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WFC connection with Penguins still strong and helping Rwandan rugby

WFC connection with Penguins still strong and helping Rwandan rugby

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On Friday, February 11 a number of people with strong Watsonian Football Club connections were down south in Marlow playing for the King Penguins against Marlow RFC Vets.

The King Penguins are part of Penguin Rugby - the world’s premier rugby touring side - and there have always been strong links with WFC, for example for player Craig Brown is now the Penguins chief executive.

The Penguins objective is to foster - by coaching and playing - the development, goodwill and camaraderie of rugby union worldwide. They also raise money to help rugby grow around the globe.

John Kerr, the ex-WFC player and former vice-president of the club, is now King Penguins president and, on Friday, he was joined on the pitch by the likes of Duncan Small, captain Gavin Brown, Torrie Callander, Jamie Blackwood, Richard Minto, Ross Haddow and others who have worn maroon and white with distinction in the past.

With world travel starting to open up again, fingers crossed, the Penguins will be looking to restart their famous tours to places further afield than Marlow in the coming months and years - and the club has a unique relationship with Rwanda in Africa.

That relationship started in 2010 When a coaching trip was undertaken by ex-Scotland head coach Frank Hadden and Craig Brown to Rwanda. A match between the Silverbacks - the Rwandan national team - and the Penguins, with six WFC members in their ranks, then took place in 2014 and saw lifelong friendships made and some 1500 items of kit and equipment donated.

Since then, the Penguins International Rugby Football Trust (PIRFT) in conjunction with the charity Friends of Rwandan Rugby (FoRR) - has funded a CEO/GM of Rwandan Rugby and the King Penguins have supported with funding, coaching visits, business planning and kit donations.

Rwanda Rugby has come on massively in this time, participation has doubled with more than 16,000 players now involved in the game across all ages including a growing number of female players.

Development officers have doubled to 12 and the PIRFT Funding has been a significant contributor to this success. The King Penguins have raised another sum of around £10,000 to support Rwandan Rugby and an orphanage where they coached.

John Kerr also worked with a number of WFC sponsors to support the national team out there by putting their logos on the jersey.

The support was encouraging and led John to contact the Watsonians Warriors mini section to see if they had any unwanted kit which could be taken out to Rwanda to help youngsters there get kitted out and get involved in the game.

Once again the support was very impressive and, as you can see by the photo in which John (right) is pictured with fellow Penguin and Haddington RFC stalwart Keith Wallace, a lot of it was collected.

Obviously, things have slowed up since March 2020, but Keith and fellow Penguin Tony Penn (Ex-Hurricanes and Taranaki) are planning their next trip to Rwanda at the end of May/June to provide coaching and business support and to coincide with a FoRR tour party.

They will be taking the Watsonians Warriors kit with them and John said: “A number of people involved with WFC and the Warriors have been very generous in helping the Penguins promote rugby in Rwanda and it will be great to finally get the kit out there and keep growing this great sport.”

To find out more about Penguin Rugby, visit here