GRFU exploring measures to attract more athletes to rugby

The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) is intent on attracting more athletes to the sport, and is currently utilising the resources available to draw in both younger and older players.
Among those resources is the National Sport Academy Rugby Nursery, which has provided over 150 interested children and teenagers for the GRFU.
However, GRFU President Ryan Dey has another trick up his sleeve for the older persons.

The GRFU is currently hosting a 10s league with the hope of enticing players back to the sport. However, the matter of bringing in new athletes is also of utmost importance.
According to recently re-elected President Ryan Dey, the GRFU has devised an initiative that would allow interested persons to receive the requisite training on Tuesdays, and further competition time on Saturdays.
“The ten’s league is going fine. So far, we have the President’s Team, which is my team, winning the last two tournaments, and hopefully, the Vice-President’s Team can come up and give us some competition,” Dey said as he highlighted that league games are being hosted every Sunday at 3pm in the National Park.
Regarding those who wish to participate in the sport, Dey explained, “With that, we’re actually aiming to grow Rugby; so, if you’re interested, we have training on Tuesdays and we have games on Saturdays. So, it’s an open invitation to anyone who is willing to learn to play Rugby and want to play Rugby. You can come out, we will get you a coach, and you will be on your way from there.”
Dey figures that the National Sports Academy nursery has already lent a hand to the sport in providing a younger batch of rugby prospects between the ages of 6 and 19 years.
“Wow! It’s a love to see a lot of people interested, a lot of children interested in playing Rugby, I love the turnout today. We were looking for less, but sometimes less means more, and we hope to grow and add on this,” the GRFU President has shared.
Now, with the backing of the Sport Ministry and the National Sports Commission, Dey is optimistic that he can take the sport to other regions of Guyana.
Dey related, “It’s something that the Union used to be doing in the past by itself. Now to have the National Sports Commission, by extension the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport on board is very exciting, and we look forward to growing Rugby. We’re going to start with this region, and hopefully we’re going to get to go to other regions.” (Jemima Holmes)