Source: www.trinidadexpress.com
The Trinidad and Tobago national rugby team's participation in the upcoming Caribbean Championships hinges on their ability to raise funds in the near future.
T&T Rugby Football Union (TTRFU) president Leslie Figaro, in a media release earlier last week, said that if their fund-raising efforts fail, it is likely that "no Trinidad and Tobago national team will be able to participate" at the Championships.
The TTRFU held their Cooler Fete last week Saturday at Harvard Club in St James, which, according to their estimates, hosted more than 400 party goers.
Although Figaro was "encouraged" by the turnout, he was not as impressed with the support of the event from "certain TTRFU clubs", according to the release.
"The show went on, patrons enjoyed themselves. A number of individuals, including the TTRFU secretariat, worked very hard to make the event a reality," Figaro said.
He added that the feedback was encouraging and the consensus was that the event should be staged again next year.
Figaro, the statement added, is "adamant" that T&T rugby "will not go back to the days when players had to be able to afford to pay their own passage to wear national colours.
"The TTRFU is a non-profit organisation, but without money it cannot sustain, develop and grow the game," he stated.
The T&T rugby head also said that although the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and the International Rugby Board (IRB) are "assisting", they are still faced with a budget shortfall.
"Trinidad and Tobago is the number one Caribbean men's and women's 15-a-side rugby team," he pointed out.
"To maintain that status and to advance further in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, to broaden, in particular, our community initiatives outside of the Port of Spain catchment, to develop new coaches and referees and to properly prepare our national teams, multiple revenue streams are necessary."