Competitive rugby will make its return Saturday after almost a year of inactivity due to the pandemic.
The sport’s return was confirmed by President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), Ryan Dey yesterday.
Dey told this publication that the union had written to the Task Force on Monday and anticipated a ‘favourable’ response based on the nature of the tournament.
The GRFU head received a phone call from a member of the Task Force yesterday detailing the conditional permission granted to host the tag rugby tournament.
“I knew it would be a favourable response given the nature of tag rugby, so now it is just to get the official response in writing,” said Dey.
He explained that “It’s a no contact form of rugby where instead of tackling you grab the tag ribbon which is placed on the waist of each player. That’s the main reason for choosing this form of rugby.”
Dey disclosed that the National Park is the venue earmarked to play host to the all-age, mixed gender competition which is scheduled to kick off from 10:00am.
“I am sure the players are also anticipating playing competitions again.”
Rugby is one of the ‘core sports’ of the Ministry of Sport and arguably the most successful local team sport besides cricket.
Having rugby back, albeit tag rugby is the next step in getting the game up and running again and Dey is pleased for everyone involved in the community game, which has gone through a very tough time.
Last October, sporting activities were given the green light to return in a safe manner and the ruggers can now begin to get excited about potentially having rugby back in their lives. (Emmerson Campbell)
