Filton College Rugby League - Press Release
[sizeFilton College Welcomes First Rugby League Academy Players[/size
With a rich history of sporting excellence, Filton College in Bristol, is synonymous with developing top level performers in a wide range of sports. With 12 existing sports academies ranging from Table Tennis to Taekwondo and Rugby Union to Fencing , it is apt that the college’s 13th Academy should be Rugby League that opens its doors to its first cohort of players this week.
Planning for the Academy began back in May with the appointment of a full time Head Coach, Dan Garbutt, to oversee the programme and also support development of the game in the local community. The programme has also secured the services of two highly experienced coaches, Karl Fearnley and Tom James, to work with the team on a part time basis. James, an RFL coach educator , works as a lecturer at the college as well as delivering on the highly successful Rugby Union Academy. Fearnley is a level 2 coach with great experience in the community game and also acts as Head Coach of the highly successful Bristol Sonics. The Academy undertook trials in June and player recruitment has taking place throughout the summer meaning that 28 players will be enrolling with the college and Academy this week with classes beginning on September 5.
Speaking prior to the season, Garbutt was pleased with the coaching team that has been assembled
[i“Both the guys we’ve bought on board bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the coaching role. Tom has coached at college level for a number of years, on the Rugby union model, but his background is in Rugby League so this was a great opportunity for him to work on both programmes” [/isaid Garbutt [i“Karl has a full time job in engineering so for him to balance this career in order to coach on the programme which is a huge help for us. Not only is he a good coach in his own right, he also provides a natural link between the Academy and the local club which will only help our development” [/i
From a performance point of view the team will also benefit from the South West’s link with Superleague’s Leeds Rhinos. The recent Challenge Cup finalists have employed an experienced performance coach, Andrew Lindley, to help develop players in the region and identify talent to ultimately feed into the Rhino’s performance programme. Lindley, who prior to his current role was Head of Youth Performance with The Crusaders, has already had the opportunity to run the rule over the incoming Filton players in running guest coaching sessions at two pre-season camps that the incoming squad undertook in July and august.
[i“It’s early days yet for the academy but there is certainly a lot of talented players there”[/i said Lindley following the August training camp [i“The standard of general Rugby ability in the area is really high and I’m very excited about this future of this partnership between The Rhino’s, Filton College and the RFL in the South West” [/i
The Academy start their competitive programme on September 28 with a pre-season friendly against The University of Gloucestershire Fresher’s. They follow this up with 2 nine a side tournaments, The West of England Student 9’s and The South of England College 9’s before their league programme begins on October 19. Being the first College level team in the region, Filton will be competing in the BUCS West of England Division against university teams in the region such as Bristol University, The University of Exeter and The University of the West of England.
For more information about Rugby League at Filton Academy, or if you are interested in applying as a player for 2012, contact Dan Garbutt (email -
