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Coventry Bears are gearing up for a spike in Rugby League interest following this year’s Ladbrokes Four Nations tournament.

The League One club are hoping to benefit when Australia take on New Zealand and England meet Scotland in an international Rugby League double-header at the Ricoh Arena on November 5.

Alan Robinson, owner and managing director at Coventry Bears, said: “It will be a historic first to have two games of such magnitude being held in Coventry, it will be great to see that as a city we are able to hold these events and embrace all different types of sport.

“We hope the event will raise awareness for our club in the city. The games will be a real milestone for the sport in the city and help us build on our own success and the steady year-on-year progress we are making.

“It will show people that there is a pathway to play Rugby League and we will be running some skills and drills in the fan-zone with information on our new season membership and how people can get involved in our community programmes.”

The club will celebrate the tournament coming to Coventry by holding The Bears 5’s 4 Nations Schools Festival, as part of Coventry Bears’ touch rugby pilot “Bears 5’s” - two days before the international teams take to the field at the Ricoh Arena.

The Bears turned semi-professional in 2015, 18 years after Alan set-up the club in 1998 – they still remain the only professional rugby league club in the Midlands.

The club started life at Coventry Rugby’s former ground Coundon Road with just one team, but now has multiple teams and its own community initiative ‘Bears in the Community’.

The community scheme runs the RFL Sky Try programme in over a dozen schools across the city alongside other community projects to develop the sport in the city.

Bears were joined by rugby union’s Wasps in the city in 2014 and alongside Coventry Rugby club and Engage! Coventry, started the initiative to establish Coventry as the City of Rugby by 2023.

Alan says that hosting the rivalry double-header will strengthen Coventry’s push to be a worldwide leading city for every variation, and at every level, of the game.

“This international event should definitely help with creating a legacy and it will be huge in raising the profile of the city initiative as the City of Rugby – something that we are really looking to push on with,” he said.

“The Ricoh Arena is a great venue for the day, it is accessible and hosting it in an arena of that size will show the potential of how big the sport can be.

“After the Four Nations Rugby League in the city is only going to get better.”

Tickets for the tournament are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk .