/ 17 November 2011

Eastern Cape rugby academy: Taking rugby to the people

Eastern Cape Rugby Academy: Taking Rugby To The People

A dedicated rugby academy is to be established in the Eastern Cape within the near future, it emerged on Wednesday.

“In the next coming weeks, we are going to make a big announcement with rugby in terms of an academy in the Eastern Cape,” Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula told journalists at Parliament.

Funds for the project were available and sponsorship had already been secured, he said.

The academy would be in the Eastern Cape because that was where black Africans played rugby en masse.

Most of the country’s top black rugby players originated from the Eastern Cape, one of which is recently slain Solly Tyibilika — the first black rugby player to score a Test try for the Springboks.

The project was in the interests of achieving transformation in sport, Mbalula said. — Sapa