DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2001

1.Glasgow Schools

1a. Castlemilk and beyond Project

Established in March 2001 with the assistance of a £2,000 grant from Glasgow’s South East Area Forum, Rugby League has been delivered to every Primary School, except for two, in Castlemilk during the curriculum.

All children from Primary 3 to Primary 7 were involved in the project. The main purpose was to introduce as many children as possible to the game with the main emphasis being on cultural and racial integration in sport. The highlight of the whole scheme was Rugby Leagues entry into the Scottish Asian Sports Association games where two teams from Bradford and one from Halifax came up to compete in the festival against the schools. The schools involved are list below.

St. Bartholomew’s Primary School
St. Dominic’s Primary School
St. Martin’s Primary School
St. Margaret Mary’s Primary School
St. Julie’s Primary School
Castleton Primary School
Tormusk Primary School
Windlaw Primary School
Langside Primary School


A total of 680 children have been introduced to Rugby League in the area, 150 of which have gone on to become involved in after school clubs and a Sunday Inter Schools League.
Six of the above mentioned schools are established after school clubs, which take part in the Sunday after school league.
The remaining schools will be approached to come on board with the league and after school clubs once the fourth coming club coach course has been complete at the end of January.
To date the project has been met with a great deal of enthusiasm amongst pupils, parents and teachers.

All the Primary Schools feed the two main High Schools in Castlemilk, who have shown interest in starting school clubs at S1 & S2 age groups during the spring term. Looking to the future, the after schools league will recommence at the end of February 2002, the South East Area will host an area camp at Barlia Sports Centre to form a South East Area Squad and a squad will be selected from the Castlemilk Schools to represent Glasgow Schools in the forth coming Warrington Peace Festival.

The project has proved valuable as a guide to pilot other projects in other areas of the city, however it is still very much in its infancy and will therefore still need a lot of attention if it is to be maintained.

1b. Easterhouse

The Easterhouse project has been initiated after making contact with BOSCO Juniors, a youth project in the area. They were looking for an alternate sport to football, which they could deliver themselves and so become part of a steadily growing structure.

The first part was to do the same as the South East Area and deliver to P5, P6 & P7’s a six-week programme after which after school clubs would be established and then a league. The children who show further interest in the sport would then be directed to BOSCO Juniors to form a Junior Rugby League Club.

At present two schools have completed the six-week programme with the remaining looking to come on board after the Christmas Break.

The two schools are: St. Benedict’s Primary School and Welhouse Primary School.

Both schools played each other in a pre-match ‘curtain raiser’ prior to the Scotland v Queensland game in December.

£500 has been secured by BOSCO Juniors through Glasgow City Council Grant Aid to go towards the cost of coach education for their staff in 2002.

This project is still on going however it is hoped the after school league will have started in March 2002 and the staff from BOSCO will be qualified to Club Coach level.

1c. Pollok, Nitshill & Arden

The newest of the schools projects this will cover one of the biggest areas in Glasgow and is at present going at great pace.

Initiated by Glasgow & District Rugby League and in partnership with the South Area Community Action Team the project will take on over thirty Primary Schools, from Primary 4 to Primary 7 and in time include the parent High Schools. The Primary School phase will take until the Easter break to deliver the curriculum programme alone.

The project itself started six weeks prior to the Christmas break and introduced seven schools (P6 & P7) to the game all of which have now completed the programme at this age group.

Post Christmas all the P4 & P5’s at those schools are now going through the curriculum programme. Two other schools have also started at P6 & P7.

The schools involved are:

Burnbrae Primary School
Darnley Primary School
St. Vincent’s Primary School
St. Monica’s Primary School
Gowanbank Primary School
McGill Primary School
St. Bernard’s Primary School
Arden Primary School
St. Angela’s Primary School

It is hoped that all the above-mentioned schools will be involved in the after school and inter schools league by March 2002.

As part of the progression all the areas will be running skills camps during the Easter holidays, dates as follows.

25^th & 26^th March 2002 Easterhouse Venue: Stepford Park Sports Centre
27^th & 28^th March 2002 Castlemilk   Venue: Barlia Sports Centre
1^st & 2^nd April 2002 Pollok               Venue: tbc

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