The city’s festival of rugby, ‘Leeds Loves Rugby’ reached its final with the Leeds Rhinos and Melbourne Storm match last night, and despite our home team not quite regaining the Gillette World Club crown, the festival has been a celebration of the city’s passion for the game.

The eight day festival (20th-28th February), which was organised by Marketing Leeds, Leeds City Council, the Leeds Rugby Foundation and the RFL, kicked off to a great start with an amateur rugby tournament, a book signing by Leeds Rhinos player Danny Buderus and a series of kids’ rugby skills workshops, to help celebrate all Leeds loves about rugby.

Young rugby players from Hunslet Parkside Rugby League battled it out at Soccer City on the first weekend of the festival, which also saw around 50 people flock to the St John’s centre to meet Leeds Rhinos player and author of ‘Talent is Not Enough’, Danny Buderus.

Throughout the week there were various business networking opportunities including a sporting breakfast seminar with speakers such as Gary Hetherington, Chief Executive of Leeds Rhinos and Brian McClennan, Leeds Rhinos Head Coach, a dinner and civic reception.

‘A Taste of Rugby’ at Saviles Hall, Clarence Dock and an Aussie inspired BBQ at Harvey Nichols in the Victoria Quarter rounded off the festival activities perfectly. Visitors enjoyed rugby skills workshops and performances from the Rhinos cheerleaders and junior cheerleading squad The Rhinestones.

Leeds Loves Rugby was the first time Leeds has hosted a festival around a rugby event in the city, and feedback so far has been positive. The festival is one of a series to celebrate Leeds and its many strengths, which include Leeds Loves Food in July and Leeds Shopping Week in October. 

Deborah Green, chief executive of Marketing Leeds said: “The Leeds Loves Rugby festival has helped to get the whole city involved in the celebration of the Gillette World Club Challenge here in Leeds. Businesses in the city have had an opportunity to promote themselves to new audiences and we have seen eight days of rugby-inspired fun for all the family. On the last weekend we welcomed national journalists to Leeds and the match yesterday, despite our defeat, was the perfect ending to our first rugby festival to significantly raise the profile of our great sporting city.”

Gary Hetherington, Chief Executive of Leeds Rugby added: “We would like to say a big thank you to Marketing Leeds for all their support in the build up to the Gillette World Club Challenge. We wanted the festival to be a celebration of rugby in the city and to be accessible to the entire community rather just a one off match and we certainly achieved that goal. Unfortunately, we could not get the win but the side played their part in a fantastic contest and hopefully we can kick on for the rest of the season and try and win our fourth Engage Super League title in a row.

“Having spoken to our counterparts from Melbourne, they were extremely grateful for the warm reception they received from the people of Leeds. Not only has the city shown it can host a major sporting event but our reputation has been advanced across the world too,” added Hetherington.

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