PANJIM: The Goa Rugby unveiled the official men’s and women’s team and jersey for the 10th All-India National Touch Rugby Championships 2016 during a glittering ceremony held in a city hotel, in Panjim, on Thursday.
All India National Touch Rugby Championships will be held from December 27-29, at Raipur, Chattisgarh. The event is organised by Federation of International Touch, Touch Rugby Federation of India and Chattisgarh Touch.
The Goa squad on their debut will have an opportunity of being selected for the Indian team for the Youth World Cup 2018 to be held in Malaysia and World Cup 2019 to be held in Malaysia.
For Anish Quenim, President of Goa Rugby and Goa Touch, the main objective was to create a new breed of young ruggers; to promote a rugby culture and to give rugby its due as a sport to Goa. The first step was to get the youngsters familiar with the rules of the game through the Touch Rugby’ format the kind where touch or tug at the shirt replaces a full-blooded tackle, thus exercising focus on the technical aspect of the game.
“The Touch Rugby talent that Goa has is awesome. But we have not been able to put a label to that talent. But now we look forward to doing that at Raipur, by giving in our best and hopefully emerge winners,” said Anish.
The sport was introduced in Goa just 3 years ago and now has over 5000 players of all ages, boys, girls and youth in over 100 schools, communities and clubs throughout the State.
“ A team of 15 men and 15 women will be heading for the nationals. We have support staff of two managers, one for each team. We also have two coaches accompanying the men’s and women’s team. The total Goa Touch Rugby squad will be of 34,” informed Anish.
Belinda Trotter, who is an Ex Wales International player and Manager of the Wales international team, is the coach for women’s rugby in Goa. David Trotter and Belinda Trotter are two coaches who have been helpingin developing the sport in Goa.
David Trotter who has been a rugby player for the past 30 years heads the coaching and other activities related to men’s development and Belinda an international rugby player with 26 caps heads the Women’s coaching activities in the State.
“Goa has an excellent chance to secure a trophy in this tournament, and also the Indian National coaches will be selecting youth players to join team India in preparation for the Youth Touch World Cup in 2018. This is a perfect chance to put team Goa players firmly on the Touch Rugby world map,” said Anish.
The ceremony began with the welcome address by President of Goa Rugby, Anish Quenim followed by Kaniel D’souza, Vice President who highlighted their notable moments in their journey with Goa Rugby. The Goa Rugby also launched the official website ‘goarugby.com’.
“Playing sport doesn’t just build character, it reveals it. At project Goa Amche we believe that the children of today are not just our future, but the bridge to correct the past and better the present. sport doesn’t require a script, nor a dialect, it is the most silent form of communication, but yet the loudest,” said Anish in his launch message on the GoaRugby website.
The owners of the 4 Club franchises, Duarteson Noronha, Crazy Pirates (North Goa), BrandanCrasto, CrocoTRYles (South Goa), Aaron D’mello, Saints (East Goa) and Tej Shirodkar, TRYmates (West Goa) thanked the parents and club officials for the unconditional support.
