One day after Lebanon’s heroic exit from the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, the Lebanese Rugby League Committee presented a confident air at a press conference in the Gefinor Rotana Hotel, Beirut, where it paid tribute to the feats of the national team whilst looking ahead positively.

Representatives from the Bank of Beirut and the Ministry of Youth and Sport also attended as the LRLC officially launched its five year partnership with the bank and mapped out its plans for the future.

LRLC executive committee member Mireille Ziade opened by cataloguing the travails that had beset the national team, including foregoing home field advantage for two successive years, playing teams fielding large numbers of professionals and overcoming a long injury list following the match against Ireland.

“It is a testament to the motivation and courage of our squad that we were not able just to play against Wales but to play in such an irresistible manner,” said Ziade. “But the positives of the national team’s exploits far outweigh the negatives. Our final three games were beamed live throughout Europe on SKY and throughout the Middle East on Showtime Arabia and our office has been receiving messages on a daily basis from Lebanese fans from all over the world, citing their pride in the team’s performance and the opportunity this world cup qualifying campaign has given them to cheer for Lebanon.”

Addressing the domestic scene, Ziade commented that the LRLC should become a federation by the end of the year, and that the sport is now seeing the fruits from the development strategy that was implemented five years earlier. The most notable example is the partnership with Bank of Beirut, “a natural fit” according to Ziade due to “the synergy between the Bank’s own strategy and our core values and characteristics.”

Ziade went on to reveal the launch of Lebanese rugby league’s nationwide school development plan, spearheaded by the Development Department’s three course directors and 15 Level 2 coaches, in partnership with the Ministry of Education. “Over the next few weeks we will qualify a number of Level 1 coaches as we conduct courses for school teachers – a programme we started last Sunday in Tripoli – which is the first step towards inter-school competitions for both girls and boys, and the fielding of youth national teams next year.”

Bank of Beirut’s Communications and Marketing Manager, Elissar Hajj Zarwi, echoed Ziade’s thoughts: “rugby league conforms to our aspirations and the bank’s development strategy, with a strong emphasis on youth, good health and sex appeal!”

The sports ministry’s Ali Khalil said: “while we are disappointed that the national team could not qualify for the world cup we acknowledge the big effort they made and the efforts being made to develop the sport in Lebanon. It is important to the ministry that rugby league becomes a popular sport here.”