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On Tuesday the rugby league community celebrated the 2014 NRL-RLPA Academic Team of the Year.
This year, the Academic Team of the Year had 11 debutants including Brent Tate (Cowboys), David Shillington (Raiders), Jason Nightingale (Dragons) and Jeremy Latimore (Panthers).
There were a lot of other firsts this year, with Aaron Rockley (Broncos) named the inaugural NRL Tradesman of the Year, while Sam Perrett (Bulldogs) and Jerome Ropati (Warriors) were the first players to receive the NRL Pasifika Academic Excellence Award.
Another first was the announcement of the Holden Cup Academic Team of the Year. This shows that the NRL is looking forward and that supporting our players does not just begin once players start playing first grade.
NRL-RLPA Welfare and Education Committee member Mark Coyne said, “Not only are these players a credit to themselves but are also an inspiration to all other young players, showing that they too can balance further studies and a rugby league career.”
If this story doesn’t give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, then the statistics below should:
The NRL-RLPA Academic Team of the year gives players the chance to ensure that they can continue to contribute to the community once they have finished playing. It gives players the confidence to pursue further study and gives them the resources they need.
To be eligible a player needs to be chosen by the NRL-RLPA Welfare and Education Committee in consultation with NRL Club welfare and education officers. Ryan Hoffman (Bachelor of Business), Tom Symonds (Bachelor of Health Science Exercise) and Jason Nightingale (Bachelor of Business) were other players named in the Academic Team of the Year.
This is such a positive story for the NRL. It shows that we are a sport that not only values players for the contribution that they can make on the field, but also focus on what players can contribute once they have left the game.
This comes off the back of last year’s announcement of a new strategic partnership with the University of Western Sydney that will give players more opportunity to pursue further study once their footballing careers are over.
This new partnership will be the most comprehensive professional athlete education program in Australia, and is a big gold star for the NRL.
Follow Mary on Twitter @Ladieswholeague