Rhodes Knights Rugby League is an amateur Greek

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club from

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Knights compete in the Greek Rugby League Association's 2017 Championship, which are currently in first place. They competed and were declared undefeated champions of 2014 and 2015 Hellenic Rugby League Federation's 1st Championship Division and 2016 Greek Rugby League Association's Championship. They are 2015 Greek Rugby League Challenge Cup holders.

History

The club was founded in 2010 as a

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club. Their motto ″aut inveniam viam aut faciam″ became the spirit of the club upon its creation. Club's main goals are to play a leading role in the Greek league and in amateur sports in general. Knights have participated in many social activities not restricted to the sport and thus aspire to familiarize people with Rugby. Also, their main objective is to restore the principles of fair play through sport and the promotion of Rhodes as an active and dynamic cultural center, open to stimuli received from the alternative sports tourism. In 2012, Knights were joined by players of the Rhodes Colossi team and, by the provisional name of ''Rhodian Rugby Unity'', were admitted in the Hellenic Rugby League Championship. In 2013, Knights won the Greek Rugby League 9's Championship and by 2014, they won, undefeated, the inaugural Hellenic Rugby League Championship. The 2015 season found Rhodes Knights still strong in the field. By May 2015, despite dominating all of their opponents, the Federation's Disciplinary Committee have found Knights susceptible to a number of violations, which ultimately resulted in their demotion to second-to-last place of the Championship's points board. Under the threat of disbanding the Federation and within days of Hellenic Rugby League Championship's Final set date, Disciplinary Committee dismissed Knights for the majority of violations. But by then, Knights, along with Aris Petroupolis and Pegasus Neos Kosmos, had formally resigned from the Hellenic Rugby League Federation, as well as the 1st Division Championship, submitting a no confidence vote to the current Hellenic Rugby League Federation Board and demanding the resignation of the HRLF Board. Pegasus were declared Champions due to the inability of hosting a final game. Still, in May 2015, Knights hosted with the majority of Pegasus's team that had resigned the Greek Rugby League Challenge Cup. On May 30, 2015, Pegasus, under the name

Attica Rhinos Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

were defeated by Rhodes Knights. In 2016, Knights and Patron Achaikos Athletic Club - Patras Rugby co-create

Greek Rugby League Association The Greek Rugby League Federation (GRLF), formerly Greek Rugby League Association (GRLA), has been governing body for the sport of rugby league football in Greece since 2017. Officially eecognised as Federation from the Greek Ministry of Sports in ...

, due to the inability of the former Hellenic Rugby League Federation to successfully host the Championship, as an aftermath to previous year's discrepancies. Joined by Attica Rhinos and Aris Eagles, they host the 1st GRLA 2016 Championship, which Rhodes Knights win undefeated. In October 2016, Knights host the Rhodes 8's Rugby League Tournament, which featured all four GRLA teams and were joined by the teams of Australian Greeks, Rhodes Knights B-Team, and Kadıköy Ragbi Spor Kulübü Club. Australian Greeks won the 8's tournament in the final game against Kadıköy and Rhodes Knights B won third place against Aris Eagles. The following days, Rhodes hosted a Rugby XIII International Friendly Match between Greek Nationals of GRLA and Turkish Nationals of Turkish Rugby League Association. In a stunning clash, GRLA's players won their Turkish counterparts, with a commanding appearance. Rhodes Knights were represented in the GRLA National Team by a number of players, including Nikolaos Bosmos, Stefanos Bastas, Dimosthenis Kartsonakis, Georgios Tsiakos, Panayiotis Lampousis, Antonios Chatzimarkos, Spiridon Kigais and Pantelis Arfaras. In 2017, Greek Rugby League Association were granted observer status by

Rugby League European Federation The European Rugby League (ERL) is the umbrella body for nations playing the sport of rugby league football across Europe. In the absence of other continental federations, ERL also controls rugby league in North America (including Central America ...

and was licensed by RLEF and

Rugby League International Federation The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

as the sole Greek Organization for conducting matches, competitions and technical courses in the sport of Rugby League. Rhodes Knights compete in the 2017 GRLA Championship, which are currently in first position and they will defend their title in the June 2017 Final.

Colours

Club's jerseys have been mainly black, as were the colours of the

Hospitaller Knights The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

of Medieval Rhodes. Up until 2014, jerseys have had white

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...

es on their right main side and left shoulder aera. Shorts were black and white. Since 2014, the club is using black jerseys with a red and white "V" around the collar, with a white cross on the right arm, and black shorts.

Emblem

Since 2014, Rhodes Knights are using the red-detailed shield-shaped emblem displaying a Hospitaller knight, the characteristic white cross and year of establishment.

Players

Current squad

References

External links

* *{{Facebook, rhodesknightsrl 2010 establishments in Greece Amateur rugby league Rugby union teams in Greece Rugby clubs established in 2010 Sport in Rhodes Rugby league teams Euro XIII