On Friday 27th of March a Cross Community Rugby Team took to the field for their first match.
The group of men come from different interface areas around Belfast (Newtownards Road and Short Strand) and some are asylum seekers from Zimbabwe. A lot of the players are unemployed or not in education and this project is aimed at helping to build confidence of the individuals and help them come together as a team. The project was run by Ulster Rugby’s Community Rugby Coach, Neill Alcorn, along with Active Communities Coach David Chambers and Claire Harris from the Belfast Interface Project.
The team has been training for eight weeks and showed their skills and ability in great fashion on Friday night against a mixture of Malone 4ths/5ths. It was a great night; both teams really enjoyed the game and afterwards sat down for a meal and few drinks.
A lot of the players have expressed an interest in joining Malone for pre-season in the summer.
Sorry UR but I find this wrong and portraying rugby in Ulster as something it is not, rugby in Ulster is and has always been inclusive and cross community, this is the kinda shît that is ruining the game. This is the New PC Ulster, this really boils my blood. I am All for building confidence and projects for the unemployed. But selling it as a cross community is just bullshît and another kpi met.
Next we will be getting women to play rugby , wait we have that, just no longer have the staff to develope it as they were laid off.
“For the liespotter who knows how to listen well, the random words, sounds, and phrases in a person's speech are never as random as they seem. They offer a clear sightline into the liar's psyche.”
I am guessing a rugby club and now having played one match against Malone several of them want to continue with rugby and play for Malone. Could the initiative not have been to encourage more players into existing clubs who have always been open to new blood no matter what their background… well all except Instonians.
It sounds a bit like School of Hard Knocks on Sky.
I've wondered if they would ever do a series in Ireland as they've done ones in England, Scotland and Wales so far but apparently the next SOHK series will be in Wales again.
mikerob wrote:It sounds a bit like School of Hard Knocks on Sky.
I've wondered if they would ever do a series in Ireland as they've done ones in England, Scotland and Wales so far but apparently the next SOHK series will be in Wales again.
Nothing like it Mike
“For the liespotter who knows how to listen well, the random words, sounds, and phrases in a person's speech are never as random as they seem. They offer a clear sightline into the liar's psyche.”
OaK…. In all my playing days I have never once given thought to the religious make up of any team that I either played in or against or for that matter whether anyone came from a Peace Line or the Malone Road.
Yet our CEO can now pat himself on the back for this giant leap forward… after all he is a man who has played rugby on three continents or was that more bull shiite.
I wonder if Community Rugby Coach, Neill Alcorn, and Active Communities Coach David Chambers where saved from the chop. Report has been " bigged up" . " from several interface areas " around Belfast , ( short Strand and newtownards road) er that is only one interface area not several, but hey keep the spin spinning.
“For the liespotter who knows how to listen well, the random words, sounds, and phrases in a person's speech are never as random as they seem. They offer a clear sightline into the liar's psyche.”
Kofi Annan wrote:I wonder if Community Rugby Coach, Neill Alcorn, and Active Communities Coach David Chambers where saved from the chop. Report has been " bigged up" . " from several interface areas " around Belfast , ( short Strand and newtownards road) er that is only one interface area not several, but hey keep the spin spinning.
Once a Knight wrote:Aye, but women are a lesser species?
Not taking much you say seriously at the minute chum.
OaK… having watched the Irish ladies play I think some of the guys could learn from their attitude and indeed commitment. I found the game a lot more physical than possibly comes across on TV and I thought the skills level was very good.
Kofi Annan wrote:I wonder if Community Rugby Coach, Neill Alcorn, and Active Communities Coach David Chambers where saved from the chop. Report has been " bigged up" . " from several interface areas " around Belfast , ( short Strand and newtownards road) er that is only one interface area not several, but hey keep the spin spinning.
OaK…. The US Ladies American football is a tough sport and very physical with some serious big hits. I think many would be surprised. The fact that the US sex it up as they do is not something that I agree with.
Agree with all that's been said so far (at least about the cross-community rugby!) but if a lot more blokes start playing rugby and if they stop beating the heads off each other around the bottom of the Newtownards Road, I'm ok with this initiative. Would have been better to do it without fanfare. Why not just work away quietly?
Know of several Catholics and Jews who went to BRA and played rugby . So what is cross community when your at home ?
That said there is and has been a divide in rugby which has traditional been a Grammar School sourced sport . And to be honest there are certain things a player must buy into if they want to play rugby , respect for authority ( referee ) team values, self control etc
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Within this carapace of skepticism there lives an optimist
solidarity wrote:Agree with all that's been said so far (at least about the cross-community rugby!) but if a lot more blokes start playing rugby and if they stop beating the heads off each other around the bottom of the Newtownards Road, I'm ok with this initiative. Would have been better to do it without fanfare. Why not just work away quietly?
solidarity….. Every rugby club the length and breath of this province is open to anyone whether from the Malone Road, North Down or the lower Newtownards Road/Short Strand and has been since I ever started playing the game. In my opinion this spin suggests that this is a first for rugby and that people from 'other areas' are now able to take up the game.
I have asked before where did this team train as I presume it was at a rugby club in which they could have just been encouraged to join in the first place. As kofi has stated is this just a spin to ensure some people are better placed to keep their funded jobs.
In the last few weeks all I have seen is UR spin on how everything from matches, clubs, players and coaches are on the increase yet behind the scenes they appear to be fecking everything over. I even heard how a certain CPL publicly stated that there are now more rugby matches being played than ever before only to later have to accept this actually wasn't the case. Even a blind man can see that many more clubs than ever before are struggling to get teams out and on the verge of folding….
solidarity wrote:Agree with all that's been said so far (at least about the cross-community rugby!) but if a lot more blokes start playing rugby and if they stop beating the heads off each other around the bottom of the Newtownards Road, I'm ok with this initiative. Would have been better to do it without fanfare. Why not just work away quietly?
solidarity….. Every rugby club the length and breath of this province is open to anyone whether from the Malone Road, North Down or the lower Newtownards Road/Short Strand and has been since I ever started playing the game. In my opinion this spin suggests that this is a first for rugby and that people from 'other areas' are now able to take up the game.
I have asked before where did this team train as I presume it was at a rugby club in which they could have just been encouraged to join in the first place. As kofi has stated is this just a spin to ensure some people are better placed to keep their funded jobs.
In the last few weeks all I have seen is UR spin on how everything from matches, clubs, players and coaches are on the increase yet behind the scenes they appear to be fecking everything over. I even heard how a certain CPL publicly stated that there are now more rugby matches being played than ever before only to later have to accept this actually wasn't the case. Even a blind man can see that many more clubs than ever before are struggling to get teams out and on the verge of folding….
There'll always be a 'community' imbalance in rugby so long as Catholic schools in general don't play so I can see where the perception of rugby as sectarian comes from, but, you're right, it is inclusive and I've never known any sectarian problems. Similarly, so long as secondary schools don't play much rugby, it will always look a bit middle class, but I and many of the guys I played with were from very ordinary backgrounds. The sooner we bin education that is segregated by religio-politics and social class the better for rugby and for all of us!
