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Martin Birmingham is a man who is absolutely passionate about rugby league - in fact, so much so that he wants to start a rugby league appreciation group in the Helderberg. Martin, who is himself a former rugby league player, hails from England and has been coming to South Africa and Somerset West, where he stays for about six months of the year, for the last 18 years.

He says he played rugby league in the UK, France, Australia and New Zealand for about 19 seasons and still has connections with several overseas rugby league clubs such as the Leeds Rhinos and Brisbane Broncos.

"I thought it may be a good idea to see if anyone else in the Helderberg area was interested in rugby league and in watching overseas league matches on DVD somewhere together. "If it takes off and the interest here grows, we may even be able to stage exhibition matches and hold clinics. Who knows?"

According to Martin, South Africa is the only rugby union country in the world that does not play rugby league as well.

He added that he also found it strange that there was no TV coverage of the sport in this country either.

"I think that the type of rugby that Western Province and the Stormers play would serve them well in rugby league and it would be interesting to see how they would adapt to this code.

"It has never really been tried in South Africa and I believe that many South African clubs could benefit from the game, especially defence wise. I think that if South Africans took to the game in a big way, they would do very well."

He said that some of the differences between the two codes are: there are 13 players in rugby league, the numbering of the players is different, the scrums worked in a 3-2-1 configuration, there is no rucking and mauling, four points were awarded for a try, two for a penalty, two for a conversion and one for a point.

Also there is the six tackle rule which means that if the opposition is tackled six times they must give possession of the ball to their opponents.

Martin explained that the game originated as a working class game in Yorkshire in 1895 and still today has very traditional and rich club traditions in this area.

He says the game is still huge in Northern England and has a massive following with TV networks giving it a lot of coverage. The game moved to Australia in 1907 and to New Zealand shortly afterwards.

"The biggest TV games are the state of origin series and the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley," he says.

To find out more about rugby league check out the following websites: world of rugby league.com, NRL.com and SARL.com.

If anyone is interested in watching rugby league DVD's with Martin or starting a Rugby League Appreciation Society, phone him on 076 471 7563.

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