How Rugby Football League and etrainu Achieve an 85% Completion Rate Across 4 Learning Pathways

With over 5,000 learners and an 85% course completion rate, the Rugby Football League’s (RFL) education strategy is seeing record engagement, thanks to its new partnership with etrainu.

RFL plays a crucial role in administering and developing the sport at all levels, from professional competitions to community and grassroots initiatives. This partnership will see RFL continue to enhance their education programs through etrainu’s dynamic Learning Management System (LMS). 

The etrainu platform is the central hub for RFL’s online learning and development.

Through etrainu, RFL is able to deliver four learning pathways and 11 courses readily available across 52 regions in the UK. These primarily focus on coaching courses for primary, youth, and adult age groups, such as the CoachRight courses, which are mandatory for all coaches involved in rugby league across England.

RFL engaged etrainu for custom course development, with topics exploring concussions and player development. RFL is already witnessing impressive learner engagement rates through this partnership, with over 5,000 learners adopting the platform and an average course completion rate of 85%. 

For context, industry benchmarks suggest that a 40% completion rate for online courses is an ‘excellent result’ (Uteach, 2024), which further highlights how remarkable the uptake of these learning pathways has been.

It’s clear that the platform and training materials have already resonated with RFL’s learners, particularly at the community/grassroots level—the most popular course being the Grassroots Concussion in Sport Guidance. This course had 6,371 enrolments and an average completion rate of 95%.

To further drive engagement and completion, RFL is taking advantage of etrainu’s integration partnership with GameDay. The integration enables RFL to simplify their membership management, acting as their primary data source for course enrollments, maintaining consistency, reducing manual entry, and streamlining the administrative process—further expanding RFL’s reach across the UK.

Through Single-Sign On (SSO), RFL members are seamlessly onboarded, automatically creating user accounts within the etrainu login portal—removing restrictions and facilitating rapid adoption by primary learners.

“Partnering with etrainu has enabled the Rugby Football League to overcome numerous challenges that we faced with our previous e-learning platform, and now we’re able to extend our reach and engagement with all our stakeholders,” says Richard Tunningley, Education Projects Manager at RFL.

“Switching to this new platform has allowed us to create more interactive, sport-specific eLearning, and their expert advice and hands-on approach has really supported us throughout this transition to enhance our learner journey experience.”

“We are now seeing our learner engagement grow, and completion rates have exceeded our expectations. Their commitment to our success has been evident throughout, with the etrainu team always going above and beyond to ensure our project's success.”

For etrainu, this partnership represented an opportunity to expand their global reach.

“It’s phenomenal to see such a strong uptick in learner adoption and course completions already, and we’re proud to be supporting Rugby Football League in achieving this milestone,” says Paul Hoon, CEO at etrainu. “Partnering with Rugby Football League represents the sport's growth locally and internationally, and we’re excited to be part of the movement to help coaches and volunteers develop at every level of the game.”‍

Initially, RFL will prioritise launching learning pathways to the thousands of coaches and volunteers across England to recognise and support their vital role in the sport’s operation and development. Looking ahead, further pathways are being explored to expand on more topics and support more roles within the sport, relating to professional game education and focusing on player development, high-performance coaching, refereeing development, and administrative or management aspects related to professional rugby league.

About Rugby Football League

The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body of rugby league in England. 

RFL plays a crucial role in administering, developing, and promoting the sport at all levels, from professional competitions, like the Super League and Challenge Cup, to community and grassroots initiatives.

RFL aims to encourage participation and excellence from junior clubs to amateur leagues and is dedicated to upholding the integrity and continued expansion of rugby league while supporting its clubs, players, officials, and fans.

About etrainu

etrainu are leaders in community education solutions. Through a sophisticated learning management system and engaging online courses, etrainu is changing the way we learn. Founded in 2007, etrainu has grown to over two million learners benefitting from hundreds of industry-tailored courses.

etrainu has partnered with some of the largest sports organisations in the world, including Working With Parents in Sport (WWPIS), Archery GB, Archery Ireland, UK Anti-Doping,  Football Australia, PGA Tour, Hockey Australia, Gymnastics Australia, and Surf Life Saving Australia.