When you pull on your Scotland rugby top, you’re supporting a lot more than the senior team. Of course, watching your elite players match themselves against other teams in international matches is what support is all about, but Scottish Rugby is also involved in a number of initiatives that will make any fan proud to be associated with the organisation.
Like all international sports organisations, Scottish Rugby has a number of teams that are devoted to growing the game and to introducing it to people who may never have had the opportunity to play before – enthusing and educating the next generation of players and fans. Examples of this include the Street Rugby programme, where community teams and club and international players head out to areas where kids will have seen the Scotland rugby top, but will never have had the chance to even touch a rugby ball.
It’s taking the time to invest in programmes like this that help Scottish Rugby to widen its appeal in some of the country’s poorest areas and also to show how rugby can contribute to improvements in health, welfare and discipline. With great role models and enthusiastic leaders, Street Rugby effectively turns up in a community, armed with some rugby balls, inflatables and tackle shields, ready to let anyone have a go at running and passing. Always impressed by the raw talent on show, the teams hope that they might even inspire a youngster to take up rugby and wear their own Scotland rugby top to play at Murrayfield, the home of Scottish rugby.
Street Rugby is just one example of the rugby outreach projects happening in Scotland. Community teams are constantly organising and running rugby sessions in schools around the country, and there is a modern apprenticeship programme to give young people the qualifications they need to join community teams and deliver their own sports training in the future. In addition, Scottish Rugby works with new and established rugby clubs to develop junior and youth training, and operates a Scottish Exiles scheme to encourage those who have been born in Scotland and moved away, or who have a Scottish parent or grandparent to consider playing for their country. Expanding the game is a key opportunity for everyone who wants to see more talented players wearing the coveted Scottish rugby top.
Scotland is a place of diverse yet close communities, whether in the heart of the city or in more rural areas. Wearing the Scotland rugby top is a great way to show the country’s solidarity behind its international team and all the work it is doing for the rugby players of the future.
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