Two Physical Disability Rugby League (PDRL) squads will meet at Rochdale Mayfield Rugby Club on Sunday (June 18) to take part in a domestic representative fixture.
England PDRL Community Lions Head Coach, Michelle Melling, has invited 30 players to the event in Rochdale which is part of a new international programme that has been developed to incorporate a more inclusive approach to representative PDRL.
In a change to previous domestic representative games, all participating players selected have been through the IRL’s classification process, similar to the Paralympic classification framework, putting them into one of three classes based on their impairment emphasising equity in playing.
Since England’s win in the inaugural PDRL World Cup, the inclusive version of the game has seen an incredible 40% increase in participation and Sunday’s event will give the invited players an opportunity to test themselves – including a number of players from Wales and other nations in a bid to support their playing offers.
England Community Lions Head Coach, Michelle Melling, says:
“Our new programme means that we will be inviting more players to train and play with the established England Community Lions squad so that they can be in an aspirational environment which will help themselves develop, as well as the overall PDRL game.
“The World Cup was such a positive experience, and I am really looking forward to Sunday’s event – it should be a great warm up before next weekend’s festival in Manchester!”
Sunday’s fixture comes just before the next PDRL Festival of the season which is set to be part of the latest Betfred Wheelchair Super League ‘Magic’ round at Belle Vue Sports Village on June 24. All nine PDRL teams will be in attendance and spectators are encouraged to come along for free to revel in what is set to be a brilliant day of Inclusive Rugby League.
