The Cayman Islands Rugby Football Union (CRFU) has revealed details of what they describe as a, “record breaking” second half of the 2006/2007 season, with four major competitions taking place in the next eight months.


Fijian sevens expert, Venasio Tokatokavanua, is back in Cayman for another six months of coaching. Negotiations are also underway for a community rugby programme expert to join the Maples and Calder Community Outreach Programme that the CRFU hopes will start shortly. The CRFU says they are committed to increasing the schools programme, improving both the national team and national academy programmes, and having a women’s national team to compete in the Caribbean Championships later this year.


They add that the International Rugby Board (IRB) has also topped up the 2007 grant in recognition of the amazing progress of the sport here in Cayman.


Venasio Tokatokavanua will commence the HSBC school training programmes on Monday, 15 January along with the Maples and Calder National Sevens Academy programme and the bMobile men’s National sevens programme. Venasio will be concentrating upon getting the bMobile men’s national sevens team ready for the upcoming Cable and Wireless and Heineken Summer sevens series of rugby. The series is set to commence on 10 February at the Heineken Sevens Tournament and lead up to the Caribbean Championships to be held in the Bahamas this November. Several of the Maples and Calder Academy players are expected to be key components of this team. He will also be recruiting HSBC school programme players to join in with the Maples and Calder Community Outreach Programmes. These are due to be established in February 2007 throughout Grand Cayman as the Cayman Junior Rugby Development Fund strives to make the sport of rugby available to youngsters island-wide.


The CRFU is currently in negotiations with a former Canadian National Women’s Team coach who would work in Cayman setting up the outreach programme as well as a women’s community programme, girls community programmes and a National women’s team. He would also work with the National men’s team and Under 19 National team.


CRFU Technical Director and National Coach, Richard Adams, says they have been working at this for some six years now.

“Funding is a critical area and today we are seeing more and more private entities coming forward to back the excellent work that we have been doing and continue to do. We are also seeing increases in our grants as the programmes prove themselves to be very popular to all of Cayman’s residents and schools,” he explained, adding, “We have worked very hard to increase our revenues so that we may continue to develop at the junior levels and have a strong programme for the foreseeable future.”

Follow up:

Mr Adams says Venasio did an outstanding job for them last year not only in the HSBC schools programmes, but with the Maples and Calder Sevens Academy and the bMobile national sevens programmes. “So when the opportunity came along to have him back for six months we jumped at it and I look forward to the great improvement he will make in all of these programmes,” he enthused.

The HSBC school coaching programmes have been operating for five years now and last year reached over two thousand five hundred different school children which Mr Adams says was, “a fantastic achievement. “


However, he points out that with just one community program running in the South Sound area the vast majority of the children they are coaching in the schools do not get the opportunity to play in their communities. “Fortunately for us Maples and Calder immediately saw the need for local boys and girls to have such an opportunity and have stepped in with financial support to at least start this process. We hope that our sports grant will be increased in 2007 and with this we will be able to recruit the personnel and equipment that we need to run this programme effectively setting up community programmes and National competitions across the island,” he explains.


Mr Adams confirmed that the CRFU is looking forward to some excellent rugby right here in Cayman this summer and to seeing local teams on show in front of, they hope, large crowds of partisan spectators. The Diamond Law Associates International series is planned for May planned. Additionally, the CRFU is in talks with Cuba and a super league team from the states.


They hope to host ten world-class teams when the Cayman Sevens are played at the South Sound Ground in June, a first time for both the club and the island.


In July, Grand Cayman will be the venue for the IRB Under 19 Regional World Cup Qualifiers, with as many as ten international Under 19 teams participating.


As the season draws to a close in August, the CRFU have been chosen to host the Men and Women’s Caribbean XV-A-Side Championships and they expect as many as ten men’s teams and as many as six women’s teams to participate. By then, the CRFU hopes to have their own Cayman women’s team taking part in this tournament.


Mr Adams concluded the press release by stating, “With all of this I hope that you can see why the development and funding of these programmes is so important. I hope that by the end of 2007 you will be able to drive from Rum Point to Papagallos and see Rugby being played in all of the communities.”