Nigeria Content Online

As
part of this year’s independence celebrations, the Friends of Rugby
(FOR) is hosting a Rugby 7’s Championship at the main bowl of the
National Stadium, Surulere.

The tournament,
which is in its third edition, has been received with enthusiasm by
rugby teams in Nigeria and abroad. Ntiense Williams, spokesman of FOR
who disclosed this, said “The Rugby community in Nigeria will all
assemble to celebrate this auspicious occasion (independence
anniversary) with a Rugby 7’s Championship for both male and Female. We
have planned for a 16 male & 6 female Sevens Championship, but at
the close of registration, we had received over 20 male Clubs queuing
to participate.

“This is a great
challenge to us as we only made provision for 16 Male teams, but now
have to persuade some teams to withdraw, because we want to put up a
superb show for Rugby followers in Nigeria”.

Draws will now be held by the board of the (FOR) to pick the 16 teams that would be participating.

Ghana joins in celebrations

Apart from the
Nigerian teams vying to participate, a Ghanaian club, Accra Sharks
Rugby Football Club has also expressed interest to join in the
independence celebrations. The independence 7’s tournament will also
feature three other events – the veterans match, female rugby
invitational tournament, and the British versus French rugby match.

In the veterans
match, a host of former International and national rugby players
presently in the country have been invited, to participate in an
Exhibition match during the championship. In the female invitational
rugby tournament, a total of six teams are participating.

The teams will be
divided into two groups of three teams each. Benin Rugby Football Club,
Young Lions Rugby Football Club and Rivers State Rugby team are in
Group A while Group B consists of Delta State Rugby team, Lagos State
Rugby team and Addax Rugby Football Club respectively.

For the British
versus French rugby match, plans are under way to get in the colonial
masters who brought in the game of Rugby into Nigeria to participate in
Rugby Challenge Demonstration Match.

A board member of FOR, Olatunji Fasimoye has promised trophies and cash prizes for winners of the men’s and women’s tournament:

“Last year’s tournament winners got a cash prize of N250, 000 and we are hoping to increase this year’s amount,” he said.