AFTER his retirement in March 2013, Philippine National Rugby League (PNRL) board member Tom Simpson didn’t take long to move his family and start development of rugby league in the province of Zambales, north of Manila.
By ERICK ELEFANTE
Simpson, whose wife is a Filipina, linked up with another PNRL board member David Perry to bring the game to the Philippines’ youth..
They started coaching about half a dozen children on the town beaches of San Narciso. Soon young adults joined the scrimmages and now his students number 30 locals.
Simpson said he believe in the capacity of Filipinos to play a contact sport like rugby league. He observed their almost fanatical following of boxing, and Filipinos being well regarded in basketball especially in Asia.
In June 2013, Simpson and Perry will start rugby league clinics at the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy, as approved by the academy’s president, Admiral Richard Ritual.
The plan of the PNRL is to introduce rugby league in the Philippines through the Maritime industry, with the groundwork already having been laid in 2012 by local PNRL board members Rick Hartley, Tony Shibley and Cobi de Leon in introducing rugby league to the rugby union players at the private maritime academy Maritime Academy of Asia in the Pacific (MAAP), at Mariveles, Bataan, and various maritime companies in Manila and Subic Bay.
Focusing on the maritime industry strategy, Simpson and Perry are also building on the work started by Hartley, Shibley and de Leon by taking over their role of coaching rugby league at Wärtsilä Subic Inc, a Finland based company with maritime engineering business in the Philippines.
Tom Simpson played for both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in his youth. He has been involved with rugby league for about 50 years.
“Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) employed me for lectures to players about drugs and alcohol,” Simpson said. “I visited and spoke to every first grade player and spoke at many rookie camps so, as you can see, my passion for league is in my blood, and being married Filipina my association began with the national Philippine side.
“Having just turned 55, I decided to retire and live in Philippines and am keen to give exposure to the greatest game of all.
“I believe there is so much natural talent over here and think that one day when league is established here that NRL clubs will be treating Filipino youth as a nursery.”
