Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.04.2010, Side 37

Laugavegur 24 | 101 Reykjavík | Tel: +354 578 4888
A Very Special
Scandinavian
Welcome
Wanna get hurt?
Find these guys on Facebook under “Rugby félag Íslands (Icelandic Rugby Team)” or email
James at icelandrugby@gmail.com. Training takes place at Sporthúsið, which is located at
Dalsmári 9-11, in Kópavogur, every Wednesday at 19:45.
Sports | Rugby
“Keep moving! Use the ball with both
hands. Don’t throw it away like that.
NEXT GROUP UP NOW!!”
A large man with an impressive beard
is giving out instructions, but I’m not
hearing very well. Perhaps it’s due to
the fact that my lungs are on fire and
parts of my body that even my mother
didn’t know existed are being strained
and exercised to their limits.
The venue is the Sporthúsið com-
plex in Kópavogur and the occasion
is a training session with the newly
formed Reykjavik Raiders Rugby Foot-
ball Club. Myself and 25 other players
are being put through our paces with a
succession of drills and games. There
are also several Icelanders attending
their first ever session, this being the
first time they’ve ever touched an oval
ball. And they seem to be really enjoy-
ing it as well.
Despite being played in 115 coun-
tries over the world, rugby seems to
have hit a blind spot in Iceland, the
preferred team sports being handball
and football. But this is a situation
the Reykjavik Raiders are hoping to
change.
When I eventually recovered my
breath, I managed to pose a couple of
questions to one of the club's found-
ers, James Broad.
Tell us about the origins of the
Reykjavik Raiders. how did it all
begin?
I moved to Reykjavik in 2009 and as
I have been addicted to rugby since I
was nine years old, I was determined to
carry on playing here. I found a Face-
book group called Rugbyfélag Íslands,
started by Stefán Smári Kristinnsson,
an Icelander who had come to love the
game after time he had spent in Italy
and Scotland. He called a meeting with
a few others who felt the same way as
us, we had a few beers, swapped life
stories and the first training session
was arranged...
What is your current setup? What
are you offering people who turn
up to train?
We play every Wednesday evening at
Sporthúsið, who have been very en-
thusiastic supporters of our mission.
The training group has gone from a
team of nine at our first meeting, to be-
tween 20 and 30 guys each week.
We offer anybody keen to try the
sport the opportunity to join us and
get involved in setting up something
that has never happened in Iceland
before. You will get coaching, advice
and extremely friendly and enthusi-
astic support from a group of guys
amongst who are rugby players who
have many years of experience playing
professionally and semi-professionally
abroad, in international leagues and
tournaments.
What do you envision the future
holds for RR RFC? Could an icelan-
dic national team be far off, even?
Each week, more people are finding
out about us, more are coming along
to play and more word is spreading,
both locally and internationally that
rugby is being played in Iceland. RR
RFC is just the start. We envision that
we would be one part of a Reykjavik
Rugby league in the future, which
could eventually become a nation-
wide Icelandic League.
I would love to see a National Team
in the not too distant future. It is disap-
pointing to tell you that Norway, Fin-
land, Sweden and Denmark all play,
and play each other regularly as part
of a Nordic Cup. But what better mo-
tivation for us? I have every reason to
believe that Iceland could be a very
strong rugby-playing nation. The po-
tential shown by the Icelanders at our
sessions has been extremely encour-
aging.
oK, i’m an icelander who has never
heard of this sport of Rugby. Sell it
to me, why i would be interested in
playing this sport? or my kids play-
ing it, for that matter?
I think the game of rugby matches
the Viking spirit perfectly. It’s a very
physical contact sport played on the
grass for a thoroughly exhausting and
incredibly rewarding 80 minutes. It
has the hand skills and physicality of
handball, only times ten! If you play
handball, if you like the physical nature
of that game, the hand-skills and the
speed, then you will love rugby
And we play rugby to the safest
levels possible. Kids are not thrown
into full physical contact until they are
developed enough to use it or take it.
There is also a non-contact version
that we play called touch rugby, which
is played from a young age and utilises
all the skills, fitness and tactics of rug-
by, without the hard tackling.
BoB ClunESS
JÓi KJaRTanS
Raiders With oval Balls!
Rugby arrives in Iceland with a thud
25
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04 — 2010