The Titans Women’s Rugby Club is hosting an Open Invitational Rugby 7s Tournament for women’s and under-18s girls teams between 10-11 October 2014 in Knysna, South Africa.
The Tournament is seeking to raise awareness of violence against women and children as part of the #MS13RUGBY7sChallenge that was started in 2013 by the Springbok’s Mathrin Simmers. The hashtag MS stands for Mathrin Simmer’s initials and the 13 represent her playing position on the rugby pitch.
The objective of this tournament is to speak out against the abuse of women and children and to provide an opportunity for international teams to gain exposure and game time in preparation for the Dubai 7s, which takes place in December.
The tournament will also provide an opportunity for the local women’s provincial teams to prepare for the inter-provincial tournament and will feature an under 18s competition that will provide an opportunity for local clubs, provincial teams and teams from abroad to compete against top class teams and players.
There are not a lot of playing options for under 18 girls and this could serve as an extra option for players and teams to play more rugby.
Last year’s tournament featured three under 18s teams and was a great success.
This year the Titans have the African Development Group on board to create a bigger and better tournament through their specialized project and event management abilities.
Schedule
Teams participating will arrive a week prior to the tournament and will have the opportunity to visit some of the most beautiful tourism attractions situated in the heart of the Garden Route.
The Tournament will be divided into two competitions – (1) a senior women’s section and (2) a girl’s section. The top two teams in both will compete in a semi – final and finals while the bottom two teams in both competitions will compete for the Bowl and Shield titles.
Entry fee for the tournament is R500-00 per team.
About Mathrin Simmers
Mathrin Simmers is a local rugby player from Knysna. She has been a part of the Springbok Women 7s team since October 2012 and has become a local role model and inspiration to young girls and women in South Africa.
Through this campaign she wishes to make women aware of the fact that it’s never alright to be abused and wants to send a message out to people to speak out about violence against women.