Over the last couple of years at Girls' Brigade Northern Ireland (GBNI) have developed a number of new partnerships to provide a wide variety of competitions for their girls. This year sees the introduction of an organisation-wide Touch Rugby competition for their 14-18 year old girls.

GBNI felt that the with the increasing popularity of Tag/Touch Rugby in Northern Ireland it made sense to give their girls the opportunity to develop and show of their skills in this sport. GBNI would hope to emulate their other competitions where they have in excess of 100 teams taking part equating to approximately 500 girls.

Back in May, Ulster Rugby’s Female Rugby Officer Neal Johnston provided GBNI with training across two Saturdays. In total 75 leaders attended and gained accreditation as entry level coaches and were given an opportunity to part-take in and lead a variety of small-sided games to aid their delivery to the girls at their individual Companies. Given the lack of outdoor facilities and pitches available to GBNI they have worked with Neal to agree a format of the game that can be played inside their church halls and at local leisure centres.

GBNI’s Emma Trueick commented on the recent partnership, “We are very excited about the district competitions being held this month and our Northern Ireland Final in November. We would like to thank Ulster Rugby for their support with the upcoming competition.”

GBNI are looking for assistance from referees or members of local rugby clubs who might be willing and available to assist with officiating at some of their upcoming District events. The dates and venues in need of assistance are shown below. If you would be interested in lending a hand please contact GBNI Event’s Officer Emma Trueick on 028 94548054 or events@gbni.co.uk

Calendar of events:

·       Friday 21st October 7.00pm, Soccer Shed, Ballyclare
·       Friday 21st October 7.30pm, Bawnacre Centre, Irvinestown
·       Monday 24th October 7.00pm, Eddie Irvine Sports Centre, Bangor
·       Tuesday 25th October 7.30pm, Whitewell Metropolitan, Belfast
·       Tuesday 25th October 7.30pm, Castledawson Churchhall, Castledawson
·       Tuesday 25th October 7.45pm, Trinity Methodist, Lisburn
·       Wednesday 26th October 7.00pm, Downpatrick Leisure Centre
·       Friday 25th November 7.00pm, NIGB Touch Rugby Finals, Queens PEC

Girls' Brigade to offer Touch Rugby for 14-18 year olds

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