Maltese heritage players in the UK have joined forces to raise the profile of Maltese Rugby League with the launch of a concept called the Maltese Exiles.

The group, who have launched with a website at Pitchero.com, aim to find more Maltese eligible players playing across UK leagues, play in exhibition friendlies and support the Malta Rugby League (MRL) in fulfilling a Maltese team with the best Maltese players from across Malta, Australia and the UK.

The Exiles were boosted immediately by the find of London Skolars Championship 1 halfback Danny Burke.

The discovery of Burke came on the back of MRL officials being advised of Maltese born prop Jonathan Magrin being signed to Harlequins (now London Broncos) next season.

Malta national team captain Chris Parker, based in Gateshead, said the idea was that of the British based players themselves.

“It’s an idea from the boys up here. And the Malta Rugby League concept did kick off in Australia to start off with, so it makes sense” said Parker.

“We’ve found a couple of players already and the idea is for a team to go to Malta to take on a domestic based Malta XIII after a couple of games in the UK first”

The Malta captain says the exiles team has already been approached for fixtures.

The Maltese Exiles website can be found by clicking here, http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/malteseexiles/.

Photo by RFL: Malta coach Anthony Micallef with Maltese Exiles, Vince Stivala (Malta XIII), Paul Borg (Malta national team) and Chris Parker (Malta national team captain).

 2011-11-11, 13:37