the excitement of two days of rugby festival action with Butlin’s huge variety of sports, leisure and evening entertainment facilities making life long memories for young players every year.
Rugby League Development Plan Manager Leon Crick commented on one of Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s flagship events:
“Rhinos Challenge is one example of where the rugby league community comes together to create a fantastic atmosphere and environment for the grassroots game.
“Junior players really enjoy coming on tour with their teammates and parents and playing rugby and to get this many together at once makes for some lifelong memories.”
This year’s three-day festival will also include over 200 players from France, including travelling contingents from Rugby League clubs MJC Club X111 Carcassonne and Racing Club Aussillon Mazament X111, becoming the first overseas teams to take part in the tournament.
The festival will also include the usual spread of clubs from across the UK with teams coming from Essex, Cumbria and all corners of Yorkshire and Lancashire to experience the weekend, which Crick sees as one of the main benefits for clubs taking part:
“One of the main benefits of Rhinos Challenge is the opportunity for clubs from lesser known Rugby League territories, and abroad, to come and match up against clubs from Wigan, St Helens, Leeds, Bradford and Hull, so as a development platform it’s really appealing to clubs,” he added.
Taking place over the weekend of the 11th-13th May, the festival also includes guest appearances from the Leeds Rhinos playing squad who take part in the weekend with their families meeting players and teams throughout and presenting medals and awards in the festival’s presentation show live on stage at the resort.
Leeds Rhinos Captain Kallum Watkins, who attended the festival in 2017 said:
“The spectacle and atmosphere at Rhinos Challenge is always special and I can’t think of a better platform for junior players to thrive in as they develop into the game.”
For more information on Rhinos Challenge visit www.rhinoschallenge.co.uk