RUGBY FOR REFUGEES

Jordan Rugby have introduced the game to the Zaatari Refugee Camp, and hope the sport will become popular among its tens of thousands of residents.

The coaching team delivered a two-day session to 25 coaches from the camp, as part of the Get Into Rugby initiative which has been implemented across the Kingdom over the past three years.

The sessions were held in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency and Save the Children Jordan.

“We are using rugby as a societal development tool to tackle key issues that refugees face in their day to day lives,” said Aziz Abu Khalaf, from Jordan Rugby.

“Sport can play a positive impact on these children and they get to enjoy the great game of rugby by introducing the values of respect, integrity, teamwork and discipline.

“We introduced Get Into Rugby’s Try phase which is non-contact games, designed to help total beginners learn how to play the game.

“The aim of the programme is to educate children through sports how to support each other, overcome challenges and to achieve leadership and life skills while playing the game.

“These coaches will now coach youth refugees from the camp from different districts over the following two weeks, and then a tournament will be organised between all teams.”

The sport of rugby has made giant strides in Jordan with continuing efforts to introduce the game to more communities up and down the country.