29 Jul 2013

Former national team and Tuskers player, Andre Van Der Walt has appealed to Francistown residents to release and encourage their college students who have interest in rugby to come forward and revive sport in the north.

In an interview, Andre said their team collapsed due to lack of players because majority of the players that made up the team had grown up and retired from playing the sport.

He said as players retired, they ran short of young players who could fill the void left by the older ones, adding that the situation had not only affected their team only but also Sharks, another northern team.

He further said the situation also affected the national team and the general rugby league as teams were dropping off due to lack of players taking off from the older ones. He explained that for about three and half years, there had not been any player selected for national team from the north because teams had collapsed.

Now as development coach for their team, Andre stated that they were coaching young boys from the ages of 9 to 13 with the aim of developing young Tuskers side that would join the national league next year.

He said so far they only had young players who were training and wanted the community to allow their children particularly senior and college schools to come and join the club so that they can also prepare a sevens team and assist the national team selectors with a pool of players whom they can select from.

“We used to have players from Mater Spei college training with us but they just vanished and with rugby sport being introduced in senior schools, it should not end there, players should join clubs after completing school,” he appealed.

He said they are already on course fund raising for the club and reviving their pitch so that they can start organising tournament to boost players’ confidence in the sport. ENDS