Last week two local Paarl schools, Noorder Paarl High School and Nederburg Primary, were the proud beneficiaries of donated rugby gear as part of the flagship project Scrum5ive Rugby Recycled by the Peter de Villiers Foundation.
The project, with the help of the United Kingdom high commission, has collected a substantial amount of rugby gear in the UK after Scrum5ive founder, Andy Daniel, has partnered with Gareth Simpson, scrum-half for the London based rugby club Saracens, and founder of Rugby Recycled.
The aim of the project is to create a sustainable way of recycling rugby gear that has been previously loved or is still new and is surplus to requirements, because of a club changing sponsors or gear manufacturers.
The gear is being collected by the foundation and its partners and then being distributed to rugby players in need.
The handover of the gear took place last Thursday (3 August) at Noorder Paarl High School, which Nederburg Primary also attended.
De Villiers is very positive about the project and says: “Grassroots rugby is such a big part of the fabric of South African Rugby and with this project, in conjunction with the UK Government and our partners Rugby Recycled, we are simply aiming to give as many people, whether male, female, young or old, the opportunity to take to the field and enjoy the game of rugby as we did growing up in our communities.”
Daniel, who helps spearhead the project and is originally from the UK, echoed what De Villiers said and added that grassroots rugby is exactly the same both here in South Africa and in the UK.
“It brings families and communities together on a Saturday to momentarily forget about the struggles and tribulations of the past week and to unite as one. If we can enable that in some way and get people on a rugby field then we believe we can change numerous lives along the way. To be able to come to Peter’s primary and high schools to ultimately give back in a small way, while hopefully making the players feel as if they are worthy of wearing this sort of professional rugby kit is so satisfying yet we realise it is just the tip of the iceberg of what we need to achieve.”
De Villiers and Daniel are now on a mission to reach as many players in need as they possibly can. They are looking forward to travelling to the Eastern Cape where they will visit rugby clubs and schools to donate more gear.
