Beach/Pitch

2011 Players

DIANI BEACH INTERNATIONAL
FIVE-A-SIDE TOUCH RUGBY 2011

The Third Diani Beach Five a Side Rugby Festival was played over the weekend of 1st, 2nd, 3rd of July. It is very interesting and satisfying for the organizers to see how, not only how popular beach rugby is becoming, but also how skills are improving.

We had to start the tournament on Friday evening so as to fit in all the games by mid-day on Sunday. Players seemed to enjoy playing under lights, it is cooler than in the heat of the day. We will try to improve the lighting at the far end of pitch 2 next year.

It was a pleasure to welcome the teams that played last year and the year before back again. The following were here for the third time:

Carbon Chicks`
Les Gaulois
Norfolk in Chance
Diani Shopping Centre
Kenya Navy
Mombasa Polytechnic
Newick

Three teams came from outside Kenya.

The Royal Oak (called Newick last year) Sussex U.K.
Eisy Bru, Swaziland
Kili Warriors, Arusha, Tanzania

Good effort guys.

The first beach touch rugby tournament began in 2009 on Diani Beach. There are now four others. 3 in Nairobi and 1 at Naivasha. The Naivasha Tournament is over the weekend 22nd 23rd of October; please support them if you can.

Although skills improve there are still various issues that have to be addressed.

It was good to have Jerry Sirley with us for the Tournament, being a very experienced referee in UK, we were able to learn much from him and with more preparation in future we trust that the refereeing decisions will have a greater consistency.

We are aware that many players are unsure about the rules of Beach Touch Rugby and assume they are similar to Rugby Union. They are actually very different. We will make more copies of the rules available in 2012, we can also arrange to have them sent to you on e mail.

Although constrained by the width of the beach and the tides we will try to widen the pitches next year to give the better players more room to move. At present the width being 35 meters means that there is a body every 7 meters, which makes it very difficult for a players on two fit opposing sides to score, this sometimes leads to frustration and a stalled game.

With the support of the players, the spectators and auction on Saturday evening, 250,000/= was raised for the Age Grade Rugby Programme which was initiated by The Rugby Patrons Society. Under the direction of the Kenya Rugby Football Union, the programme targets primary school children in the 9-16 year old age group and its purpose is to nurture both boys and girls by developing their rugby skills and identifying talent at an early age.

A big thank you to Keringet for their sponsorship and the generous amount of water that was given to the players and to East African Breweries for their active participation and sponsorship. We appreciate your generosity and support.

Next year the 4th International Diani Beach Touch Rugby Tournament will be 6th-8th July. Enter your team and reserve your accommodation as soon as possible.

The Winners were as follows:

Ladies: Quins
Shield: Eisy Bru
Bowl: Mombasa Polytechnic
Main Winner: Kili Warriors

Well done and a big thank you to all the teams for coming and participating.

For further information, entries, sponsorship or suggestions contact George Barbour. Tel +254 735 411110 george@dianibeachtouchrugby.com