Namibia Rugby Union plans stakeholders’ conference

By: HELGE SCHUTZ

THE Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) will host a stakeholders’ conference on Friday, where the NRU will present its strategic plan and goals for 2013 and beyond, with the aim of qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The event, which will take place at the Windhoek Country Club, will be attended by prominent members of Namibia’s sport fraternity as well as the International Rugby Board.
Local guests will include members of the Namibian government, the Namibia Sport Commission, the Namibian business sector and rugby clubs and coaches.
Some of the prominent international guests will include the IRB’s general manager of development, Morgan Buckley, the vice president of the Confederation of African Rugby, Dave Gilbert, and the CEO of the South African Rugby Union, Jurie Roux.
The guest speaker will be Dr Ross Tucker, a world-renowned sport scientist from the Sport Science Institute of South Africa.
He has consulted for the South African Olympic Committee, SA Canoeing and SA Rowing, and has been a consultant member of the SA Sevens Rugby team on high-performance strategy and scientific support since 2008, including the World Series winning team of 2009/10.
Tucker has delivered numerous international lectures on sport science, including presentations for the International Rugby Board, American College of Sports Medicine, UK Sports and Exercise Medicine Association and Chinese Institute of Sport. All have focused on research, exercise science and the strategies for high-performance sport success.
According to the CEO of the NRU, Sybrand de Beer, Tucker’s speech will focus on what it will take to achieve rugby success.
“He will talk about what it will take to make our Sevens team competitive, to get them to qualify for the Olympic Games and possibly to win a medal. Also with our 15-man team, what will it take to qualify for the Rugby World Cup. We will have to take rugby to a new level and Tucker will present that scenario, so that we all know what we will have to do,” he said.
“Our idea is not to go begging for sponsors, but to educate stakeholders and then to find partners who will walk this road with us,” he added.
De Beer said exciting times lay ahead for the NRU, which would soon appoint a high performance manager and a development manager.
“Both these appointments will bring a lot to the table and I’m sure that people will want to be involved with rugby if they know what lies in store,” he said.
According to De Beer, the aim is to bring back the glory days of Namibian rugby.
“We want to bring back the glory days of Namibian rugby, like when we excelled in the Currie Cup and beat top international teams like Ireland. Rugby is the only sport code in Namibia that has qualified for four World Cups, and we want to get there again, but we will need the support of all stakeholders and business partners,” he said.
Tickets for the NRU stakeholders’ conference can be obtained from the NRU office at telephone number 061 - 251717 and will cost N$200 per person or N$1 600 per table of eight.

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