Experienced English mentor Kevin Deighton has been appointed to head a new Ukrainian coaching team as Ukraine Federation of Rugby League steps up its campaign to target heritage players from Australia and England.
Deighton, who will take charge of England Universities in the upcoming Four Nations tournament and oversees Hull KR's reserve grade team, will be assisted by Australian-based Dan Beardshaw and Ukraine coaches Arthur Martyrosian and Igor Yurkin.
The UFRL has also announced a new policy change to recruit heritage players to play in international fixtures because of the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and 14 players have already been identified in Australia and England.
"Due to the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation, almost half of the members of the UFRL and its teams went to defend the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and TRO," a UFRL statement said.
"All others provide necessary assistance to the Ukrainian army and civilians affected by the crimes of the Russian army, as volunteers in different spheres of activity.
"This is why the UFRL had to change its policy
on the inclusion of the Ukrainian National Rugby League team - namely to involve only players from the Ukrainian Rugby League School to gain them more playing practice and motivation in domestic competitions.
"As mentioned in the UFRL announcement of 1 November, 2022, the UFRL Presidency has decided to use the experience of other countries [including Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Jamaica] to engage highly qualified foreign professionals as well as players of relevant backgrounds who have experience performing in the strongest championships in the world - namely Australian and English."
Nathan Cleary and Hudson Young have Ukrainian heritage (NRL Photos)
Matt Girvan, the former president of Lane Cove Tigers in Sydney, has been responsible for identifying heritage players and he will take on the role of PR Manager for Ukraine's national teams.
Girvan has unearthed 14 experienced players from Australia and England, who are under consideration to play for Ukraine.
The heritage players and the strongest players of the Ukrainian competitions will work under the new coaching team of Deighton, Beardshaw, Martyrosian and Yurkin in international fixtures.
Deighton began his coaching career as Hull KR academy coach in 2006 and has worked at Hull FC and Newcastle Thunder before returning to the club in 2019 to take charge of reserve grade.
Kevin Deighton with the England Universities teamBeardshaw is a former NRL development officer who has worked in pathways for Wests Tigers through his coaching role with Wests Magpies. He is currently involved with Campbelltown City Kangaroos after previously coaching Mittagong Lions.
Against the backdrop of continuing war, the rugby league season in Ukraine began in May, with the first round of the men’s championship seeing a festival of matches taking place in Lviv.
The six sides, who will play 9s tournaments, were split into two groups; Kharkiv Legion XIII, Ivano-Frankivsk Stanislaviv and Donetsk region in pool A and Lviv Tigers, Kyiv Rhinos and Khmelnytskyi Eagles in pool B.
Before play commenced, Petro Adamyk, UFRL vice-president, addressed the participants and crowd, paying tribute to the nation’s soldiers.
“It is them we have to thank for the opportunity to play our favourite sport," he said. "Many rugby players are currently in the war zone.”
Guest of honour at the tournament was the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovy, who officially opened the championship.
In the final, to pick up six points on the league ladder, Kharkiv Legion XIII defeated Lviv Tigers 28-14, Khmelnytskyi Eagles finishing in third place.
The following day, also at the Yunist Stadium in Lviv, the junior tournaments began.
At U16 level, four teams played in a full round, Khmelnytskyi Eagles winning all three of their games with Ternopil second, Rivne third and Lviv fourth.
In the U18 age group, two sides took part in the first round, Donetsk region and Ternopil Knights, who faced each other twice, Donetsk narrowly winning both matches.
Teams from Rivne and Lviv will participate in the championship from the second round which will take place in Khmelnytskyi on June 18.
