When Milan Mrtýnek watched his first rugby league match in Yorkshire, England, last year, his response was immediate: He knew he had to bring the sport to the Czech Republic.

"We went there, and it was an excellent experience — a nice summer day, a full stadium," Mrtýnek said. "Straightaway, it had a small place in my heart."

Mrtýnek is championing rugby league, which is a faster and more attacking game than another version of the sport, rugby union, because league players don't contest possession after a tackle, in a country more familiar with the latter.

He is the general secretary of the Czech Association of Rugby League and the manager of the Czech Development XIII, the country's first team that is currently training and competing in friendly matches in hopes of entering the international stage of the sport in the coming years.

The squad faced off in its first friendly matches against the Great Britain Student Rugby League Chairman's XIII, also known as The Pioneers, July 9.

It will next travel to Rotterdam to play against the Netherlands "Tasman" XIII Aug. 4 and take on Serbia in the first international rugby league game played in the Czech Republic a week later, Aug. 12.

"Although we are not competing in any tournaments yet, and the upcoming game against Serbia will only be a friendly, it will be a landmark for rugby league in this country," said Mrtýnek, who is a former player and coach in the Czech rugby union league.

Impressive debut

The games against The Pioneers were an encouraging debut for the team, a squad of players born and raised in the Czech Republic who have considerable experience with rugby union. The team has only been training under rugby league rules since the winter, and though it lost the first of a two-game series 29–8, Mrtýnek said he considered it a win for the sport.

"It was the first principal step for the rugby league's development in this country, and it showed that we have great potential," he said.

Not knowing how prepared the squad would be, the two teams agreed to play by slightly different rules in the first game. Instead of competing in two 40-minute halves, the teams faced off in four periods of 20 minutes.

"We didn't know what to expect," Mrtýnek said. "But the British players came here more to teach than to compete."

Dave Roberson, coach of The Pioneers, said after the game that the Czechs proved they had promise.

"I was very impressed with the structure and discipline shown by the Czechs," he said. "The GB Student Pioneers know they have been in a game, and any neutral observer wouldn't have thought that this was the first game the opposition have played."

Not a rivalry

Rugby union, which has a decades-old history here, differs from rugby league in that it has 15 players, as opposed to rugby league's 13.

The sport also goes by the "play the ball" rule. Roughly comparable to "downs" in American football, rugby league teams have six attempts to take the ball down the field.

"In rugby union, you have to release the ball when you're tackled," Kevin Rudd, first development officer for the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF), explained earlier this summer to Prague TV. "In rugby league, you keep hold of it, and you have six tackles to score. On the sixth tackle, if you haven't scored, you kick it to the opposition, and they come back to you, whereas in rugby union, it can be continuous possession."

In this country, rugby league will complement rugby union, not compete with it, Mrtýnek said.

"We want to have it as an alternative during the summer months, when the rugby union season is over," he said.

While rugby union has about 3,000 players here, only 35 athletes are now involved in rugby league. About 75 percent of those players have a background in rugby union, Mrtýnek said.

To minimize a possible rivalry between the sports, Mrtýnek said he will not poach elite rugby union players.

"We're focusing on second- or third-division players and then on the youngsters," he said.

Rugby league in Europe is governed by the RLEF. Next summer, a mini-league of rugby league teams should be formed here, and the Czech team hopes to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup 2008.