Presenting the Lough Leane trophy.

Hand crafted in Killarney, Ireland. It will be the X-League World Cup trophy for this weekend’s X-League FOWC event and the following five X-League World Cup competitions. Named after Lough Leane – the largest of the three lakes of Killarney, in County Kerry.

The man behind the design and delivery of the shield is James Purcell, (jamespurcelldesign.com) a Killarney based artist, who has worked extensively with the X-League steering group to capture the origin and spirit of X-League in the carved wood.

X-League Chair, Des Foy said of the trophy, “It is a fantastic design and it mirrors some of the key characteristics of X-League, we have named it after Lough Leane, “the lake of learning” to signify that X-League is first and foremost a learning game for all regardless of experience and ability, the wood is full of character which we like to believe our community is, the shields have space for both the international and regional World Cup winners, to show our inclusiveness, and it has been developed in the heart of Kerry much like X-League itself, a huge thank you to James for all his hard work on this piece”

The first contenders for the trophy are the X-League test nations England, Ireland and Scotland who will play a triangular tournament on Friday night, and the X-League Regional teams that will play a ten team competition on saturday featuring teams from all over the heartlands of Rugby League and many from outside including, the South of England, a Scottish team and a team representing the Irish province Munster.