PANJIM: Goa Rugby brand was launched in the State at a city based hotel, on Tuesday by the Goa Rugby Panel members with a loud and clear message of ‘Goa Amche’ through its logo.
The brand will manage two societies “Goa Touch” that will manage touch rugby and Goa Rugby Football Union that will be handling contact rugby.
Anish Quenim, Managing Partner, Goa Rugby said, “The idea to launch ‘Goa Rugby’ was to manage both under one roof; the company will manage both the societies, which gives a proper structure to the game in Goa”.
“This will give Goan players an opportunity to go international if they aim for it as they now qualify under the actual body, as both the bodies are affiliated to separate International Rugby bodies”, added Anish, President of Goa Touch and Goa Rugby Football Union.
Rabiya Muzaver has been made the Vice President of Goa Touch; she was the first women to represent Goa in a rugby tourney recently. Rabiya hopes to inspire more women to take to the sport especially ‘Touch rugby’ which has a mixed (Men & Women) World Cup. Through the Touch Rugby in schools many girls have already taken a liking to the sport.
Goa Rugby has roped an international coach from Fiji Isikeli Rasoqosoqo who will be training the kids and other rugby enthusiasts from the state under the able guidance of Goa Rugby’s Senior Coaching Advisory Belinda (Bee) and Dave Trotter.
Fiji is ranked number one in the world in Rugby 7s and ranked 11th in Rugby 15s. The Fijian connect has also helped Goa Rugby connect with other Fijians who are down in Goa and extended a helping hand to promote the sport.
Bee and Dave Trotter will guide Isikeli and other coaching staff as they have years of experience. The duo has previously coached the Wales international team and recently lead the ‘Goa Touch’ team to second place finish in a tourney in Bangalore, which was a remarkable achievement considering the fact that it was Goa’s first ever representation in a rugby tournament.
Adding another first in sports, Goa Rugby has also tied up with “Disability Rights Association of Goa” (D.R.A.G) for Community Rugby. Every Friday the Goa Rugby teams will train D.R.A.G.
Anish says, “Goa Rugby has reached out to tourists, schools, locals over the last two months, however it could not reach out to the special community, hence the idea of community rugby came up”
“Through this initiative Goa Rugby intends to reach out to special schools and others by introducing a modified version of ‘Touch Rugby’ for them wherein fun drills and games will be incorporated in the training plan”, he added
Goa Rugby logo was also launched on the occasion which embodies the true spirit of Goa. Goa Rugby has made tremendous progress in a very short span of time and is active in more than 50 schools. They have also started another unique initiative “Road Rugby” where the team covers the length and breadth of Goa through its road rugby vehicle.
