Hamilton welcome initiative to fund youth rugby with criminals' cash

May 1 2008

HAMILTON Rugby Club and Scottish Rugby have backed a £1.4m cash injection into the sport from the Scottish Government, with the cash coming from the proceeds of crime.

The cash will be spent on youth rugby over the next three years, and is aimed at those aged 10-19, with the objective of providing free rugby coaching and playing for 32,000 youngsters by 2011.

Scottish Rugby chiefs submitted a detailed application for funding through a ‘Cashback for Communities’ scheme, which sees cash recovered from criminals reinvested throughout the country.

The award was announced last week by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and sports minister Stewart Maxwell.

Hamilton Rugby Club coach Ian Morrison welcomed the move, saying: “We are delighted to hear of this initiative, which is aimed at 10-19 year-olds, and welcome the recognition that sport in general, and rugby in particular, can assist in the development of young people.

“At the moment, we have very active mini and midi sections, many of our current 2nd XV are under 19, and a number of our 1st XV players came up through our youth system.

“Our youngsters and older players come from all communities in Hamilton and the surrounding area and it is tremendous to see young people grow through the sport.

“We have also worked with a number of local schools, South Lanarkshire Council, and Strathclyde Police in community initiatives but have been limited in what we are able to do because of the limitations of our own resources.

“However in recognition of the benefits to the individual, club and community this year we have, in conjunction with the SRU, already taken the decision to appoint a rugby development officer and are seeking applications for the post.

“This government and SRU initiative seems to fit in well with our own goals and objectives and we look forward to working with the SRU, their regional development officers, the local council, schools, and community organisations to ensure that real benefits are delivered.”

SRU head of community rugby Colin Thomson said: “We want to be the fastest-growing sport in Scotland and we’ve set out our targets in our five-year plan to have an extra 11,000 extra players by 2012.

“This investment from the Scottish Government will enable us to deliver a whole range of activities through recruiting additional development officers.

“Those development officers will offer rugby to children in primary and secondary schools, especially those where there’s little chance to play rugby just now.

“We’ll link the activity in schools to local rugby clubs, creating satellite rugby centres for disadvantaged and disengaged youngsters.”