In early July 2007, a group of 18 girls from Durham University Women’s Rugby Football Club will be heading out to remote schools and orphanages in Fiji to work with groups of deprived children. The girls will spend 3 weeks travelling from Nadi, on the West coast of the main island Viti Levu, to the capital Suva on the East. They will visit approximately 10 schools and orphanages throughout their time on the island, coaching groups of children aged between 4 and 16. The girls will not only bring their playing and coaching expertise to the sessions, but their incredible passion for rugby and sport in general. The aim of the coaching sessions will not only be to introduce the youngsters to the basic skills involved in rugby, but to emphasise the enjoyment the game can bring, and the friendships that can be forged through the community aspect of rugby. They will not only educate the children, but the staff in the various establishments, who will then hopefully be able to carry on the work the group start long after they leave. To aid them further, DUWRFC will provide each school or orphanage with basic supplies, such as rugby balls, rugby kit, TAG belts, cones, and bibs. The culmination of the 3 weeks will be a sports day at the international stadium in Suva, where the children in the surrounding villages will be invited to participate not only in a small rugby tournament, but also various other sports led by the DUWRFC girls, who will also be expected to show off their skills not only against the children (!!), but in an exhibition match against the local women’s side, who boast many players who have played representative rugby for their country.

Team Captain Siobhan McHugh says of the trip: “As a squad, we have gained so much from playing rugby – not least improved skills and fitness, but we have forged great friendships, and most of all found enjoyment and fun doing something we love. We are in the very privileged position of having the facilities to be able to continue playing the sport we love, whereas the children we are aiming to help are not in that position. As a nation, the Fijians are rugby mad, but they are still a developing country, and so the facilities are few and far between. In the remote areas we are going to target, some of the children will never have seen a rugby ball before. This is where we come in. If the children get even half of the enjoyment and fun out of playing rugby that I, and the rest of the girls do, then we will have achieved something. And, in leaving them with basic equipment, we hope that they will continue to find enjoyment in a sport that brings so many people so much, and can serve in forming a great community spirit, as we have found in our years playing rugby.”