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The Soweto Rugby Club continues to make strides with endeavours to promote the development of the sport of Rugby in the township - that for years has been the famous home to another sport, football.

On Saturday the 12th of April, the club held rugby coaching clinics which were administered to over 150 children from Bramfischer and surrounding areas, as part of preparations for the annual Soweto Rugby Tournament, to be held later this month at the same venue.

Rugby euphoria consumed the warm Saturday morning as scores of Bramfischer youths aged 4-18 lined up at the grounds to receive mentoring and coaching on techniques that would prepare them to be good rugby players in future.

The event is part of the Soweto Rugby Tournament, which is organized in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Lions Rugby Union.

Now in its third year, the main tournament will take place over a 3 day period from the 26th - 28th of April 2014, also at the Bramfischer Multi-Purpose Centre, featuring 10 Senior teams and 10 Under-13 teams from throughout Gauteng, North West, KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape.

Secretary for the Soweto Rugby Club, Zola Ntlokoma, said he was excited about the growth of the tournament and indicated that they were planning more initiatives such as more coaching clinics and rugby festivals for youths as part of the club’s vision of creating a living legacy for the community of Bram Fischer and Soweto.

Said Zola: “We’ve found that 20 years into freedom the sport of rugby is bigger but it has not penetrated townships like Soweto - as a celebrated sport, which is why in the broader scheme of things we are struggling to produce an adequate number of players of colour that don the Springbok jersey coming from these areas. By exposing these young people to the sport at an early age we hope to build and enhance their interest and hopefully spark further interest to take up the sport professionally.”

Schools and organizations that took part in the coaching clinics included JB Marks Primary, Bram Fischer Primary, Siyabonga High School, as well as Non-Governmental Organizations such as Rothle Sonke Revival, which deals with Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and Active of Bram Fischer.