Safland Property Group has teamed up with the Namibia Rugby Union to present an international Sevens rugby tournament in Windhoek at the end of September.
The first Safland International Sevens Tournament will be held in Windhoek on 25 and 26 September and will see close to seven hundred players competing at international, club and schools level.
South Africa’s ‘Blitzbokke’ have already confirmed their participation, along with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Poland, while negotiations are underway to also bring the national teams of Brazil, Argentina and Kenya.
Besides that there will also be a club tournament involving clubs from South Africa and Namibia, and a schools tournament, involving schools from the two countries.
The CEO of the NRU Sybrand de Beer made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday that was also attended by the CEO of Safland Kallie van der Merwe and South African rugby promoter and vice president of the Blue Bulls, Willem Strauss.
De Beer thanked Safland for the sponsorship, saying it presented a great opportunity for Namibian Sevens rugby.
“This is a great opportunity for the NRU to work with Safland and Willem Strauss and we thank them for their sponsorship. It’s also a great opportunity for our Sevens team – we know we have the talent to do well in Sevens but our programs and sponsorships are lagging behind,” he said.
According to De Beer the tournament will also serve as an important warm-up event for the African qualifiers for the 2016 Olympic Games which will take place on 14 and 15 November in South Africa.
South Africa have already qualified for the Rio Olympics but there are two more spots available for African teams. The winner of the African qualifiers will qualify automatically while the second placed team will be involved in a repechage competition against teams from other continents.
Van der Merwe said it was a great opportunity for them to get involved in Namibian rugby.
“It’s a great honour for us to host a tournament of this stature. We are the main sponsors but I’d like to call on other companies to also get involved so that we can make this something big in Namibia. It’s wonderful to see the Namibian team performing well and we are proud to be able to give back to Namibia in this way,” he said.
Strauss said the event would hopefully grow and become a part of the International Sevens circuit.
“It usually takes about three years to establish a Sevens tournament. I always thought that Windhoek is the ideal destination for a Sevens tournament and I hope this event can become a fixture on the international calendar,” he said.
Van der Merwe said he could’t divulge the total sponsorship but said it would be a big boost for the Namibian economy.
“It’s difficult to measure (the exact amount) but it will bring between 500 to 700 people to Namibia which will be a big injection into the local economy,” he said.
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