Rugby union in the Cayman Islands

Rugby union in the Cayman Islands
Location of the Cayman Islands
Country	Cayman Islands
Governing body	Cayman Rugby
National team(s)	Cayman Islands
Registered players	2,256
Clubs	6
National competitions
Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup Sevens IRB Sevens World Series Caribbean Championship

Rugby union is a growing sport in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands national rugby union team is ranked 53rd in the world, with 2,256 registered players.

Governing body

The governing body is Cayman Rugby, which is a member of World Rugby, and the Rugby Americas North (RAN).

History

Although there has been interest in the game in the Cayman Islands for decades, it only became properly organised in 1972, when the Cayman Islands RFC was founded. This team faced the challenge of having no rugby ball, pitch, and no clubhouse, for several years, and their nearest opponents were in Jamaica 600 miles away. In 1975, however, Jeff Butterfield, a former England player acquired the rights to a piece of pine forest, which was turned into their pitch.

Nowadays, the islands have their own men's team, and also a women's team, which was established in 2004. There is also a national Sevens team. A schools development programme is also now in force allowing the development of an under 18/19 national team.

The Cayman Islands compete in the Caribbean Championship, a tournament which includes Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Martinique, Jamaica, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Guyana.

Teams

Male

Queensgate Pigs Trotters RFC (Originally a police team)
Advance Fire & Plumbing Buccaneers RFC
John Doak Iguanas RFC
Fidelity Cayman Storm RFC

Other former teams include:

The Cayman Surge
ReMax Old Boys - Tarnished Turtles RFC

Female

The Iguanas
Buccaneers
Trotters

References

Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. ISBN 0-7126-0911-3

^ IRB.com retrieved 24 August 2009
"Nawira Athletics". www.nawira.com. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
^ Cotton, p14
^ Retrieved 4 August 2008 Cayman Rugby
Bath, p78

External links

Cayman Rugby
Cayman Islands on IRB.com
NAWIRA Cayman Islands page
Cayman Islands on RugbyData.com
Boost for Rugby 7's in the Americas & Caribbean
(in French) Archives du Rugby: Cayman Islands

v t e Rugby union in North America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

v t e Rugby union in British dependencies
Governing bodies	Rugby Football Union Bermuda British Virgin Is Cayman Islands Jersey Isle of Man Turks and Caicos
National teams	Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands (M W)
By dependency	Anguilla Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Guernsey (Sark) Jersey Isle of Man Montserrat St Helena St Kitts & Nevis Turk & Caicos
Clubs	Anguilla Eels RFC Campo Gibraltar RFC Manx rugby teams
Related articles	Bermuda Classic Tournament NACRA Jeff Butterfield The Lord Jersey Rugby Cup

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