Rugby needs a home – Benzwick

Chairman of the Jamaica Rugby Football Union (JRFU) Jerry Benzwick says the continued absence of a local home venue for the rapidly growing sport continues to be the biggest hindrance they face in its development domestically.

In recent years, Jamaican rugby has made some major strides, qualifying for a number of international tournaments, both male and female, and Benzwick argues that a venue for rugby locally would not only continue the development of the sport but also ease the burden on the union in a number of other ways.

“We are short on resources. We don’t have much. But one of the things that we are really lacking is a playing field of our own, and that has been our cry from day one and still is,” he told The Gleaner.

“If we can get a pitch to play on, that would save us a whole heap of headache. It would lift us up just to have a field as we could organise all games in one place and have all the activities in one place. Most football clubs have this experience because they have somewhere to train. We just don’t [have a field], so we have to be going around and trying to earn a space [to play] here and there, and it is very tedious, and that is one of the great challenges we have,” he noted.

Benzwick revealed that the organisation is in contact with the sport ministry in an attempt to obtain land, but he is not sure how much closer they are to achieving this objective.

“I would like to say we are close, but not that close, because we haven’t had the go-ahead as yet from any of the entities that we have engaged about it. We are just basically leaning on the Government to get us a parcel of land,” he said.

“We don’t have the money to purchase land, so we will lean on the Government and hope they give us a piece of land, and then we can show them how much we can earn for the country out of it.

POSITIVE Earner

“Rugby union is a positive earner, and if we do get a pitch, you will see the difference in how much traffic we bring in for rugby. We had discussions earlier but haven’t had any contact lately. But the Ministry of Sport says they want to assist us, so we are hoping some kind of agreement can be reached,” the JRFU chairman said.

Benzwick is convinced that rugby in Jamaica will continue to make strides internationally. He believes the males are more equipped tactically to perform on the global stage and that there is one ingredient missing from the females to make that next step.

“The boys are on a wonderful projection (internationally) right now, and the girls are on the same trajectory. But what we really want is some genuine speedsters to come and play rugby for the female teams. We want some track girls,” he said.

“Jamaica has some of the fastest women in the world, and you have some ladies chasing them and cannot catch them. Those ladies would be superstars on a rugby pitch, so I am looking for some of those ladies to make a difference on our team and help us get to the Olympics. So we really want some real fast girls to come over and play rugby for us.

“So if a girl knows she is fast and is doing track and just can’t get over that hump and she wants to represent Jamaica, I suggest they contact us, and we will take it from there,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com