KUCHING: Women’s Rugby has come a long way in Sarawak.
Started by a group of women in Miri who played Touch Rugby in 2009, it developed into full contact seven-a-side and 15-a-side rugby by 2012.
Now the Sarawak women’s team is capable of challenging the best teams in the country.
The Miri women players participated not only in a number of state competitions such as the Miri Baram Trophy and Bintulu 7’s but have also travelled to tournaments in Sabah, West Malaysia and Brunei.
A number of them have travelled internationally representing Malaysia.
Currently, those who have represented Malaysia at the senior level are Cindy John, Fidelia Limang, Stancy Ling Engan, Dayang Maggie, at U20 are Rachel Ashley, Khairunnisa Abdullah, Erina Tasha Rajis, Sharon Sim Lili and at U18 is Josie Mavcellina Gone.
Interest in the sport among local women picked up quickly with Sylvia Alexander Lian as the full-time Rugby Development Officer for Miri Division Rugby Association (MDRA) which went about introducing rugby to a number of local schools and building up the pool of women’s players.
It also helps that the Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU), under its president Richard Song Swee Jin, is currently sponsored by the Kuala Lumpur Australian High Commission to carry out “Get into Rugby” sessions across Sarawak under the banner of “Empowering Women through Sport”.
To date, the programme has involved 21 schools offering an introduction to rugby in the more remote areas of the state and identifying potential players for further development to state and national level.
In recognition of their successful role in the development of the Sarawak Women’s Rugby, MDRA has been designated the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Rugby and a full-time international coach from Fiji Beniamino Tamanikula Soso has been based in Miri to train and develop the state Sukma women’s team.
Many of the senior players have now moved into coaching roles across the state, further expanding participation and improving the skills of the growing number of women involved in the sport.
The vision is to make Sarawak a powerhouse for women’s rugby in Malaysia under the patronage of Datuk Seri Doris Brodie, who is the current patron of women’s rugby in the Miri Division.
Song is grateful to the Sarawak government for the strong support in the development of both the men’s rugby and women’s rugby in Sarawak.
“I would like to thank SRU patron Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and his deputy Datuk Snowdan Lawan, the Ministry’s permanent secretary Nancy Jolhi as well as the Sarawak Sports Corporation chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee for the financial assistance and hiring two professional coaches from Fiji Nacani Seniu to train the state Sukma men’s team in Kuching and Beniamino to train the women’s team in Miri,” he said.