TRI - Regional Rugby Championship Makes Way For Stakeholder Meeting.

Friends of Rugby” have shifted their last program for the 2010 Rugby Season – the Tri-Regional Rugby Challenge Championship scheduled over the weekend in Lagos.

This is to allow for a crucial national rugby stakeholder meeting which will be held tomorrow in Lagos.

According to the Secretary of the group, Ntiense Williams, said the move would enable them to study the present situation of the International Rugby Board Ban on the concession board of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation which has excluded Nigeria from all International Rugby Board and Confederation of African Rugby activities throughout last year.

He said the Tri-Regional Rugby Tournament should have been rescheduled for next year, but the National Rugby Stakeholder meeting is more paramount to any other issue as it would help to find an amicable solution to this lingering problem, which has brought untold hardship to Nigeria Rugby players.

The International Rugby Board & Confederation of African Rugby during the Confederation of African Rugby General Assembly recently held in Ghana last week had separate meetings with both parties to the dispute, and offered to assist Nigeria resolve the impasse once they have a clear position from the Nigerian Rugby Stakeholder on their proposed way forward for Rugby in the country.

The International Rugby Board placed a ban on Nigerian Rugby and declared that the concession board of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation was not recognized and will not be allowed to participate in any IRB & CAR activities up until an elected board of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation was put in place through a democratic means with all Rugby Stakeholders in Nigeria in participation.

This unfortunately has not being adhered to, which necessitated the exclusion of Nigeria from all IRB & CAR activities throughout the 2010 Rugby season, and saw Nigerian Rugby players protesting to the National Sports Commission, but received not response.

In 2009 the National Sports Commission conducted a concession process into the Rugby Federation, which had problems with the withholding of the bid invitation letter from one of the bidders, thereby giving the other bidder an undue advantage.

The issue was brought to the attention of the National Sports Commission, who did not do anything to redress the situation, but instead awarded the concession to the only bidder.

The case was brought to the attention of the International Rugby Board who sent an investigating team and returned with the present ban on Nigerian Rugby up until a democratically elected board is put in place for the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation.