Katherine to host first Junior Rugby League Country Challenge

Running over one day, the challenge is scratching the rule book and playing modified games. 

Katherine Rugby League vice president Brett Payne said the games are solely designed to have the boys playing football. 

“We are modifying the rules to make the games much quicker,” Mr Payne said. 

“No conversions, no kicking for touch and no scrums,” he said. 

Teams from Darwin, Alice Springs and Gove will make the trip to Katherine to play for the Terry Hohns Cup. 

With the first game kicking off at 10.45am on Saturday at the Katherine Sport Grounds, the seven teams will compete in a round robin competition of 20 minute games to make it to the grand final. 

The Cup honours Terence Hohn who recently passed away. 

“It is something that we as a league wanted to do to pay our respects to someone who has done so much for Rugby League in Katherine,” Katherine Rugby League president Nathan Rosas said. 

The Country Challenge was originally organised for July, but was postponed due to difficulties accommodating teams at a reasonable cost. 

“We had to modify the challenge to only run over one day, so teams could afford to travel down and compete,” vice president Mr Payne said. 

“NTRL has also offered to pay for all buses, which is saving the teams thousands. 

“NTRL saw that the competition was important for our young players to get involved in and their support is second to none,” he said. 

Just like the July competition the challenge is about keeping young players off the couch and on the field during the school holiday downtime. 

“U14s, 15s and 16s are an age group that we struggle to keep consistent numbers,” Katherine Rugby League president Mr Rosas said. 

“We set a goal to get these kids playing on through the holidays and also playing in competitions outside of their normal competitions.”

For more information head to the Katherine Junior Rugby League Facebook Page.