Rugby is a full contact team sports based on running with an oval-shaped ball in the hand and played on a rectangular pitch with an H-shaped posts at each end.
Rugby as sports has managed its way into the African continent with South Africa being one of the power houses and Ghana finding its way to the top gradually.
The Ghana Rugby Association is becoming a force to reckon with after it has undergone major improvements in the past years.
The sport which is not popular to many Ghanaians is gradually picking its way to be one of the known sporting activities in the West African country.
Mr Herbert Mensah, an executive member of the Greater Accra Rugby Union together with his associates organized the first ever professionally run Ghana Rugby Club Championship in 2014/2015, a move for Ghana’s Rugby Association to become a full member of the World Rugby Union and also prepare players for the 2015/2016 African Championship.
The tournament which was competed by Accra Sharks RFC, Cosmos Buffaloes RFC, Dansoman Hurricanes RFC, Idas Sports RFC, Legon Titans RFC and Tema Anchors RFC ended with Cosmos Buffaloes being crowned as champions.
A milestone the association chalked after 11years and it marked the beginning of greater achievements for the Ghana Rugby union.
Twenty-five players were picked to the Ghana Eagles (Ghana Rugby national team) for preparations towards the 2016 African Cup West men’s sevens tournament in Lome, Togo where they managed to win bronze.
The Ghana Rugby Association under Mr Herbert Mensah has been able to chalk a remarkable feat in the past three years, lifting the African regional challenge West 1 by defeating Benin 46 – 5 and Togo 10 – 0 in 2017, competing for first time in the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens Tournament in Kampala-Uganda by beating Mauritius 26 to 0 to be placed 9th in the Africa Men’s Sevens Tournament and earning a promotion from the Rugby Africa Regional Challenge to the 2018 Rugby Africa Bronze Cup.
Just like every sporting discipline, the Ghana Rugby Union has its problem and a major one is funding.The president of the association, Herbert Mensah has managed to get some corporates bodies such as Accra Brewery, Interplast Ghana, Vodafone Ghana and Zen Petroleum on board to support Ghana Rugby.
The Ghana Rugby Union is now a full member of the World Rugby Council and
should Rugby in Ghana be given a little push from the Sports Ministry and other corporate bodies, many glories will be won as the team aims at winning big on the global stage.
The West African nation can now boast of a number of national teams such as the senior national 15s, Senior national 7s, under 18, 15 and 12 teams.
By Obed Asafo
