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Ref:

NRFF 15/05/10

Date:

15/05/10

PRESS RELEASE
KADUNA WELCOMES THE MATIE RUGBY ACADEMY
The Matie Rugby Academy and members of the Nigerian Rugby Football Federation and the Nigerian Referees Society held a three day coaching clinic in Kaduna from the 13 th 15th May. The aim of the clinic was to boost the technical capacity component of rugby in Nigeria. Kaduna Rugby Club, the oldest rugby club in Nigeria hosted the clinic and provided first class hospitality services to the participants. The clinic was attended by some 26 coaches, from Abuja, Benue, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Zaria rugby clubs. Matie Rugby Academy is a world class organisation that offers a series of comprehensive rugby based courses to rugby clubs, from elite sides to grassroots township sides. The courses are designed to help develop technical capacity and include coach education, player coaching; referee training; rugby fitness; sports medicine and rugby administration and hence it was fitting that they held a clinic in the heartland of Nigerian rugby. Russel Carliese, the director of the Matie Rugby Academy, said that he saw, lots of potential that needs to be developed in the correct way, where the participants (coaches, referees, administrators, etc) are willing to start from grassroots level. Some participants have come from as far as 8 hours drive by road it shows some a lot of dedication towards the development of rugby and for their own personal development. I have never seen so many people hungry for the rugby development and are so eager to learn more about the game. I am really proud of all of them and to be part of the growth of rugby here in Nigeria. The tour has been supported by Chris Okeke SAN, while accommodation has been sponsored by Protea Hotel, Ikeja. Martin Crawford the Chair of the NRFF Technical Committee said, that the Maties visit was a welcome development and heralded the beginning of the growth of a new dawn for the development of the game in Niigeria. The Matie Rugby Academy in partnership will return to Nigeria 4-6 times a year. They will hold a number of clinics in various parts of the country and thus develop the technical capacity of coaches, referees, etc. Participants will be constantly graded and separate development pathways are being created in conjunction with the Nigerian Rugby Coaching Institute and the Nigerian Society of Referees.

ABOUT THE NRFF

Rugby Union was introduced into Nigeria by the British in the 1930s. Pioneer clubs such as Kaduna Rugby Club in the North and Lagos Rugby Club in the south were established in 1960 and 1962, respectively. The Nigerian Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) was inaugurated on the 6th of May 1998. Since then the federation has been responsible for promoting awareness of the game through various development programmes and hosting several overseas teams. Rugby in Nigeria has also enjoyed impressive patronage from primary and secondary schools in the country. There are currently 15 Senior mixed gender clubs and 2 university sides in the country. Whilst the game is played in 10 states within the nation. Though it is not a well known fact, Nigerians are ideally suited to rugby football; this has resulted in many gaining international honours in Scotland, Wales, France and England. The best known, being Chris Oti, Victor Ubogu, Steve Ojomoh, Dayo Adebayo, Topsy Ojo, Ugo Monye and Andy Harriman; the latter was also the World Cup winning England Sevens captain and a former manager of the England A side. Whilst Martin Offiah and Abi Ekoku have both played for the Great Britain Rugby League team. The NRFF has developed a strategic plan that will see the child player of today become the Olympic star of Rio 2016.

ABOUT THE MATIE RUGBY ACADEMY

This rugby initiative originally started as the Mitchell's Plain Rugby Academy, but Matie Rugby soon came on board, thereby forming the Matie Rugby Academy. The Academys vision is to become a visible example of success to the members of communities served by the Academy. By doing this we will empower the community to aspire to similar

success in a wide range of endeavours. To date the Matie rugby Academy has produced coaches in different schools within the community. For more information contact; Folu Majekodunmi fmajekodunmi@nrff-ng.com Mobile No. 0803 535 4365