Leeds Beckett University extends partnership with Rugby Football League for three years

The RFL held its annual Coaching, Performance and Medical Conference at Leeds Beckett University on September 8 2025, as part of the long-running and wide-ranging partnership with LBU which has now been extended by a further three years.

Through the partnership - one of the most established of its kind in world sport - the RFL and Rugby League will continue to benefit from access to LBU's world-class facilities, applied sports science services and ongoing collaborative research projects.

LBU will be the training base for England Women and the Men's Pathway for the next three-years, and will host the RFL's pitch-side emergency qualifications and other coaching, sports science and medical CPD courses for Rugby League.

As the RFL-LBU partnership continues, the team at LBU will continue to undertake research projects, which include:

• Injury surveillance across all levels of Rugby League, to reduce the risk of injuries
• The application of instrumented mouthguards, to quantify and reduced head acceleration events and concussion, as part of the TaCKLE (Tackle and Contact Kinematics, Load and Exposure) project
• The physical profiling of players, to support talent identification and development
• The match and training demands and characteristics of Super League as part of the RL-InSiGT (integrated study into game and training demands) project

Injury surveillance is established across all levels of the sport, and allows the RFL to identify the most common injuries, which then informs initiatives to reduce the risk to players. Concussions remain the most common injury in men's and women's Super League and the men's Academy, although the 2024 and 2025 season have seen a reduction across all levels of the game.

The second most common injuries are thigh, ankle and knee ligament injuries. The research team at LBU, the RFL, and staff from across Rugby League continue to work together to try and reduce the risk of injury for players.

The RFL and LBU started the TaCKLE project in 2021, which included a large-scale validation study of available instrumented mouthguards. LBU provide Prevent Biometrics custom-fit instrumented mouthguards to men’s and women’s Super League, and men’s Academy players. This allows the research team to monitor all head impacts and head acceleration events. This season also saw instrumented mouthguards used by some Wheelchair Rugby League players for the first time.

The data from instrumented mouthguards allow medical staff to identify players who have experienced a high magnitude impact or a number of large impacts across the season, to ensure they can be appropriately managed.

As part of the England Rugby League PaCE (Player and Coach Education) days, all Women’s Super League and men’s Academy players now visit LBU annually to have a comprehensive physical testing profile undertaken.

This project is in collaboration with Hawkins Dynamics, providing the team with access to advanced biomechanics equipment and insights. Clubs and players are provided with benchmark data, identifying strengths and areas for development.

The PaCE sessions are also an opportunity for Stuart Barrow (Head of Female Pathways) and Paul Anderson (Head of Male Pathways) to work with all the coaches and players across the game.

The demands of matches and training are routinely analysed to evaluate the impact of any rule changes, as well as evaluate player performance. All Super League players have Catapult Sports player-tracking devices, provided by LBU. These devices accurately measure the movements players are undertaking. The research team at LBU analyse these data, as part of the RL-InSiGT project, which provides key information to optimise player performance.

This league-wide project is one of the longest-standing projects of its kind in world sport, having started in 2018 with an agreement through to 2029. This allows Rugby League to gain unique insights into the sport.

Tony Sutton, the RFL Chief Executive who also chairs the RFL's Brain Health Sub-Committee, said: "The RFL and Leeds Beckett University have a long-standing relationship, which continues to allow both organisations to benefit from each other's expertise and knowledge. We're really pleased to extend the partnership not only covering research, but also the applied sports science services and access to facilities for our England teams, and also the broader sport."

Peter Mackreth Leeds Beckett University, Dean of the Carnegie School of Sport added: "It's important our university makes an impact, and the partnership with the RFL is a great example of what can be achieved when we work together. Rugby League is at the heart of the community we serve. We are really proud that our research continues to inform decisions made by the RFL, and also that we have the best Rugby League players in the country, if not the world, based on our campus for their training."

LBU's Professor Ben Jones, also RFL Head of Performance Science and Research, said: "The investment and commitment that both the RFL and Leeds Beckett University have made to this partnership allows it to thrive as one of the most established across world sport. We've been able to continue undertaking innovative studies to inform the RFL welfare and performance strategy, which has only been possible because both organisations work closely together. We've also been able to establish strong relationships with sports technology companies, such are Prevent Biometrics, Catapult Sports and Hawkins Dynamics, who provide us with access to scientifically validated data, which drive our insights."