Rugby league in Greece

Rugby league is a team sport that is relatively new to Greece.

History

Rugby league was first introduced to Greece in 2006, with an international match in Athens. Greece played Serbia and Greece won 44–32. The team consisted of Australian players of a Greek heritage and some domestic Rugby Union players.

The initial attempt to find a Greek RL Federation, started by Colin Mylonas, in 2003. Mylonas and his associates, spent a lot of money until 2007, but they failed to form a Greek-based Federation. Colin Mylonas was involved with the continue development of the game until 2010. This included Greece playing in the 2008 University Rugby League World Cup after Russia pulled out. Greece was made up of 10 Australian based players with Greek heritage and 10 players from Greece were flown out to Australia. They achieved great success beating France in the plate Final. In the same tournament Greece beat Scotland Ireland and came very close in beating England only losing on the bell. This put Greece on the map in playing rugby league. Other achievements included winning the Mediterranean Cup in 2010 played in Sydney beating Italy in the final, in front of 3000 people. Greece also played Fiji in Sydney in 2009 losing but gaining respect as a nation on the rise.

Colin Mylonas in 2010 had decided to withdraw from the organisation due to differences in the direction of the Greek Rugby League.

The current Greek team and coaching staff still have a strong support from the Australian Associates.

In 2012, a new independent initiative, appeared in Piraeus / Athens. It was started by Tasos Pantazidis, the founder of Promitheas RL. In February 2013, a NPO was found, under the name: Committee for the Foundation of a Hellenic Federation of Rugby League. They became RLEF observers in August 2013.

In September 2013 they found the "Hellenic Federation of Rugby League". Tasos Pantazidis was the first President.

In February 2014, HFRL awarded affiliate member status by the RLEF.

In March 2015, at the Board Elections, Mrs Konstantina Georga was elected as HFRL President.

In April 2016, following a year-long investigation, the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) suspended the HFRL for "wilfully acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the RLEF and international rugby league" ^[1]. The HFRL was then given a 4-month period to answer allegations of misappropriation of funds and maladministration of the sport, which it failed to respond to. So, on the 9th of August 2016, the RLEF formally expelled the HFRL from its membership ^[2].

Throughout the turmoil, Rugby League was kept alive by with a strong 4-team competition. The administrators of this competition formed the legal entity known as the Greek Rugby League association, which eventually achieved RLEF Observer status on the 23rd of March 2017. ^[3]

Competitions

The planned domestic competition for 2006/7 never actually eventuated.

An unofficial 7's tournament was also played on the 9th of February 2013. Participating teams apart from Promitheas and AEK PK included the newly formed team "Neapoli Lakonias" that was created in Pelloponese in 2013. Promitheas won the tournament.

Teams

Promitheas, AEKK and Pegasus, participated in a regional 2012-2013 championship of Athens. In the 2013/2014 Promitheas, AEKK, Pegasus, Aris and Knights participated in the A' Division. Knights won the championship. In the B' Division, Neapoli, AEKK B', Promitheas B', Aris B' and Pegasus B' participated. Nepoli won the championship. For the 2014/15 season, there were ten teams taking part: Division 1: Rhodes Knights, AEK Kokkinias, Aris Petroupolis, Pyrrihios Aspropyrgou (1st team) and Pegasus Neos Kosmos. Pegasus won the championship. Division 2: Neapoli Lakonias, Argos Wolves, Haidari Lions, Pyrrihios Aspropyrgou ('B' team) and Promitheas Rentis.^[4][5] For the 2015/16 season, a new formation was planned. South Group: AEK Kokkinias, Pyrrihios Aspropyrgos and Agios Thomas. Pyrrihios won the tournament. North Group: Filippos Vereea and 2 teams from Thessaloniki. Finally, the tournament did not operate. As a result, Pyrrihios was named 2015-2016 Greece Champions. Two RL 9's tournaments took place: a) in Nikaea, Piraeus (AEK Kokkinias won vs Pyrrihios and Agios Thomas) and b) in Thessaloniki (Agios Thomas won vs Lions/Kavala, Pyrrihios and Thessaloniki).

In 2016-2017 season, four teams participated in the XIII tournament: Rhodes Knights, Aris Eagles, Attica Rhinos and Patras Panthers. Rhodes defeated Attica Rhinos in the Grand Final by a score of 30-16. ^[6]

The National Team

The Greek national rugby league team is nicknamed the Centaurs. The first representative game involving Greece was played in 2003 against New Caledonia with Greece winning 26–10. The first representative game played in Greece was played in 2006 with Greece defeating Serbia 44–26 in Athens. These games were played by "heritage" players who were based mainly in Australia and qualified to play for Greece through their parentage. In 2011 a touring GB Student "Pioneers" team played a game vs an unofficial "national" team consisting of players from the two Rhodes teams in Rhodes island. The Pioneers won. In October 2013 the Greece National Team played an international against Hungary in Budapest.^[7] The Greek team was a mixture of local players from the fledgling Greek national competition and heritage players from Australia. Greece won the game 90–0.^[8]

In 2014, Greece participated in the RLEF European Championship C. Greeks won the tournament (32-18 vs Malta and 68-16 vs the Czech Rep.). In 2014, Greece won the Balkan Cup in Belgrade, Serbia (58-4 vs Bosnia/Herzegovina and 50-22 vs Serbia). In 2015 Greece withdrew from the RLEF European Championship C in Malta, due to financial reasons. Greeks played the home match vs Spain (lost by 4-76). In 2017 Greece played in L'Aquilla vs Italy (LIRFL). Hosts won by 51-13.

See also

• Greece national rugby league team

References

External links

• Official website