Monklands Warriors go from strength to strength in rugby league

Jul 9 2008 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

WHEN Les Obre formed the Monklands Warriors in 2005, there were just two kids and equipment totalling only six balls.

These days, there still isn’t a league for them to take part in and they would need to travel to another country to play a proper competitive match.

Yet the area’s rugby league team has 15 enthusiastic youngsters regularly attending training sessions.

And head coach Les has built up strong relationships with the Salford City Reds and the Widnes Vikings, two of the sport’s biggest names south of the border.

Trying to get children playing any kind of sport regularly is a battle at times – but how do you get them involved in an activity that hasn’t got much of a following beyond the English counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire?

“I thought it would work and we are making it work,” Les told the Advertiser.

“For me, it was about giving the kids an opportunity to experience a new sport and try something that they wouldn’t get at school.

“What we are aiming to do is attract more people to come and play. In the current climate a lot of kids don’t want to play sport...they want to sit at home on the X-box.

“I don’t think anyone who came to us initially had any perception of rugby league – I don’t think they had any perception of rugby at all.

“North Lanarkshire is a fairly blue-collar area and rugby league is in that kind of heartland down in England. I think it is a very good sport and a very entertaining one.

“A lot of kids will come along and try a sport. It isn’t like football because when it gets to tackling, not everybody likes to tackle or be tackled.

“They are quite happy to run about and throw the ball around but when it came to tackling some of them thought it wasn’t the sport for them...but that’s fine.

“Some then left but at least they were very open to what we were doing.”

The club is succeeding but there has been the odd disappointment for Les and his team of coaches.

“We initially trained at Dunbeth Park in Coatbridge but Frank Berry, the head teacher at St Margaret’s, was quite keen to get us involved and wanted us to use the facilities there,” Les says.

“There was a gang of guys that used to hang about the park and they were about 10 or 11-years-old.

“They came over one day and asked what we were doing. I told them it was rugby league and would they like to join in.

“They were happy to take part and came back faithfully for weeks.

“But unfortunately when we moved to St Margaret’s in Airdrie they weren’t able to come which was a pity as they were enthusiastic and coming on very well.”

A former full-back with Stirling County Rugby Union club in the late 1990s, Les is a self-confessed “sports junkie”.

As well as rugby, both league and union, he plays cricket for Cumbernauld, trains in mixed martial arts and enjoys rock climbing and kayaking.

But rugby league is his passion and after passing a coaches’ course, he set about launching the Warriors.

The team’s biggest problem, however, is that they don’t have anyone in Scotland to play against.

An adult league exists, supporting seven teams, but there is virtually no structure in place to try and develop the sport for those at an early age.

“We tend to start training at Easter and parallel it with the rugby league season down south,” Les said.

“We don’t have a league to play in although the adult teams have one but they don’t have proper youth systems.

“Until the game is much more structured and better marketed up here then rugby league won’t be fully developed.”

Allowing the kids to rub shoulders with some of the sport’s top people pleases Les who believes it further encourages and enhances interest in what they are doing.

He added: “The kids loved it when Salford sent up four coaches for a training session a few months ago and that will now be an annual thing.

“Two years ago, we took a trip to Salford so the kids could experience a live game. We were met by one of the directors of the club, given a tour of the ground and had our own wee bit of the stand.

“Before the game we went on the pitch in front of the Sky TV cameras against Hull. At half-time we were on again before the crowd.

“It was quite bizarre at one point because Mark Brocklehurst, the community development officer, came over and said we would need to stop the session.

“I asked what was wrong and he said that the owner of the club, John Wilkinson, wanted to meet us all and have his picture taken.

“Not many kids get to experience performing in front of several thousand people but we made that happen.

“Last year we went to Widnes and the parents were blown away by how fast and entertaining the game was.”

Les insists there is potential for some of his young charges to make a name for themselves in rugby – whether it be league or union.

“I have kids at the moment, including Callum MacKay, who has been with me since the early days,” he says.

“He is playing for Lanarkshire Lions rugby union team and his dad, Andy, feels rugby league helped him to where he is at the moment which is good to hear.

“He is a very talented kid and has lots of potential.

“But then the enthusiasm from all our kids is 110 per cent and there are some that have a future in either code.

“What I would like to see is kids who play union over the winter trying out league in the summer which I think would be beneficial for everyone.”

Les – who coaches the Warriors along with Thomas Malone, Graeme Marshall, Andy MacKay and Ian Mullett – is looking south for prospective opponents.

“The relationship with Salford will continue and we are exploring the option of playing games down there,” he said.

“We are also hoping to arrange games against teams in Cumbria because that is only an hour-and-a-half down the road and easy for us to get to.”

Look out England – the Warriors are coming.