o_18thitrba1dr417tbpqe1soiuvva.pdf

p48 :: Sport
Grassroots development cont from p46
emerging force.
Rugby development
There are several development initiatives under
way to grow rugby participation, which
was just under half a million registered players,
according to the last figures available
(www.irb.com). More than 300 000 players are
still at school, and nearly 18 000 are women.
This will be done through initiatives to help
improve club administration and performance
of rugby players.
“Club rugby is the lifeblood of the sport and
its administration plays a vital role in developing
rugby at grassroots level,” said Mervin
Green, South African Rugby Union (SARU) GM
Development, when the Clubwise programme
was launched in January this year.
He also said that if all clubs get to function
well, it would contribute hugely to successful
rugby development.
The ClubWise course, the first of its kind for
rugby club in administration, covers every aspect
of club administration — from goals and
governance to player and member welfare by
way of fund-raising, financials and marketing
and match-day activities.
The development of player performance at
According to figures from the IRB, there were more
than 300 000 rugby players at school level at the
end of 2006. Photo: Nicol du Toit.
all levels — even as young as U13 — will be
assisted with a new Footprint computer programme,
designed to capture each player’s
performance, so that it can be monitored
over the years. The tool was introduced at a
recent symposium held in Stellenbosch where
coaches from junior, provincial to national
team level could share ideas. This is a followup
to SARU’s HP Mobi-Unit introduced in 2013.
A new rugby academy has been launched to
develop young rugby players in the Boland.
It is expected that this academy will ensure
that a number of black young players are exposed
to top flight rugby.
The growth and development of the game is
not limited to South Africa. A conference was
recently held in Cape Town where development
and growing the game was top of the
agenda. The conference, which was part of the
IRB Development Strategy aimed at growing
rugby around the world, was attended by rugby
administrators from several African countries,
including Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar,
Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
A further development is bound to grow
rugby interest on the soccer-mad continent:
Kenya’s Tusker Simba XV will replace the Argentinian
Pampas in the Vodacom Cup.
This could create a new option for selling
replica shirts among expats.