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| BRFU looking to attract more youngsters |
Kelsie Johnson
Guardian Sports Reporter kelsie@nasguard.com
Published: Jan 27, 2012
According to reports, the recruitment exercise in the Bahamas Rugby Football Union (BRFU) by executive members is not going as planned. They were hoping to have a more favorable response by now. The number of participants in the hard-hitting sport has been low, and Elystan Miles believes that it is because of the physical nature of the sport. New players tend to stray away after the third or fourth game, revealed Miles who is the director of the union. “Every year we try to get into the schools and pick up some new talent,” said Miles. “We’ve never really had a problem with getting assistance from the schools. We concentrate more on the government schools and the students there are always enthusiastic about playing. We don’t get track stars and basketball players, we get players who are really interested in learning the game so that is always a positive. Normally by the end of January each year, the number of players that we just attracted, they shave off, so we need to find ways to keep them since the idea is to try to have the average age of the sport between 24-25. In order to do that, you have to recruit because the nature of rugby is a lot of injuries. You lose players during the season, so the influx is always needed. “The recruitment exercise differs for each club. Most clubs prefer to have their youth players coming off the bench. Potcakes are really good but they don’t have that luxury because they are the junior team in the league, so all of their players compete and there is no rest. Baillou is very good at recruiting; they have a nice side that can come in at any time. Cuckoos, they haven’t really recruited. They have a very strong squad. They have been together for more than eight years now so they rely on their experience.” The Cuckoos Rugby Club is the National Cup Champions, defeating Baillou in both games. However, the Freeport Rugby Club is leading The Bahamas Cup standings this year with a 2-1 win/loss record. The first loss on the season was handed to the Freeport Rugby Club on Saturday past by the Cuckoos. Miles revealed that the junior team, Potcakes, is off to a slow start this season but had two close games. He said the main thing, or goal, is to see how the Potcakes will hold it together during the remainder of the season. He said: “The Potcakes were very shaky in the beginning and were not able to produce a full team, but since Christmas they have turned things around tremendously. Even though they are a very young club with young players, I am pleased with their level of play.” Persons interested in playing can show up to any of the two games that are played each Saturday at the Winton Rugby Pitch. The first match gets underway at 1:00 p.m. |
