Oct 16, 2008

TCIRFU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2008

The Turks & Caicos Islands Rugby Football Union AGM for 2008 was held at last Thursday evening Oct 16th, and was well attended by the club’s membership. A review of the completed year’s achievements was undertaken and goals for the next 12 months were set. The club thanked the Executive committee for the hard work that had been put in by volunteers over the last twelve months and took time to reflect on the progress that had been made in keys areas of the clubs development.

Chief among these was the continuing success of the junior rugby development program. This program has been running now for many years but the last 12 months has seen a dramatic increase in numbers attending. The direct result of this has been an up­skilling of the participants involved and a surge of enthusiasm for the sport at a younger level. This is where the future of the club lies and it’s only through the continuing hard work of the club volunteers who give their Saturday mornings freely and willingly to pass on expertise and assistance in the development of rugby in the TCI. This is not only greatly appreciated by the club, but also by the 50 or so juniors who are now turning out every Saturday morning to learn about the game.

The new focus for the club in the next 12 months will be on completing the rugby pitch, and thereby continuing to develop junior rugby in the country. Clearly the ongoing development of the game in the country cannot be undertaken without reliable access to appropriate sporting facilities so the club is looking at pushing to completion, the pitch development project that has already been undertaken. The completion of this facility will enable both the youth and senior squads to train, practice and compete in a grass environment that is both safe and conducive to contact sport.

The TCIRFU also thanked the outgoing Executive Committee and welcome the newly elected members to their posts.

TCI RFU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2008/09
President: Keith Burant
Secretary: Fraser Dods
Treasurer: Jim Alston
Club Captain: Simon Taylor
Vice Captain: Blair Mason
Junior Development Officer: Jamie Tait
Pitch Development Officer: James Hamilton
Public Relations Officer: Gareth Butler
Social Officer: Richard Desmond

Other matters discussed include the successful matches hosted and tours that the club had undertaken in the last 12 months, and a desire for this momentum to be continued with visits from North American sides, and also the proposal for the TCIRFU to send a senior squad to the Ft. Lauderdale, FL. rugby festival in Feb 2009. This is being explored and could be a good opportunity for some of the up and coming stars of the junior development program to be exposed to senior rugby.

The club is positive about the future of rugby in the Turks & Caicos Islands. With the continuing hard work of the Executive Committee and general membership, the TCIRFU is confident that the game will continue to develop and see more games played, more league competitions held, more overseas tours undertaken, and the continuing transition of the many eager young rugby players into the senior representative squad. This is where the future of the game in this country lies, and the more junior players that can be brought up through the ranks, the better the game will be in the long run.

For those interested in learning more about the game please contact the unions Public Relations Officer, Gareth Butler at Gareth@meridiantrust.tc, or visit the clubs website at http://www.rugby.tc