OURLFC Oxford to Accra!

Oxford University Rugby League Football Club is aiming to run/cycle 5000km (the distance between Oxford and Accra) over the Christmas period to raise money for a ground-breaking rugby league tour to Ghana in the summer of 2022!

Through the help of Old Boys, Abeku Nelson and Marcus-Alexander Amate Neil, Oxford University Rugby League Football Club has been in contact with the Rugby League Federation Ghana (RLFG) who have offered the club a two-game-series tour to Accra, Ghana, in the summer of 2022: one match against the Presidents XIII (an invitation team of those not selected for the national team) and one match against the Ghana national rugby league team.

Ghanaian rugby league is developing quickly, thanks, in part, to a new partnership between the RLFG and Salford Red Devils. As well as playing the two-game-series, the club will also spend time in Ghana doing work in the community. The club hopes to promote and develop rugby league in Ghana through an itinerary put together with the help of the RFL and Salford Red Devils, for example: cleaning beaches where local teams train, coaching youth teams and schools, and distributing kit and equipment donated by teams in the UK.

RLFG General Manager Jafaru Mustapha has highlighted the impact the tour will have in Ghana and the hope for the future that it brings, "2022 marks a decade since the arrival of Rugby League in our nation, and one space we are now ready to further develop is Higher Education. It is fitting then, that we will welcome Oxford to the University of Ghana to compete against both the Presidents XIII and the HANetf National Team".

Given the history of the sport of rugby league (born in working-class communities in the North of England), a fixture between Oxford University (a historically upper-class, elite institution) and Ghana (a developing nation in sub-Saharan Africa) would be ground-breaking not only for Oxford University RL and Ghana RL, but also for the expansion of rugby league generally, as a showcase for how far the game has come. But we need your help to make this possible!

Your donation to our fundraising effort will:

a) Help fund the tour itself and make it possible

b) Go directly towards the charities that OURLFC will work with in Ghana, such as 1Jersy, aiding the development of rugby league and community sport in Ghana