Rugby league can help this Labour government bolster northern towns
3 min read
There is no better example of the resilience of northern towns than rugby league. The government should use the game as a blueprint for helping communities not just survive, but thrive.
Growing up in a post-industrial northern town, rugby league was a part of everyday life.
The atmosphere on matchdays is like nothing else. Local people filling up the ground, standing shoulder to shoulder with those familiar local faces they’ve been sharing the stands with for years — even generations.
But beyond matchday, local teams remain ever-present. The same players you see scoring tries on the weekend in kits sponsored by local businesses do their big shop at the local Asda, or are at the school drop-off during the week. This connection fosters real community, with victories and defeats shared collectively.
This spirit is unique to league — a sport born out of northern towns and working-class players' want for a competition that better represented and reflected them. This local and grassroots spirit has persisted.
Over the years, as economic and social hardship have gripped these communities, rugby league clubs have become increasingly vital in holding them together. As jobs and industries have disappeared, the institutions that came with them have fallen away too.
Despite the hollowing out of a sense of community and the rightful pride that came with it, a resilient and purposeful rugby league remained as a constant.
But their contribution to the North goes beyond the abstract: the fans, players and clubs have always rolled up their sleeves and emptied their pockets to support those in the areas where they live.
You don’t need to look much further than the tireless work of Kevin Sinfield and the late, great Rob Burrow. These two gentlemen — who perfectly personify our game — did so much to increase awareness of motor neurone disease, securing a research centre in West Yorkshire.
I also saw this material contribution first hand whilst working at Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation, teaching PE to children across the M62 corridor. Through their local club, children were provided with opportunities and broadened horizons, with many travelling beyond Yorkshire for the first time.
Indeed, it was through this frontline work that I was first brought to politics, with the club having to pick up the pieces of the immediate damage the closure of SureStart centres had on the families of the children I taught.
In an effort mirrored by clubs across the North, it also offers support groups for the young, elderly and vulnerable. This is as well as encouraging players, known for their gruff and gritty exterior, to discuss their mental health. Here, players and the club are aware of their role in the community, and are keen to use it proactively to break the stigmas that keep so many from opening up.
This stands as a reminder of what makes a community strong. In our towns, where young people, especially young men, lack direction and are too often denied the opportunity warranted by their aspiration, rugby league can provide role models, structure and support. It can instil a sense of purpose and belonging that is too often missing.
The resilience and community spirit of rugby league provides a model for the government as it seeks to breathe life back into these once-forgotten areas. From grassroots to the Super League, they have managed to survive in the face of economic hardship.
But the story of this sport — and of northern towns — can be and must be about more than survival.
The renewal of northern towns will be about jobs and opportunity, but will also require the localism and belonging exemplified by rugby league. Economic renewal from the bottom up, by and for communities.
By following this blueprint, the government can secure these towns, and these teams, to provide a sense of community for generations to come.
Jade Botterill is the Labour MP for Ossett and Denby Dale.
