Playing in England

[The Moose]

I was wondering what opportunities there are for aussies wanting to play a season of league with sides in the U.K. Lower levels meaning amatuer sides not affiliated with SuperLeague sides. How would this tie in with a working holiday?

 

[Evil Homer]

Div 1 and Div 2 are semi-pro,you get paid for playing and such but you still have a real job.You'd be best asking for a trial with one of the lower NL1/NL2 clubs,and if you play well they might sign you up for a season.

 

[chico's nose]

I was wondering what opportunities there are for aussies wanting to play a season of league with sides in the U.K. Lower levels meaning amatuer sides not affiliated with SuperLeague sides. How would this tie in with a working holiday?

There are many leagues below super league, the two mentioned by evil homer are semi pro leagues. Below them you then have the national confrece This is amature although at a pretty high level, this is the league where the great britian barla team is picked from. this league is spread mainly across the north of england. There are another couple of divisons below that before you get to regional leagues like yorkshire and lancashire. Also my home city of Hull has a city league, but the level is pretty low as we have 5 or 6 teams playing in the national confrence leagues.

If you want to judge the standard of play my cousin used to play for West Hull in the national confrence and then had 3 seasons with the stansthorpe germlins (Queensland) in the late 80's early 90's in your county leagues I believe. He thought it was tougher in Oz but not by a million miles.

Hope this helps

 

[chico's nose]

Sorry forgot to mention the ameture game is still played in the winter (September to April) and has not been moved to summer.

 

[disco1]

Come to South Wales. We have an excellent Welsh Conference which is pretty competitive. All teams involved are basically in a 30 mile radius of Cardiff.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

To be honest I think you are better getting in touch with one of the national league 3 sides, depending on your ability.

There are already a few Aussie lads playing for teams like Woolston whlist over on their hols. These are totally amateur clubs and will tend to be more receptive with regards to the opportunity of getting a decent player. Look out in particular for the teams outside the traditional North West region as they are more likely to be in need of players.

if you don't think you are up to that level then just get in touch with any of the amateur sides in the area you are looking to stay in. BARLA will be able to put you in touch with the relevant people.

 

[bartman]

Shouldn't be a problem on an Oz working holiday visa. There are some aussie guys playing in National League 2s & 3s during English summer, if you can snag a spot. Otherwise try the amateur clubs playing the Conference over the English winter, as previous posts have said, it's pretty much nation-wide.

Just work out where you'd want to live/play and then find a team over the net and get in contact.

 

[fourplay]

This is my kinda thread ;-)

Do people in National League ever play amateur league aswell since they run at different times ??

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

This is my kinda thread ;-)

Do people in National League ever play amateur league aswell since they run at different times ??

They do, National League 3 that is.

 

[fourplay]

Do you know how much it costs to play in amateur league ?? When I head over I might want to play a couple games in amateur league to get settled and some confidence up before I start trialling/NL's etc.

 

[Wire_Godfather]

Well It costs me nothing to train. £3 a game and then its a one off £15 fee to the club at the start of the season.

Hope that helps.

 

[deluded pom?]

Most clubs in the Hull area will just ask their players to pay a couple of quid a week subs . The committes then go about raising funds to finance the teams kit , travel ,ground rent etc . You`d be expected to contribute to the insurance . Very similar to Wire Godfather`s post .