[Rugby League] Knights’ Visit Signals First Rugby League Steps In Malta

It might come across like an exaggeration, but rugby has truly changed the mentality of Maltese sport. For an island with a population of less than half a million, success at the world stage, no matter how relative, was unheard of until Malta started progressing through the qualifying round for the Rugby World Cup.

As you might have guessed, however, the tacit implication there is that we’re talking of rugby union rather than league. Although rugby was introduced in Malta by the British forces and one would presume that both codes were played, it is union that stuck with the Maltese.

When the Malta Rugby Football Union became a full member of the International Rugby Board five years ago, they embarked on an ambitious project to build the national team around experience players of Maltese origin playing rugby across the globe.

The move paid off. Now, the national team plays in front of crowds of 4,000 which might not seem much but is in fact a lot, particularly when considered that the football struggles to attract a quarter of that total.

Despite this success, or perhaps because of it, not many Maltese realise that there are two codes of the game. For most rugby is rugby, seeing no reason to qualify whether union or league.

One Maltese visitor to the Malta Knights website posted a message on their forum stating “I live and play rugby in Malta for a club and for the National side. It's really good that the Maltese spirit and love of the game has created the Malta Knights” only for another poster to point out that the Knight’s rugby was different from the game played in Malta.

It was this mentality that the Knights had to address during their historic visit.

With a decent enough turnout of 500 people for the game against the England Lionhearts, the first indications are encouraging. A win always helps win people over, as did the fast and open game that the two teams played out. There certainly wasn’t any antagonism between supporters of the two codes.

“I guess it was a relief,” said Malta Knights’ coach Joe Grima, perhaps betraying the pre-match worry that the game would be played in front of empty stands. “With the success of the small crowd and the people cheering us on, I think that it went very well. I’ve had a lot of people coming to congratulate us and encourage us.”

The decision to draft in Robert Bonavia, a local player who had never played a game of rugby league in his life, was a courageous but ultimately very wise move as it ensured the support of the local rugby fraternity.

It is in that direction that rugby league must look if it is to develop in Malta. The Malta Knights provide a focal point and good results at their end will ensure a fair share of publicity. Being based in Australia, however, won’t help the game in Malta.

Yet Grima is confident that the game has a future on the island. “People are very excited and there are a lot of players willing to play the game. What we need to do is structure a programme that complements rugby union. We don’t intend to compete with union but there isn’t any reason why there can’t be a competition for rugby league outside the union season.”

Setting up such a league is also crucial for the Knights’ ultimate aim, that of qualifying Malta for the Rugby League World Cup.

“We want to take Malta to the Rugby League World Cup but to do that we need local players to be playing in the national side. Given the talent that there is, however, we feel that we have a genuine chance of qualifying.”

Up till five years ago, not many Maltese knew what a try was and, frankly, many people thought of rugby as a brutish sport. Five years of positive results have changed that attitude and you now get people discussing the national team’s rugby results with the same confidence with which they would analyse a game of football.

If the Knights succeed in their aim of taking Malta to the World Cup, the lack of knowledge on rugby league could change just as quickly.

This article was published in the November issue of Rugby League World.