• 2 months ago
Transcript
00:00This is the Cardiff Rugby Defender Cup Finals weekend. It's the culmination of a season-long
00:06competition from under-12s up to under-16s. They've been playing out in their groups
00:11starting back in September, getting to their knockout stages early part of this year, where
00:16they've all ended up. We've got down to the 17 finals now where we've introduced a youth
00:20section to it as well for rugby, so literally all age groups from under-12s up are now playing
00:24out here on the park today. The last time we did the data analysis was about 8,000 kids
00:28or about 9,000 kids were playing this competition this season and 1,000 of those are up on the
00:33park tonight behind me. From Friday nights that we started through to where we are now
00:37on Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening, and that's what it is. It's about getting them
00:42out of a bit of competition. It's the first time they've been in a competition really
00:44at that under-12s age, and then they're working their way up there and getting used to it
00:48going forward. Yeah, and that's the great thing, especially with the 3G we've got here,
00:53it's that first chance to get down and get to see it. And for a lot of these, we go from
00:56basically Bari all the way up to Treffa Cloud, Knighton, Powys. That's our region and everybody
01:02across that region is able to play in this competition and make it here. But for the
01:06players out there you see, it's massive. It's the first time they get to play in front of
01:09a massive crowd. It's the first time all the social medias around it, they get that pre-build,
01:14they see it coming and it's their first time, a touch of what it could be like as a professional
01:18rugby player. And they're striving to be here. They get the taste here now in the finals
01:22weekend, they want that every weekend. So they're going to work and play as much as
01:25they can to hopefully get you, wear the Cardiff Rugby badge, and whilst you're tapping it
01:29then they'll go on to the national squad hopefully. Yeah, it must be really special for them as
01:33well and that's what we look at, especially with WU and Cardiff Rugby, we run this as
01:38a partnership, and that's what we look at. We're not just looking at the player, it's
01:41the coaching experience, it's the team manager's experience. And then spectators and parents,
01:45everyone is part of this journey with this child wanting to play rugby and we understand
01:49that. We want to make it enjoyable for them off the field as it is on the field for the
01:53players. It's a 360 of rugby if anything, because the more support you can give to that
01:57player off the field, throughout their rugby career, the better player they'll be and person
02:02growing up, so that's what's really important to us. And the best part as well, our community
02:06rugby clubs have come down in force this weekend. This south stand was full yesterday and it
02:11was a sight to behold. The atmosphere outside was absolutely bouncing, it was a great rugby
02:16festival weekend and it's truly showed by the support of the community clubs that came
02:20down. So I'm a WU full-time member of staff, I'm the rugby officer, male again, WU, but
02:26also in the Cardiff Rugby region we call it. I'm the north officer, so I cover the mid-district
02:29and I've got a colleague in my corner who covers south. So our job is developing rugby
02:33at all levels, so anybody who wants to pick up the ball in any shape, format or any way,
02:37we get them in. But also part of our job is then, when we get to that under-16s area,
02:42we look at the talent ID and getting them up to the right channels and then working
02:45with the academy. And we all work really super close together. I have four nightly meetings
02:49with the academy here, looking at the pipelines coming through, and then with this I work
02:53very closely with the commercial because Defender is a big part of our sponsorship here. We
02:57work together on that to make sure that we utilise it to the best, get that entertainment
03:01out here for the players to see, and also that enjoyment for the players so they come
03:04back, they get part of the brand and Cardiff Rugby stretches, like I said, across the region
03:09and buy into that. And, hey, you might see stuff in the press but people like WU, I can
03:14tell you on the ground here, from our level, we're working very closely together and it's
03:17working really well.
03:19CHEERING