RFL backs Wilkin's £30m funding plea to Burnham

The new head of English rugby league backs a call for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to approve a £30m community funding plan for the sport. Jon Wilkin played 10 times for England between 2004 and 2011, and six times for Great Britain in 2006 and 2007 The new head of English rugby league has backed a call for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to approve a £30m five-year community funding plan for the sport. Former England international Jon Wilkin has appealed directly to Burnham and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, both rugby league fans, to pledge government money to a rugby league-based social impact project. Ian Nolan, the new chief executive of the Rugby Football League, has supported Wilkin's plea, issued on BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday.

Wilkin wants Burnham and Nandy to follow the lead of Australia's government, which in July announced it was committing A$250m (£130m), external over 10 years to the Pacific Rugby League Partnership. That initiative is designed to help create sporting, educational and employment opportunities in Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, and is being led by the Australian Rugby League Commission – the sport's national governing body. Wilkin has argued that a similar plan for the north of England would benefit deprived communities. He said: "Australia has recognised rugby league's potential as a vehicle