Growing up in east Hull, rugby union was always something alien, but also something distant. Indeed, I think it was only when a PE teacher at Andrew Marvel High revealed that he played union for one of the village teams around Hull that I realised the sport even existed in my home county. Here in Serbia, however, the union is like a wasp feeding on the sweet league.

My first run-in with its loyalists came in the summer of 2011 when I got a phone call from a guy I hardly knew who used to play for the team: "Mark, some guys will turn up at your training session tonight. They're good guys and they want to form a Red Star rugby union club. Please be nice to them."

This new three-match series brings the cream of Serbian rugby league to the top... of an empty stadium.

Prior to the 1980s, the Australian rugby league interstate representative series between New South Wales and Queensland saw players represent the state where their current club was based. This meant that, as Queensland produced top quality players but had much poorer clubs than the rich Sydney teams, many native Queenslanders would be forced to pull on the blue NSW jersey and compete against the maroon QLD shirt of their homeland.

Queensland's frustration led to the birth of the State of Origin concept in 1980, which pitted "state against state", but also "mate against mate", with players from the same rich Sydney clubs competing against one another in a ferocious contest over three 80-minute battles.

Red Star RLC made it two wins from three in the Serbian rugby league this weekend with a resounding victory over a young Radnicki Nova Pazova outfit, though the final score line of 58-28 clearly flattered a seemingly rudderless Red Star team, who let physical superiority get in the way of carefully laid plans and spoiled the chance to play to a pattern that proved successful in patches against the top team in town.

The ying and yang of a rugby team is represented by the forwards and the backs, with the halves or pivots, generally numbers 6, 7 and 9 (stand-off, scrum-half, hooker) acting as the conductors of the team.

Today saw a great step taken towards bridging the gap between the Red Star rebel alliance and the Dorcolian empire - or at least overcoming the myth of Dorcol's invincibility (cue Imperial March).

Yes Red Star lost 46-16 (almost mirroring Hull KR's result over London this afternoon), but that's a lot better than the 106-6 thrashing they gave us last time out. In fact, that's probably Dorcol's smallest winning margin in any domestic battle since 2009.

I think our work on trying to teach the players about the bigger picture has paid dividends. They are now not only more aware

10th April 2012 - this morning we had our hopes of a competitive fixture dashed when the team from Lebanon's American University of Beirut cancelled after having been unable to recover from their devastating 106-0 loss to Serbia's indomitable champions Dorcol RLFC.

Since Dorcol recently demolished us 106-6, we figured this one was ours 6-0 for sure ;)

Dorcol sent six of their players to hospital and completely demolished and demoralised them, just as they've done to every other club team not from France or the UK since around 2009.

The Red Star Rugby League senior squad marked the end of the woeful 2011 season with a festive reception at Belgrade's Little Bay Restaurant on 20th December. All players were presented with certificates for their personal contributions to the past season, while special awards went to the players recognised as having excelled on the pitch during 2011.

A certain level of aggression is essential to the game of rugby league, particularly in defence and particularly in the middle of the field, where the big boys collide.

Rugby league is, in many ways, a combat contact team sport. The collision and tackle aspect of the game is a form of wrestling and, let’s face it, only a few scary people are able to compete in any form of combat without first setting an aggressive mindset.

There’s nothing wrong with a rugby league tackler facing up to his opponent with the desire to hurt him and there’s equally nothing wrong with a trainer

The Serbian Rugby League season is now in full swing, with three rounds already completed, a domestic regional representative match played and Serbia having walloped Germany in an international friendly!

Here at Red Star we started with a pre-season friendly at new club Soko down in Vranje, which is seemingly closer to Greece than it is to Belgrade. A pioneering venture that’s now competing in the second division thanks to the great work of the boys from Vranje and the team at the Serbian RFL, Soko is seemingly flourishing. They asked if they could field 25 players against our 16 (17

Prompted by popular demand, this is an explanatory post aimed at shedding light, as succinctly as possible, on the differences between the various types of rugby, but principally ‘Union’ and ‘League’.

You may want to read it in instalments! 

By the early 18th century various forms of ‘football’ were being played across the British Isles, with differing local rules blah blah. Around 1870 the Rugby School in the town of Rugby became the first to write down its rules, which allowed it to spread and gain prominence.

With the exception of the ubiquitous 'soccer',

The 2011 season is fast approaching for the teams of the Serbian RFL, with kick-off scheduled for the weekend of 19th-20th March. Competition is set to be tougher than ever this year, with a number of teams having strengthened their squads in the off-season, in the hope of toppling the mighty Dorćol.

This year will also prove an exciting challenge for the Serbia national team, with a calendar of eight internationals culminating in October when they take on Italy, Lebanon and Russia to vie for the final spot at the 2013 RL World Cup.

At Red Star it’s been a tough pre-season