Rugby Club Coming to Myanmar

Rugby could soon be coming to Myanmar, with the introduction of the country's first ever rugby club, in Yangon.
The club is the brainchild of Dave Smith, who helped set-up a similar venture in the Philippines with the Cebu Dragons Rugby Club. Yangon’s new team, which will be known as the Yangon Dragons, hopes to form a link-up with the Filipino club, and Smith sees similarities between the two.
“Five or ten years ago, Philippines barely had any sort of rugby scene, and the Cebu club started just as an idea between a few guys, but now has over 300 players in men, ladies, youth and is involved in school development programs. Also, the club has 25 international caps across the club,” before adding that he would like to see, perhaps in the future, the Yangon club going on tours to the Philippines and further across Asia.
However, there is a lot of hard work to be done before then. The first issue on the club’s agenda is that they must find a pitch that is available for training sessions in the week and for a weekend session. The club must also import equipment, such as balls and training equipment, things that are not freely available in Myanmar.
A long-term aim of the club would be to get the game into local schools, to help develop it in the local community. “It doesn’t matter how short, thin, fat, tall someone is. That’s the beauty of this game, there’s a position for every shape and size,” Smith said.
Anyone interested in being involved in the club may contact Phil Blackwood at yangondragonsrugby@gmail.com.