THE Nicosia Barbarians Rugby Club were at the GC School of Careers in Nicosia this month, giving out demonstrations of touch rugby to pupils.
The Barbarians have been actively promoting rugby in schools over the past two months, with the aim of getting more youngsters interested in the game. Schoolchildren have been introduced to the rules, shown video clips from various matches, taken part in discussions and have been shown practical demonstrations out in school playing grounds.
The sport is believed to have first been played in Cyprus by British soldiers when Cyprus was a British colony.
Until recently, Rugby in Cyprus remained limited to the British military bases at Akrotiri, Episkopi, Dhekelia and Ayios Nikolaos. Teams were made up from servicemen with rugby backgrounds and there was limited civilian participation.
But in May 2003, a group of British expatriates and repatriated South African Cypriots, mostly living in the Paphos area, got together to form the Paphos Tigers, the first civilian rugby team in Cyprus. They started to play friendly matches against the various military teams. As the word spread amongst Cypriot rugby enthusiasts, a second civilian team, the Limassol Crusaders, was formed in late 2003.
It was around this time, that a few friends from Nicosia, inspired by the extensive coverage of the Rugby World Cup, screened by LTV, decided to find a piece of grass to pass the ball around. The lawn behind the Central Bank of Cyprus was the only freely available patch of grass, and so every week these friends would enjoy an informal game of touch rugby. As was expected, word quickly got around. More rugby enthusiasts from the Nicosia area started turning up, and it became increasingly obvious that it was time that the capital had its own team.
In January 2004, The Nicosia Barbarians was formed, from a mixture of British, Australian, South African, French, American, Russian, Cypriot and Lebanese, all bonded with a love for the game and a desire to make the club a success.
The three civilian sides then joined the Bases teams to form an eight-team league, played in a 14-game season from October to February.
However, the problems facing the Nicosia Barbarians are enormous. They do not have their own ground. The only available rugby pitch in Nicosia is by the Nicosia International Airport within the United Nations Protected Area, and due to strict security, special permission has to be granted for every game. This causes problems with bringing in non-military personnel onto the base, thus restricting the Barbarians’ ability to play the civilian teams of Limassol and Paphos.
In the meantime, the cost of running the club is very high. Apart from paying rent for the UN ground, which the Barbarians use for both training and matches, they also have to pay for insurance cover, supply of kit, medical supplies, training equipment, water, transport and many other essential items. These costs are too high for the players to cover alone, so the club rely on the support of their sponsors, LTV and Zebras Steakhouse, in order to survive.
Touch rugby is similar to full contact rugby, except that body-crunching tackles are not permitted. Omiros Chrysanthou, the Barbarians’ membership secretary explained the rules. “The game is usually played with five to seven players per side, with the objective being to get to the opposition’s try line in five passages of play. A passage of play is considered over when a player is touched by an opponent. It is more like rugby league than rugby union and is a fun and exciting game for both girls and boys”.
Loukis Pattihis, President of the Barbarians, said that “the best way to introduce kids to full contact rugby is through touch rugby, where they are introduced to ball handling, co-ordination skills, teamwork and tactics”.
The formation of a Cypriot national rugby association is also on the horizon, according to Pattihis. “The Cyprus Rugby Football Union have now neared completion of their constitution, in order to become an association. Once this is done, hopefully in the next two weeks, we will be presenting the constitution to the Cyprus Athletic Association in order to become a recognised sport within Cyprus. Once we are accepted by the National Sports Association of our country, we will immediately apply for registration with the International Rugby Board, making us eligible for participation in international tournaments.”
