Icons to inspire revival of rugby

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Song (third right) with (from left) Yusuf, William Chan, Lee, Jamaluddin and James after their meeting on Saturday.

Song (third right) with (from left) Yusuf, William Chan, Lee, Jamaluddin and James after their meeting on Saturday.

KUCHING: The Song Kheng Hai Memorial Cup and Brother Columba Memorial Cup will be organised by the Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU) this year to help revive the sport in the state.

This was announced by new SRU president Richard Song Swee Jin, a corporate leader, who took the helm last month.

“There is a need to organise more competitions especially for school students because they are the future of Sarawak,” said Song who will be the sponsor of both tournaments.

Both will be held at the Song Kheng Hai Rugby Ground, the iconic venue of rugby matches in the state capital.

The late Brother Columba was the last La Salle principal of St Joseph’s School, a powerhouse in rugby and sports during the 1950s to 1980s.

Song’s immediate task as the new chief will be to embark on a state-wide visit to divisional affiliates and meet up with their presidents and committee members after the Chinese New Year.

“We will be working closely with the State Education Department because it involves students from primary school aged from seven up to universities and there is a series of levels we have to do.

“We are talking about education in terms of coaching, refereeing, umpiring and we have to engage with the teachers and principals to produce more teacher coaches who will run the rugby development in their respective schools,” added Song who is the grandson of Song Kheng Hai.

He was happy that NRDP director Jamaluddin Salim and operations manager Mohamed Yusuf had come to Kuching to brief SRU and the seven selected schools on the National Rugby Development Programme at SMK Agama Sheikh Haji Othman Abdul Wahab (Shoaw) on Friday.

Song said the state body will be also working closely together with the State government through the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Solidarity.

“Our state secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani will be retained as SRU patron and we will visit the new chief minister at an appropriate time.

“We are also going to pay assistant minister of Youth, Sports and Solidarity Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah a courtesy visit to update him on the latest rugby developments,” he said.

“SRU wants to tell the government what we are going to do. We welcome whatever assistance that the government can give us and I have made it clear that we have to be self-supporting and self-sufficient, so we need to organise certain partnership projects,” added Song.

Song said he is also getting on board senior ruggers such as ex-SRU secretary James Ritchie, Lawrence Lee, Jackson Lim and Ambrose Chung to contribute to rugby development in the state.