RACHEL ‘SPREADS THE WORD’ IN TANZANIA

Her initial quest was to get the girls playing but she hit a major barrier in the religion of the children.

“Unfortunately, for religious reasons, the girls weren’t allowed to play rugby – it was difficult to get them to play hockey so rugby was definitely out of the question! Women’s football is only just emerging there so women’s rugby is probably a good few years down the line,” commented Rachel.

Not deterred, she changed her tact and looked to convert some more traditional potential players – the local boys football team.

“I was surprised that the only sport they had played before was football, but the very few that had TVs had seen a bit of rugby,” she furthered.

With the assistance of the boys’ football coach as English-Swahili translator (who had picked up some knowledge of the sport during his time in the Tanzanian army), Rachel set to work teaching the boys, aged between 13 and 17, basic skills such as passing and tackling.

“They took to it really well with most of them developing some class ball carrying skills. The not so good footballers proved to be the better rugby players, with one lad in particular being a born prop that none of the other boys could budge! As with most boys that age they enjoyed the contact drills and seemed to take pleasure in flattening each other!”

“Most of the boys had never seen a woman play football before so to see me doing rugby tackle demonstrations on one of the other volunteers was quite a surprise to them!”

By the end of a week’s sessions the coaches were able to have a 7s game that consisted of basic structure and tactics and a good level of skills considering the short practice time.

On her return to the UK, Rachel left the balls with some eager volunteers who will continue to develop rugby and spread the knowledge of the ‘better’ game!