One of the two newly-elected presidents of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) Petrie Theron has said one of their biggest objectives as new leadership is to see the sport being played in all corners of the country, especially in the most remote areas.

Theron, together with John Walters, were recently elected as the two new presidents of the NRU at the union’s extraordinary congress held in Windhoek, after both garnered the same number of votes, and it was then resolved to install them as joint presidents. 

Former Welwitschias head coach Johan Diergaardt and Wessel Kotze were both elected as the joint vice presidents after obtaining the same number of votes.

Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, Theron said, as a board, they have a lot on their table, and top of their list is to help Namibia qualify for the 2023 World Cup in France.

“We first need to make sure that the national men’s team qualifies for the upcoming Rugby World Cup. Apart from that, we would love to develop grassroots rugby as well as school rugby, which are all important feeders of the national teams,” he said.

He added that supporting local clubs and players is a big priority for them, and that can only be achieved by decentralising the sport across all parts of the country, specifically in rural areas

“We also want to assist our local clubs and players so that they can operate smoothly without any distractions. More importantly, we want to take rugby to rural areas. I believe there is a lot of untapped talent in the rural areas, which would be important in terms of growing the sport in the country. We want corporate companies to come on board and assist us in growing rugby,” he added.

 - mkambukwe@nepc.com.na