RUGBY league has benefitted from financial support to the tune of more than £600,000 so far in 2021, with £340,000 going directly to the game’s community clubs.

The RFL has been working on behalf of clubs and foundations to access Sport England and DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) funding streams, which collectively offer up to £1.75million to help them survive the impact of the pandemic and support under-represented groups.

Already more than 100 community clubs have received support, with many more set to benefit between now and March 2022.

Marc Lovering, RFL Director of Participation and Development, said: “External funding was critical in helping clubs return to play earlier this year, and it will be critical again in helping them through this winter and ready for next season.

“By securing this funding and processing applications, we’ve been able to support all variations of our game in some of the country’s most disadvantaged communities.

“All this is in addition to the millions of pounds brought into the community game via the Rugby League World Cup 2021 CreatedBy grants scheme, and our programme of work with clubs to ensure they could access around £2million in national and local government reliefs and mitigations.

“We remain grateful to DCMS and Sport England for their ongoing practical support to rugby league – they are key partners to the sport.”

The RFL was awarded £300,000 from Sport England’s Tackling Inequalities Fund, while a further £1.45million is available through the DCMS-funded and Sport England-supported Rugby League Survival Fund launched in September.

One hundred and twenty-eight community clubs have benefited to date, including some of those who will be involved in Round One of the Challenge Cup in January.

All community clubs are being invited to a New Year funding workshop on Wednesday, January 12 (7pm) to understand more about the funding application process.

Any community club that has yet to be contacted by the RFL, or has any questions about these funding streams, should email Community.Funding@rfl.co.uk.