Turkish domestic league

[East Coast Tiger]

Five teams up and running already. That's pretty good going. And not just some weekend tournament, but over roughly three months.

Puts the likes of Scotland to shame.

 

[taipan]

That's bleeding incredible to achieve that in such a short time span.
Got to agree ,Scotland is marking time, and appears to be achieving little.

 

[langpark]

They are all established union teams that seem to be committing to League for three months, which is a great start.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Should be noted, this is another country Serbia helped get started. They trained Turkish players, coaches and I think even refs earlier in the year and played a game against one of the club sides.

 

[deluded pom?]

Should be noted, this is another country Serbia helped get started. They trained Turkish players, coaches and I think even refs earlier in the year and played a game against one of the club sides.

It's about time the Serbs received some help from those further up the food chain.

 

[langpark]

They've done a phenomenal job, they've been instrumental in getting it started in Bosnia, Bulgaria and Turkey. And I bet there are more to come in the near future.

 

[langpark]

Article on RLEF today:

TURKISH RUGBY LEAGUE ENDS HISTORIC YEAR WITH FIRST DOMESTIC COMPETITION

Five clubs are set to make their competitive debut at the end of an historic 2016 for Turkish rugby league.

Eskişehir Aqua Rugy, Bilgi Badgers RFC, Olimpos RK, Bosphorus Wolves and Kadiköy Bulls will face each other in a competition running until March 2017, less than a year after TRL officials first made contact with the RLEF in January 2016.

By April, all the rules and regulations of the sport had been translated into Turkish and training started in May, with Kadiköy Bulls touring Serbia the following month for a first experience of competitive rugby league.

A beach tournament for 14 teams followed in Istanbul and the first representative side played in the Rhodes 8s and faced a Greek XIII in late summer.

Match officials courses were run in November to enable the domestic competition to kick off.

“We are all very excited about the start of our first league which we believe is our best reward after a year of work,” said TRLA development officer Julien Treu. “We would like to thank the rugby league community for their warm welcome and encouraging messages, it greatly helped us along the way.

“2016 has been a challenging year for us but we reached our targets and are now looking forward to an even more successful 2017.”

The Turkish Rugby League Association Championship kicks off tomorrow (25 December) with a double-header at the Maltepe Başıbüyük Stadında in Istanbul when Bosphorus Wolves face Kadıköy Bulls (kick off 15.00) followed by Bilgi Badgers against Olimpos(kick off 18.00)

The RLEF would like to wish everyone a peaceful festive season and a very happy new year.

 

[deluded pom?]

Not doubting you lp but I can't find that article on the RLEF website.

 

[langpark]

RLEF facebook to be exact. Not always in sync with their site it seems.

 

[Jankuloski]

We actually played them this summer. They seem a very organized bunch, although new to league. Could be anything if they keep at it.

 

[DlEHARD]

Wonderful news. No easy feat at all getting a domestic comp online.

And yes, it does shame some of the efforts of the home nations, come on guys, they aren't so far from the heartland..