By Olanrewaju Akojede
Lagos – The President of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Kelechukwu Mbagwu, on Thursday in Lagos said the development of the rugby sport among female Nigerians has been very encouraging.
Mbagwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the development of female rugby had not taken a back seat as being insinuated.
“The sport has been receiving encouraging development over the years. Equally, we have been working on the development of female rugby in Nigeria and it has been encouraging as well.’’
He added that in spite of the insinuations that the development of the sport is slow, female rugby in Nigeria has become more popular in recent years.
“We are working on what to do with the female rugby league. What we want is to have a league that we can take to the six geo-political zones of the country.
“With this, we can have a large pool of players. For example in Kano, we have female rugby teams in schools which are well developed. Also, in Lagos state we have established teams.
“In addition to this, our national female rugby team has represented the country in Las Vegas, U.S., where they performed well by reaching the knockout stage of the competition,” the NRFF president said.
Mbagwu also disclosed that the national rugby league would start immediately after the 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) which would have provided the states the opportunity to assess their teams.
“The NSF will be a good opportunity for the various states to assess their teams because, after the NSF, we hope to commence the league for the male rugby teams.
“After the NSF, we will kick start the league with the President’s Cup competition which will be between the champions of the South, who are the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Northern champions,’’ he said.(NAN)
