Stephen Barber, PRUI Life Member

The thought of feet landing on your head, your back, your chest, your legs or your arms is not a pleasant thought and yet in years gone by that is what those of us who played Rugby risked feeling for sake of playing our wonderful game and freeing the ball so that play could go on. In today’s game life at the bottom of ruck is nothing like it was 20 years ago and nor is the game, especially here in Indonesia, but life does go on and the Rugby is making forward progress albeit at a stifled pace given the ball is continually getting stuck at the bottom of a ruck.

You are probably asking yourself by now where I am coming from and what this article is about, but put simply trying to promote and develop Rugby in Indonesia is literally like living life at the bottom of a ruck in that most people want to trample on you and focus on other things in life. The biggest losers are not people like me or those of you reading this article, but in fact the children of this wonderful country who are denied the opportunity to play sport and in this case Rugby, so that they can join the universal brand of camaraderie that makes the Game famous worldwide.

Rugby has established itself as a sport here in Indonesia over the past 11 years thanks to the dedicated work of many people and recognition from the likes of World Rugby, Asian Rugby, KONI and KOI to see the game develop a foothold in this vast archipelago. However in order to take the game to the next level those involved in the game now need to get the ball out of the ruck and send it to the wings so that the game can reach the next level. In order to do this the game needs desperate financial support from the wider community, so that the real winners can be the Indonesian children and youths who are right now very much sitting on the sidelines.

There is no greater joy than seeing a bunch of young children be they Indonesian or foreign, boys or girls, having fun playing rugby or forms of the game formulated for those juniors or youths. However without sponsorship the youngsters of Indonesia face the prospect of being trampled at the base of a ruck and spat out the back like cannon fodder if the game here in this country does not receive urgent financial support.

So if your pockets are deeper than the base of a ruck and want to help Indonesian Rugby support the ‘stars of tomorrow today’ then I am asking you now to dig deep to clean out the ruck and show your support for Indonesian Rugby.

A wonderful example of getting the ball out of the ruck was the generosity shown recently by Mark Manderson, President of the Komodos Rugby Club who bought some rugby boots for fourteen young Indonesian lads (pictured) who train with the Jakarta Komodos Junior Rugby Club. Mark’s reasoning for buying the boots to honour a gentleman called Harry Williams who coached a young Mark and a load of other kids at Betteshanger Rugby Club, in the UK and gave them all some boots when they couldn’t afford them. Mark commented “Go you youngsters, I hope you have as much fun and get as much out of rugby as I have”. Mark has surely showed these young lads the way out of the ruck and they are all now happily playing and enjoying Rugby.

While there is some gratitude in Mark’s generosity there are so many more Indonesian children and youths that need your urgent help to allow them rise above adversity and climb off the bottom of a ruck so that they can play and enjoy Rugby and life in general. So if you are one who does not like being trampled on at the bottom of a ruck, then please do yourself and young Indonesian children and youths a great favour by contacting Indonesian Rugby today to learn about the ways in which you can become a sponsor of the Game of Rugby that is doing wonders for young Indonesians.

For more information please contact Indonesian Rugby – info@rugbyindonesia.or.id