Wales Rugby League have appointed the very experienced Paul Chambers as their new National Development Manager, replacing Idris Evans who left the post late last year.

Chambers, 49, will start his new fulltime role on Monday March 12 and be responsible for growing the sport in Wales across all regions, delivering upon the WRL National Strategy and ensuring the relatively young National Governing Body at twelve years old takes the next stage in its development, Download NDM Job Description here.

Originally from Coventry, Chambers attended Warwick School and initially played rugby league at Brunel University alongside current RFL National Player Development Manager Dave Rotherham before becoming a PE Teacher in 1990 in Middlesex and played semi-professionally with London Broncos before they were elevated into Super League.

He left for Australia in 1999 and only returned to the UK in early 2016. Whilst in Australia, he held many educational roles including teaching at St Paul’s College in Manly and then becoming Head of Sport at Bishop Druitt College.

In 2011, he began working fulltime with the NRL as their Coach Education Development Manager, working extensively in North Coast of New South Wales before moving to Brisbane and continuing with the same role in the south of the Queensland capital.

In 2014, he left to teach at Alexandra Hills High School as their Rugby League Development Coordinator which included coaching with a number of Brisbane Broncos Elite Player Development Squads as well as coaching representative sides at under 15 and 18 levels in Queensland.

From April 2016 until December 2017, he worked as the Sport Development Manager at SportTherm and Athletic Mind and was based on the Isle of Wight. There he managed a team of staff in designing and delivering programmes in CrossFit Coaching, Strength and Conditioning Coaching, Sports Coaching and Teaching amongst others.

Chambers, who has a number of related qualifications and is currently towards the end of his Masters in Sports Coaching, said “I am very excited to be offered this great opportunity to manage the next phase of Rugby League development in Wales. I will look to build on the work that Idris has done over the last few years and implement my own vision and values to the role. I will use the experience and knowledge that I have gained working for the NRL in NSW and Queensland to lead and grow the game to even bigger and better levels”

Wales Rugby League CEO Chris Thair said: “We had a number of very strong applicants however Paul’s experience and skillset shone through meaning we are all very excited about what he will bring to the organisation. The continued financial support from the RFL and Sport Wales means we can put employed posts into developing rugby league and we thank both partners. There are a lot of wonderful people involved in rugby league in Wales who volunteer and give up a great deal of their time to make a difference to their communities. It is always nice when someone new joins the family and we all look forward to working with Paul on continuing to progress the sport here in Wales.”