Rochdale clean sweep

2012 Rochdale International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival

The winners of the 2012 Rochdale International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival were the Rochdale Cobras.

The Cobras came second last year, but this year managed to move to the top by defeating local rivals Littleborough 2-1 in the final.

Both sides topped their respective groups and were worthy finalists. The difference on the day was the Most Valuable Player winner, Ryan Tetley.

The 2012 Rugby League Festival saw the local sides take all the spoils, in a great advertisement for a non-contact version of the game.

Channel 4 filmed the festival, as part of a documentary about Rochdale Hornets and the Rochdale Rugby League community. Undoubtedly, all those that took part and are featured on the programme were proud to represent the sport and Rochdale.

The last minute change of venue resulted in a re-organisation of the whole event, however, players took this in their stride and it did not affect the level of play.

After the teams played in group stages, they moved onto knock out stages, which culminated in a series of finals. The event finished with a presentation at the Flying Horse Hotel, in which the teams received their respective awards.

Emily Wynn of the Rochdale Swarm said: "The Swarm would like to thank everyone who helped and took part in this year’s event and already the planning for next year is in motion, as we continue this Rochdale success story".

Awards went to:

Plate Winners:
After 4 years of trying, host team The Rochdale Swarm finally broke their silverware duck after beating the Cobra Girls and the Cobra Youth in a three-way play off. The game against the Cobra Youth went to golden point and the Swarm finally crossed the white wash to lift the Plate award.

Shield Award:
The Shield winners were the Flying Horse in the clash of the MAD Taggers, when they took the spoils from Yorkshire side Queensbury MAD Taggers. To illustrate the evenness of the competition, this final also went to golden point and could have gone either way.

Trophy Winners:
The Trophy went to Festival Debutants the Whitworth Spartans. The Spartans ran out winners against the Dewsbury Delights in another evenly contested final. The Spartans victory was even more impressive, given they arrived late and had to play several games back to back in order to catch up.

Spirit of the Festival Award:
Father and son duo, Stuart and Luke Nutley won the award which goes to the team or individual who best embraces what the festival is about. They worked tirelessly all day to make sure that everything was set up and that everything ran smoothly.