The Guyana Rugby Football Union schools programme has not yet succeeded in bringing new females to the sport, according to President of the GRFU, Colonel (ret’d) John Lewis.
Lewis said that there is an urgent need for females if Guyana is to be competitive in fifteen-a-side rugby.
Guyana, he said, has not been playing fifteen-a-side female rugby for some time, but there are plans to restart it.
Having a large pool of fifteen-a-side players will aid in the selection of teams to compete in regional and international tournaments.
“We have got to start attracting new players who are interested in learning the game because if we go into fifteen-a-side, we need at least two clubs. We have Hornets and Caribs but at the moment I don’t think they can field a fifteen-a-side.”
The ongoing community rugby programme has attracted some females, “but not in the numbers we would want, but the girls do turn out to our Saturday community programme, not as many as the boys because it is usually two to one. But girls do come in small numbers.”
The retired Colonel said there is an urgent need to get the sport into secondary schools, in order to recruit bigger girls with the ability to pick up the game faster.
