The Canterbury-Bankstown District Junior Rugby League wanted to increase their junior participation numbers so they organised a ‘Play, Learn, Enjoy’ day at suburban Birrong, in south-western Sydney.
The idea certainly struck a chord with 300 registering to take part, including 90 who had not played Rugby League before.
Head of Junior League at Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, John Grealy, and co-ordinator Alanah Poole said another reason was behind the fun day.
Canterbury Leagues Club is paying $100 subsidy to each player from Under 5s through to Under 13s for their registration fees. The Junior Rugby League season for 2025 starts 5-6 April.
“So we wanted to help them get a return on their investment by increasing our representation by 20 percent,” Grealy told nswrl.com.au.
“That meant in that age bracket we needed to find another 400 kids. We thought this carnival-fun day would help us attract more people.”
NRL stars who were local juniors – Josh Reynolds (St George Dragons) and Jacob Kiraz (St Johns Eagles) – were also there to help the recruitment drive along with top-30 squad member Bailey Haywood (St George Dragons). Bulldogs leading female players Latisha Smythe and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa were on hand to showcase women's Rugby League.
There are 13 clubs in the Canterbury-Bankstown district comprising around 2,000 players last year in that 5-13 age bracket.
In the week since the fun day was held on 2 February, there has been a rise of over 100 in 2025 registrations (1,331) compared with the same week in 2024 (1,223).
On the day, NRL development officers organised skills clinics for 5-7 years, 8-12 years and 13-16 years. Then there were exhibition matches between clubs, with every club having a gazebo (pictured below. Photos: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs) so that parents and prospective players could ask questions, see the jerseys and gear needed, and find out other details like training times and venues.
The local district referees also had a presence on the day to attract teenagers to consider officiating as another way of being involved in the game.
“We had four games – Under 5s, Under 8s, Under 10s-11s and Under 12s - with someone on the microphone explaining what the different rules were for each age group so that mums and dads could see Rugby League was safe and fun,” Grealy said.
“We didn’t forget the females – an Under 12s game and an Under 14s League Tag game - because it looks like we’ll be attracting a lot of girls to the game this year, partly off the back of the new NRLW side.”
The Bulldogs and a revamped Warriors side will be the two new teams for the 2025 Telstra Women’s Premiership starting on Thursday 3 July.
“Our focus is to grow the base and hopefully we’ll have a production line of girls to go through the pathways to our NRLW side,” Grealy said.
“We wanted to show all the options we have in the Canterbury district for kids. And we planned the day so that someone new to Rugby League could walk away with all the information they needed.
“They could talk to their closest club and they could also register there and then.”
