‘Natural flair for the sport’
Sweaty, mud-soaked boys with bruises aplenty, shrugging pain and tackling opponents as they make their way ahead; the Bengaluru rugby scene is surely seeing sunny days.
The Bangalore School Games 2010, which got underway at the Sree Kanteerava stadium on Wednesday, has given school children a platform to showcase their skills in a sport which is still in its nascent stages in the country.
Although the numbers weren’t great, the four teams which fought for honours proved the sport has serious takers. Frank Anthony Public School, St. Joseph’s Boys High School and Round Tables School participated in the event in which three teams pulled out due to various reasons.
The event conducted by the Karnataka Rugby Football Union (KRFU) gave the rugby promoters in the city a hope of the sport making inroads into more schools.
Adam Whittington, Youth Rugby Development Officer of KRFU said, “The numbers may be small but it is very encouraging. We have been conducting rugby coaching classes in eight schools across the city and there are many U-12 and U-16 teams shaping well. Most of these players also play club rugby and this is another competition opportunity for them.”
While the sport may be considered elite and foreign, children from under-privileged background too have warmed up to the sport. “They are naturally aggressive and they learnt at a higher rate. This is because there isn’t much scope for verbal communication because of a language barrier that exists between them and us. So it’s a lot of practical teaching which they pick up fast. They are also very hard working and have a natural flair for sport,” said Whittington.
The children, on their part, are thoroughly enjoying their time on the field. “It is a great sport to play although we often get scolded at home because they don’t know what the sport is and we go back bruised. They think it is a violent sport, but we love it and physical pain is hardly a bother,” said Musthqeem, a class IX student from Round Table School who has been hooked onto the sport for the past year-and-half.
With tournaments being far and few at the school level, KRFU is now planning a weekend inter-school league.
“The problem is that most of them practice only a month or so before tournaments thereby lacking continuity. For this we have planned a weekend league, wherein each school plays two tournaments in a week,” added Whittington.
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