There’s a fantastic background to the Emerging Nations World Championship logo you may have seen floating around online – one that deserves a story of its own.
While the Rugby League international Federation is yet to officially publicise it, several confirmed participants in the 2018 ENWC tournament have shared the logo online.
Embodying the diversity of the event, the centrepiece of the logo – six coloured hands inside the distinctive markings of a Steeden ball – was conceived by a rugby league-playing refugee from El Salvador.
And he just so happens to celebrate his birthday today!
Daniel Godinez arrived in Australia as a childhood refugee after being born in El Salvador’s capital of San Salvador.
Along with siblings and cousins, he spent several months in Villawood Immigration Centre, before his family was settled and he became a lifelong fan of the St George Illawarra Dragons.
In his youth he played for Arncliffe Scots, in several Dragons junior representative games and was leading try-scorer when El Salvador made its debut at the Cabramatta International Rugby League Nines in 2015.
He has since become president of Latin American Rugby League (Latin Heat), an organisation which promotes the sport through 24 countries in South and Central America.
Godinez suggested the six-handed logo in December 2016 as a means of representing multiculturalism, cooperation and the many hands of volunteers around the world who help grow the sport.
Naturally, the significance of six hands is because the sport is now played across six continents, but each hand does not necessarily represent a continent of its own.
The blue at the top left corner represents the water that binds the North Atlantic and Mediterranean regions.
Alongside it, the black hand represents Africa and the Middle East, being a predominant shade used on flags from both regions.
The purple hand represents nobility and the emergence of Asia in the sport, in particular being synonymous with Thailand, one of the confirmed participants in ENWC 2018.
Across the bottom of the logo, the red hand represents the vibrancy and passion of Latin America.
The green and yellow hands positioned alongside each other in the southern position are a tribute to both Australia as ENWC host and the tournament’s inaugural champions, the Cook Islands.
The corners of the logo clearly denote the Steeden football which is popularised by rugby league throughout the world, but are also coloured royal blue as a nod to England, being original custodians of the game.
