The fifth installment of the ‘Get into Rugby’ initiative took place up in Jaffna on the 14th and 15th February at the St. Patrick’s and the Kilinocchi Central College grounds. The programme was carried out on both days, attracting more than just the school students.
Last week’s ‘Get into Rugby’ programme saw a massive attendance of over 300 participants on the first day (14th) that included Army officers, parents and young adults, while day two (15th) recorded over 400 school students participating from many schools around the area. With the collective assistance of the whole of SLR and the likes of Peter Woods and Inthi Marikkar, many who were alien to this oval ball game were successfully given the taste of Rugby at the end of the Programme.
Organized by the national body, the programme is a part of World Rugby which is primarily intended to increase the sports’ reach internationally.
Alongside the Ministry of Sports, the programme that started off in August this year, is set to cover all 25 districts nurturing the sport in all 99 educational zones. The first of its kind was held in the Polonnaruwa district which was followed in the Kalutara,Mahiyanganaya and Kuliyapitiya districts.
‘Get into Rugby’- Kuliyapitiya After Movie
The programme laid the perfect foundation in reaching out and introducing rugby with the hopes of unleashing and finding potential talent in Jaffna which will undoubtedly support the sports growth in the years to come.
The instructors conducted several drills and team building games woven around the sport, in order to portray the basics of the game in the simplest ways. It was a fun yet effective learning process for all the participants, as there were smiles all around.
In Sri Lanka, rugby is played centred around the capital and is widespread in the central region. There is little representation from Galle and the North Western region. The locality of Jaffna is lesser known for the sport and SLR hopes that through this initiative that more schools will take up the sport in the coming years. In an effort to increase the participation of more schools, rugby balls were distributed among the schools and the national body also plans on revisiting the schools with a second step. 
