RFL backs £30m community funding proposal for northern England

Rugby Football League chief executive Ian Nolan has backed Jon Wilkin's appeal for a £30 million government-funded community programme in northern England. BBC Sport reported on November 3 that the former England international wants Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to support a partnership running for five years.

Wilkin made the appeal on BBC Radio 5 Live's Rugby League show on Monday. The proposed partnership would link the governing body with professional clubs, community foundations, councils and government departments. It would focus on disadvantaged northern communities, using relationships that rugby league organisations already have with local families and schools.

Nolan argued that existing clubs offered an advantage over newly created community hubs because residents already used and depended on them, according to BBC Sport. He suggested that starting with those established connections could help investment deliver benefits sooner. BBC Sport said it had contacted the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for comment; its report did not announce approval or a government funding commitment.

Further details of Wilkin's proposal were reported by Serious About Rugby League. He wants activities aimed at improving school attendance and physical and mental health, while addressing youth unemployment and widening opportunities. He also called for results to be assessed independently, with clear responsibility for how public funds would be used. These were proposed objectives, not outcomes already achieved.

Wilkin distinguished the request from a subsidy for the professional game. The emphasis, he argued, should be investment in communities rather than support for elite clubs' finances. Serious About Rugby League reported that he also appealed to Australian rugby league administrator Peter V'landys to contribute matching funding alongside any commitment from the British government.

That additional money, under Wilkin's proposal, would be protected for grassroots and community use rather than passed to professional clubs. His appeal therefore combines a public funding request with a separate challenge to Australian rugby league leadership. Neither contribution was presented as secured: the plan remains an appeal for coordinated backing and safeguards around where the money would go.