Playing for Equal Rights
Across our Khelo Rugby communities on 22 April we were focussed on equal rights, leadership skills and rugby of course.By Peter Fernandes
Three community rugby tournaments on Sunday 22nd of April were the culmination of six weeks work in our communities on the theme of 'equal rights, equal opportunities.' Bhawani Bhawan, Salt Lake Dhapa and Fatehpur saw some 230 children come together in tournaments planned and organised by our young Khelo Coaches. For six weeks our coaches and young leaders had been delivering charcha on ‘equal rights, equal opportunities’ with a focus on gender equality. Bringing so many children together was a perfect way to complete this project.
The tournament was a good platform to get an understanding on how much the children had learnt and understood about the theme. Children from each community had to produce an artwork or poster based on the theme and explain the same to children from other communities at the tournament. With lots of rugby squeezed in between this was a high tempo fun way to share learning.
As well as work around 'equal rights, equal opportunities' this was another live skills development for our young coaches who managed the whole event -
- Assign roles & responsibilities among the team members
- Ground cleaning and setup
- Organising drinking water & refreshments
- Toilets / changing rooms arrangements
- Transport for teams
- Playing kit, rugby balls, cones, whistles, poles, flags
- Tournament scheduling and match fixtures
- Theme delivery using posters
- Prizes and trophies
A total of 21 communities participated in the tournaments. At Bhawani Bhawan, Howrah Pilkhana defeated Hyde Road in a closely fought final with the score 5 tries to 4. At Fatehpur, KPT Colony took the top honours defeating the team from Khatal 3-1. At Salt Lake Dhapa, Chingrighata defeated the hosts Dhapa 4-2. The quality of rugby at all the locations was superb and the children had a great time. Break up of locations and teams was:
| BHAWANI BHAWAN | FATEHPUR | SALT LAKE DHAPA |
| B.N.R | Brooklyn | Arupota |
| Bhawani Bhawan | Behala | Belgachia |
| Chetla | Fatehpur | Boistala |
| Hyde Road | Garden Reach | Chingrighata |
| Howrah Pilkhana | KPT Colony | SL Dhapa |
| Kidderpore | Khatal | |
| Nawab Ali Park | Jainkunj | |
| P.G. Hospital | ||
| Wadgunj |
Highlights of the day were the young leaders doing a great job in organising the tournament, displaying good team work and cohesion. All the children were well looked after. It was very special that so many children got the opportunity to visit the homes of their rugby friends, see where they live and in the process make new friends. The 3 locations had a total of 50 matches and 180 tries were scored!
The charcha sessions delivered by the children were excellent. It was encouraging to see the level of knowledge displayed by the children on gender equality and how they firmly believed that they can make small differences in their own communities. Every child was of the firm belief that both boys and girls should be given equal chances in order to excel in life - hear, hear to that!
