Clubs told to look towards Africa – and Africans in UK – for new talent
SUPER LEAGUE clubs have been told to not look Stateside and set their sights on Africa instead – even Africans on their doorstep.
For not only are there new fanbases waiting to be tapped into, there are countless players ready to be snapped up – men and women.
And SunSport can reveal it is hoped five of Nigeria’s women’s team looking to make the World Cup link up with English sides next year.
Former player Ade Adebisi, leading Nigeria Rugby League, is behind the push towards Africa and believes a wealth of stars is waiting to be unearthed.
He feels Wigan facing Warrington along with England’s women taking on Australia’s Jillaroos in Las Vegas on March 1 is looking in the wrong area.
The ex-London Broncos and Hull FC star said: “They say North America, I don’t think so.
“Look at the development that’s happened in Africa, that’s the next big thing for rugby league.
“Nigeria alone has 200 million people and Super League clubs are forgetting, the biggest African population in England is Nigerian.
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“Salford’s partnership with Ghana is how a Super League team should do it. Salford mean to do it. We’re looking for others like them.
“They do a lot of joint events and engage with the Ghanaian community. If they continue, it won’t be long until they start getting African players.
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“If it’s done properly, imagine what could happen. The support it could bring to clubs, and new fans who’d be interested in football, could be big.
“And there are players already – like Junior Nsemba (Cameroon) and Kruise Leeming (Eswatini) – who have African links. There’s a million of those players in Africa.
“It’s just about getting chances for African players in the UK. Once that happens, there will be a big change of recruitment in Super League.
“We could get to the level of Tongans or Samoans. African players have better fitness levels too – it needs commitment from both clubs and players.”
The first sign of rugby league taking hold in Africa is Nigeria’s women reaching next year’s World Series, at which they face Ireland, Fiji and Canada for the remaining spot at the 2026 World Cup.
But Adebisi wants more. He is aiming to get the country a presence in the Women’s Super League.
He added: “My focus is getting at least five girls to the UK next year to play in the league.
“Nigeria’s whole squad has a combined 10 years’ experience in rugby, four or five in rugby league. So I need to prepare them as well as possible.
“It’s a really big opportunity. They’ve done that in the space of three years. Imagine what they can do with some proper rugby league training and some good direction – they’ll be unstoppable.
“You can’t coach strength, you can’t coach speed but the rest can be and clubs can say, ‘We were part of Nigeria making the Rugby League World Cup.’
“We’ve never had an African nation in that before, men’s or women’s. The development is huge. We’re looking at, from next year, streaming all our games.
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“Interest has risen hugely. Interest from sponsors, interest in participation – way before all this, we were putting our hands in our pocket to fund what we were doing.
“We did that for four or five years but we’re getting there now. It’s been a tough journey, don’t get me wrong.”