As Cyprus is now officially recognized as a rugby playing nation with its own national team and soon to be junior team. It’s amazing how fast the sport has caught the eye of both locals and foreigners alike!
At the beginning people just used to meet up randomly at the beaches to play or even in car parks at night when the shops were closed. This was just over a little as four years ago.
Now we have three recognized local teams on the island – Limassol Crusaders, Pafos Tigers and Nicosia Barbarians and they join up with the teams from the English Bases to make the Cyprus league. There is also an annual Junior festival that takes place for the keen youngsters who play the sport. However in the past 2 years there has been touring teams coming down from England to play the local sides here, the most notable being Farnborough who actually came for the second year running. Second time round, the score was of a lot smaller margin compared to the first year showing vast improvement already in the islands youth players.
A one week training camp for the promising junior players on the island is planned, (dates will be announced shortly) for them to meet up with the youth players from Greece and possibly Israel being coached and supervised by the coaches coming down from France. If the juniors can replicate the performance of the national team and put on a strong show such as the game against Greece, then who knows how quick the sport can continue to grow?
If there is any people interested in joining either a youth team or a local team and want to try out check the national site www.cyprus-rugby.com for information and links to the local teams on the island or leave a post on this site and we can offer our assistance were possible.
Keep the passion boys.
