The NRL has been officially recognised on the international stage for their School to Work Program at the annual Beyond Sport Awards in London.

The NRL's School to Work Program was recognised for its success in providing increased opportunities, through Rugby League, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to access quality programs aimed at closing the gap between Indigenous and other Australians across key social indicators such as education, employment and health.

Beyond Sport is the peak global organisation with the sole focus of demonstrating how sport can play an active role in sustainable social change. They deliver the Beyond Sport Awards annually to reward the best projects across the globe that use sport for positive social change.

The NRL's General Manager of Indigenous Strategy, Mark deWeerd, was in London to accept the prestigious award on behalf of the NRL.

"It's great recognition for all the hard work that our team put in, but more importantly the opportunities that we are able to provide young people across Australia through the School to Work program, especially in the Indigenous community," deWeerd said.

The success of the program would not have been possible without the support from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, each of the NRL clubs currently involved in the program's delivery and the hard working School to Work team.

The annual event is also well supported by other major sporting organisations and individual teams from across the global including Major League Baseball (MLB), Arsenal FC (EPL), Detroit Pistons (NBA), FC Barcelona (La Liga) & San Francisco Giants (MLB), amongst others.

Click here for more information on the School to Work Program

NRL School to Work Team

• Kristian Heffernan

• Ainslie Regan

• Shaun Humphries

• Daniel Holdsworth

• Andrew Fraser

• Nathan Lovett

• Peter Robinson

• Jason Solomon