The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) will shortly embark on a comprehensive four-year programme which will include bidding to host a major regional women’s tournament, acquiring its own ground and administrative office and working towards qualifying for the 2009 World Cup Sevens championships in Dubai.
President of the GRFU, Noel Adonis, in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport, said that 2008 would be a hectic year for local players and officials which will get cracking as early as February when at least five local players named on a West Indies 12-man team travel to San Diego, United States of America (USA) for the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Seven Series.
The five players, Albert La Rose, Claudius Butts, Theodore Henry, Kevin McKenzie and Richard Staglon, were this week named to the regional team following their successful showing at the North American and West Indies Association (NAWIRA) Sevens championships in the Bahamas recently and subsequent trial sessions in Trinidad.
Two Guyanese players Ronald Mayers and Dane Park were also named as reserves. According to Adonis, the local body has submitted a bid to host the regional women’s 15-a-side tournament in May 2008 and he noted that it would be a significant step towards the development of women’s rugby in Guyana and the wider Caribbean region. “We have put in a bid to host the regional women’s tournament and it will be an achievement not only for rugby but also for women’s sport in Guyana in general and a significant in the wider Caribbean region,” Adonis said.
He said that this year the GRFU had worked on formulating its four-year plan in keeping with the International Rugby Board (IRB) and some of the key areas will be the acquisition of a rugby ground and club house as part of a short to long-term plan.
“While we have access to the National Park rugby field it is still not a ground dedicated to rugby alone, we have to compete with others so we are now in the process of identifying a ground. We also want to establish a club house and office.” The top rugby official disclosed.
Adonis said that Sevens matches were very popular and the soon-to-be-acquired ground must be large enough to hold two fields so that matches could be played simultaneously. Asked if the proposed venue would be located in Georgetown, Adonis said that it may not necessarily be located in the city but what was needed was close access. Guyana’s men rugby Seven’s team, two-time winners of the NAWIRA Sevens tournament, will be looking to be third time lucky at next year’s tournament which has at stake places for the top two teams to represent the region at the Sevens World Cup in Dubai in 2009.
Adonis admitted that it would be a tough task for the local players as the United States and Canada would be sending full strength teams but opined that the Guyanese players would be equal to the task.
“The local players were a step above all the other teams in technique and physical condition at this year’s competition in the Bahamas,” he pointed out.
Guyana men’s teams are expected to also participate in the Regional 15s tournament in the Cayman Islands – qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Under-20 World Cup qualification series in July at a venue to be decided and the Carib Sevens in Trinidad and Tobago in December, all of which are major tournaments on next year’s regional circuit. According to Adonis, 2007 was a very successful year for the GRFU with the men’s team winning the NAWIRA Sevens, while the junior squad just missed out on qualifying for the Junior World Cup following a close final with Jamaica where they lost in a penalty shootout.
“The women did not perform so well in the Seven’s tournament in The Bahamas, they played well on the first day but fell away on the second day. So we have to work on the fitness level and build on the players’ confidence for future tournaments,” Adonis said.
It was also a successful year for the officials with Alton Agard attending a one-month coaching development programme in the United Kingdom where he was exposed to coaching university and school teams and differently-abled children during his stay.
National senior coach, Sherlock Solomon, attended a one-month IRB Staff Development Course in the Cayman Islands, top local rugby referees instructor, Terrence Grant, attended a Referees Educators Course in Canada in November where he was successful, while referee, Conrad Arjoon, was involved in a two-day workshop for officials prior to the Sevens tournament in Nassau. Local referees and touch judges were also exposed to a workshop organized by the GRFU.
The GRFU also hosted two student coaches from the United Kingdom for six weeks and hosted Caribbean Cougars rugby team from the United States and Trinidad and Tobago Enthusiasts in capping off a successful 2007.