“If you want to compare what our men’s rugby team has done in footballing terms, it is like winning CONCACAF. That’s what we have achieved and we have done it six times in a row but we cannot take it to another level unless we get substantial support.”
President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), Kit Nascimento made this point during a press conference on Friday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) building while reporting on the latest achievement of the national rugby team.
The men’s Sevens rugby team copped its sixth consecutive North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) title in Barbados last weekend by demolishing the Cayman Islands 29 to nil. The team was unbeaten throughout the championships and was so dominant that it scored 204 points while only conceding 14 points in six games.
As a result of winning the tournament, the local ruggers are eligible to represent the region in the Hong Kong tournament.
The Hong Kong tournament which will feature the best 24 rugby teams in the world is the most prestigious of the World Sevens Series events and will take place in March next year.
Nascimento intimated that the International Rugby Board (IRB) will sponsor the team’s airfare and accommodation but the ancillary costs will have to be covered by the GRFU.
The GRFU president added that Guyana has dominated the regional level, but the team needs to do the same on the world stage.
Nascimento said that in order to further develop, the players need to compete regularly at international tournaments but the only way that can happen is by support and sponsorship.
“When I look at the results at the Pan Am Games and I look at the results of our participation in Las Vegas in February earlier this year and we compare them with the strength of victory in the regional championships we see the gap that we have to bridge. There is only one way we can bridge that gap successfully, it is with sufficient government and corporate Guyana support to allow us to play regularly at that level.”
Nascimento highlighted that the men’s team should participate in at least two world class tournaments before they participate in the Hong Kong Championships but intervention by the government will be needed.
“We should participate in at least two high level tournaments to bring us up to a competitive level and there are only two tournaments that I am aware of for us to participate in, one is in Punte de Este, Uruguay in January and one in Canada but we are talking about expenditure of $US60,000 or more if we are going to participate in those tournaments… we simply do not have these resources.”
Nascimento opined that while the other Caribbean teams do not get financial rewards from rugby; their respective governments support them in every other way that is possible.
“They get support in the form of being equipped. They get support in the form of administrative professional help and they get financial support to play competitive rugby at the international level,” he said.
The GRFU boss thanked the IRB, the Government of Guyana, Beharry Group of Companies and also other sponsors for making their participation at the Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico last month and the NACRA championships in Barbados possible.
Director of Sevens, Mike McCormack, also mentioned that more needs to be done for rugby players and the sport of rugby in Guyana.
“We must recognize the contribution that makes the achievements in rugby in Guyana so significant – first of all the players receive virtually nothing for the efforts they make, there is no stipend, there is no per diems, there is just no money in it for them,” he said.
McCormack further added that the players are outfitted with gear and equipment with money out of their own pockets.
“The training that is required for high intensity rugby requires the players to virtually devote their lives, so every day they are in the park months before these competitions and they provide their own kits, their own boots and what they get out of it is essentially pride but nothing financial or material and that needs now to change.”
McCormack also recognized the work that is done by men’s coach and player Theodore Henry, women’s coach Alton Agard, fitness trainer Barry Brown, physiotherapist Ariane Mangar and the administrative team, all of whom are unpaid.
Also at the briefing was team manager John Lewis, captain Ryan Gonsalves, women’s team manager Peter Campayne and player/coach Theodore Henry.
