Mr. Herbert Mensah, President of the Ghana Rugby Football Union, has met officials of the International Rugby Board (IRB) on Monday 23rd June 2014 in Dublin to discuss issues relating to the development of rugby in Ghana.

Present at the meeting that was held at Huguenot House in Dublin were Mr. David Carrigy (Head of Development and International Relations), Mr. Morgan Buckley (General Manager Development) and Mr. Colum Lavery (Member Services Manager).

According to Herbert Mensah, the primary objective of the meeting was to introduce himself on a personal level to the people in charge of rugby development internationally and to seek guidance on the priorities for the development of rugby in Ghana.

Mr. Carrigy congratulated Mr. Mensah and his Executive Members on their election with a mandate to grow the “Rugby Family” in Ghana and assured him that the IRB is fully behind the development programme and will assist and support Ghana Rugby to achieve its objectives.

Mr. Morgan Buckley in explaining the development priorities of the IRB, congratulated Ghana Rugby for participating in its core development programme “Get Into Rugby”. The training and orientation for implementation of this programme was done in Accra earlier in 2014.

The Get Into Rugby programme is part of the IRB strategies to grow the game globally in partnership with member Regions and Unions. The programme is a central part of the IRB initiative to grow Rugby as it rejoins the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The aim of the programme is to encourage players of all ages to Try, Play and Stay in Rugby. Get Into Rugby will promote the values of the game and ensure children are encouraged to try Rugby in a safe and progressive environment.

Mr. Buckley further encouraged Ghana Rugby to evolve from Associate Membership to Full Membership of the IRB as soon as possible in order to also get access to further IRB Development Grant Funding in addition to current support provided by the IRB.

The Ghana Rugby Association (GRA), operating as the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), was established in 2003 and forms part of the IRB’s African development region CAR (Confédération Africaine de Rugby).  In order to progress from Associate Member status to Full Member status Ghana Rugby needs to comply with certain criteria laid down by the IRB.

Mr. Mensah emphasised that the Board of Ghana Rugby is in the process of assessing the state of rugby in Ghana in order to come up with a revised strategic development blueprint for Ghana Rugby that will also ensure speedy compliance with the requirements of becoming  a Full Member of the IRB.