Which sporting event between two clubs has attracted the biggest crowd in Scotland this year? It is a question that will catch out many sports enthusiasts.

In fact, the St Helens v Wigan Rugby League Challenge Cup final at Murrayfield brought in 62,140 spectators. Only the Scottish Rugby Union team’s Six Nations matches at the same stadium have been witnessed by more people.

Admittedly, the majority of those spectators had flooded into Edinburgh from south of the border. However, with rugby league’s showpiece now having been staged twice in Scotland since the closure of Wembley, there is fresh interest here in the sport.

The Scottish Rugby League has been quick to realise the opportunity for expanision. It has a full-time development officer, Mark Senter (a South African born Yorkshireman), and is starting to stretch its tentacles.

There are eight clubs in the Scottish league (Edinburgh Eagles, Clyde Buccaneers, Glasgow Bulls, Dunbartonshire Dragons, Uddingston Storm, Portobello Playboys, Fife Lions and Border Raiders) and the season opens tomorrow.

But it is at beginners’ level that the game is starting to regroup. Mr Senter has overseen a successful development programme in Glasgow schools which now has been running for just over a year. Concentrating on three areas, Castlemilk, Easterhouse and PollokNitshillArden, children as young as P3 from 20 primary schools have been involved so far.

In the Castlemilk area, 680 primary children have been introduced to the sport and 150 have gone on to play in after-school clubs and a weekend league, which illustrates their degree of interest.

The children play a modified version of the 13-a-side game but there is not much difference between that and the full game. At school, the children play 10-a-side and there is no kicking.

The Easterhouse project is linked to Bosco Juniors, a youth project in the area which was looking for an alternative activity to football. The Rugby League has offered a six-week programme for P5-P7 children and it is hoped that a junior rugby league club will emerge.

The project at Pollok, Nitshill and Arden is the newest of the three and hopes to interest more than 30 primary schools, first introducing P6 and P7 pupils to the game and then P4s and P5s.

In addition to going into schools, organisers of the projects held a skills camp for each area during the Easter break.

“The response in Glasgow has been phenomenal,” says Mr Senter. “We now have 14 after-school teams playing regularly.

“I believe the raw talent is there. In the past six months, we have identified three or four players in the Glasgow area who could definitely progress to our under-12 world class programme.

“We have been working mainly with primary school children but there are now S1-S2 children playing at Castlemilk High, which the primary schools are feeding into.”

A problem for developing the sport is the lack of grass pitches in Glasgow, Mr Senter says. “We’ve had a bit of help from Scottish Football Association development officers who have found us some pitches, but there are no handy rugby pitches to use.”

The plan now is to take the development model to other parts of Scotland. Mr Senter is confident he will be able to open a few doors in Edinburgh, which has stronger rugby traditions than Glasgow, albeit in another version of the sport.

Wardie Primary is already feeding into the Edinburgh Eagles, which has set up an under-11 section. An approach is to be made to Edinburgh City Council and Sportscotland to help with getting the game into more primary schools in the capital.

Mr Senter also wants to encourage the game back to Aberdeen, where Scottish Rugby League has its roots. “It was played by students in Aberdeen but the key people were only there a short time and then moved on and the game stopped. I would love to get it started again there,” he says.

Mr Senter is the only full-time development officer for the sport but hopes that within three years another two will be recruited. For the present, he is concerned with qualifying as many club coaches as possible. He is keen to involve parents and teachers and recently received a pound;4,600 grant from Sportscotland to improve on coach education. In the past six months around 20 coaches have been recruited and Mr Senter anticipates there could be as many as 50 qualified coaches before the end of the year.

Mr Senter has no doubts that the game will flourish in Scotland if a proper structure can be set in place. Much will depend on getting it right at schools level.

“In five years, I hope there is a structure in place for the young players to feed into. I want the best players at the age of 11-12 to have a rugby league club they can join where they can progress.

“We need to define clear pathways. I want to create rugby players for rugby league teams and not players to play rugby union.”