Alnwick in Northumberland held its first-ever Rugby League competition last week.
154 children from every local primary school took part at the tournament, held at Lindisfarne Middle School, supported by Sporting Leaders, year 8 students and trained by Cramlington Rockets, who helped officiate and organise the event with unbridled enthusiasm.
Rockets Community, the community arm of the Rockets, has worked tirelessly for the last two years to introduce Rugby League to the area.
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Located 30 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne, it is the furthest north in England anyone has ever taken Rugby League and is largely down to the efforts of Head Community Coach, Danny Gilroy.
Gilroy provides regular school coaching in all local primary schools and, in 2016, launched a successful school holiday camp, which was attended by 50 children the first time it was held.
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With some impressive skills on show throughout, in a tense final to the tournament, Swansfield Park First School and Hippsburn First School could not be separated meaning the final result was a well-earned draw.
With a huge amount of work going in behind the scenes to get to this point, Gilroy was thrilled at how the event went.
He said: "I'm over the moon with how the competition has gone.
"To go from Rugby League being non-existent, to now being able to hold a competition like this, shows how far the game has come.
"I would like to thank all the schools and the whole Alnwick community.
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"Everyone has really embraced our new sport and we feel so welcome every time we come up here.
"We have big plans for Alnwick and we look forward to their continued support on this amazing journey."
Cramlington Rockets are the North East's largest Rugby League club - and they are now recruiting.
For more information, visit cramlingtonrockets.co.uk.
