Leeds Akkies was founded in 2003 by students from the three universities of Leeds to provide a pathway from student rugby league to open age amateur rugby league.

Our mission is to be renowned as sucessful rugby league club via the promotion of player development in a sociable and welcoming environment.

Training is now 7pm-9pm, at the Sycamores, Bramhope. For more information about training, click 'recruitment' in the menu on the left.

The Sycamores location

**MENS & WOMENS TEAMS FOR SATURDAY JUNE 27th NOW ONLINE!

CHECK OUT THE 'TEAMS' SECTION FOR DETAILS**

Dear All,

Firstly, can I congratulate the Akkies contingent who made history at the weekend in being part of the first touring RL side to Norway. Keith Sandhu (captain), James Harrison, Chris Reynolds, James Howard and Andy Douch all played in the GB Pioneers team (coached by Andy Jordan) against a Norwegian representative side and finished up comfortable winners 24-0. Well done to all concerned – for further information see the link below

http://www.totalrl.com/features/content.php?feat_id=735&featcat_id=49

Secondly, can I apologise to the ladies team for not reporting their result the previous week against Bradford Dudley Hill. With Carl off sick I only received details late on Friday. The ladies continue to challenge Keighley at the top with another cracking win 42 – 2, with tries from Ruth Laybourne (3), Linsay Munro (2), Kym Hammond (2), Dominique Attwood and conversions from Linsay Munro (5). Many congratulations to the ladies who take on Stanningley this weekend before the big game against Keighley the following week.

In the men’s Premiership a depleted team went down 44-18 against York Lokomotive in a game when we competed well for large spells only to be caught on the counter attack against a York backline oozing pace. This week sees a home fixture against Kippax Knights. Training tonight as normal – 7pm.

We regretably had to postpone our Yorkshire Conference match last week due to the number of unavailable players but have a final league game this Friday evening against Parkside Hawks. Can players please make every effort to attend training on Wednesday and make themselves available for this match so we can complete the league programme for 2009 with a team that reflects the team we were able to put out in the first half of the season.

Cheers

Jez Shires

Chairman

www.leedsakkies.co.uk

Details for 2009 Season

Planning is officially under way for the 2009 season at Leeds Akkies and the first date to note is Wednesday 18th March when pre-season training will officially get underway. To continue the growth of the Club we are looking to recruit new players, coaches and volunteers across the board and we outline a number of initiatives below.

League Structures

The Northern Premier division which we competed in this year is being restructured for 2009 & will be centred around the Yorkshire region with a couple of Lancashire teams included as well. The north east teams who competed in the division this year are forming there own conference NEast division and there will no place either for Carlisle. The result of this will be a major reduction in travelling for us over the course of the season.

The Yorkshire conference division will also be restructured with the stronger teams from this year joining the new Northern Premier Division and their places taken by teams who competed in the RLC merit league this year.

The ladies side have been entered into a formal league (the Yorkshire division) which will see them play around 10 league games during the season. This is a step up from this year when they played a series of friendllies and festivals.

Player Recruitment

We are open to players of all abilities and if you know of anyone who might fancy turning out for the Akkies in the 2009 then please ask them to contact our recruitment manager - Andy Jordan. andyjordan3@hotmail.com - to find out more details. This is a crucial area for the club given that there is a constant turnover of players due to relocation and retirements so please pass on Andy’s details to anyone you know who might fancy giving summer league a go.

Coaches

Following our appointment of Mick Loveday and Andy Midgley as the men’s 1st team head and assistant coaches we are looking to fill similar positions for the men’s 2nd team and the ladies team. If you are interested in these roles or developing your skills in this area please drop the chairman a line – jdshires@hotmail.com. There will be a specific coaches meeting on 2nd December to which all interested parties will be invited to.

Volunteers

The Akkies does not run its self, as it stands a small number of people do a lot of work within the club, and are looking for people to come forward a lend their support on match day’s and for special events the club are going to run for 2009.

We are looking for people to come on board and take on media roles for the club to complement the work done by Gav Wilson, inparticularl generating PR, managing the website content, setting up Akkies tv on YouTube etc. If you fancy getting involved in this are then again please email the chairman on jdshires@hotmail.com

Ladies Team news

After the success of the 2008 inaugural ladies season, we are looking to go a step further in 2009. In light of this we have entered a competitive league for the season. This does not change our recruitment policy, we are looking for players of all levels to come and enjoy excellent facilities and coaching in a friendly atmosphere.

Any Ladies interested in finding out more please contact our recruitment manager Andy Jordan andyjordan3@hotmail.com

In other news we are happy to welcome Wendy Voo to the committee of the Club. She is now going to part of the decision making process of the club going forward. She has valuable experience in Womens Rugby and is going to be a valuable asset to our Committee.