Madagascar: A hidden rugby gem

 

By Brendan Gallagher

A couple of years ago I was trawling through the Planet Rugby website when I stumbled on an item that left me shaking my head in mild disbelief. Madagascar had just beaten Namibia 57-54 in a place called Antananarivo in the annual CAR Africa Cup.

My mind rebelled against a score line that was much more suited to a basketball match and then there was the fact that Madagascar, who hitherto had not registered on my rugby radar, were the team that prevailed in what had evidently been an entertaining try-fest. Namibia might not be world beaters but they had qualified for the last four World Cups on the bounce. They were no mugs that’s for sure.

And then I Googled further reports and unearthed pictures that provided ample evidence that reports of a 30,000 crowd at the Stade Municipal de Mahamasina were not exaggerated. Indeed, if anything they were pitched on the low side. It was all a bit confusing. This was the first mention of Madagascan rugby I had ever seen. How could this rugby nation have slipped my attention entirely?

Fast forward a couple of years and the opportunity came to visit Madagascar for this year’s CAR Africa Cup finals which also doubled up as the qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2015 in England next year. Nothing, not even last minute typhoid and cholera injections in which the cure seemed worse than the illness itself, was going to prevent me from making that trip.

They love rugby with a passion

Although splendid hosts – and don’t underestimate the achievement of one of the world’s poorest countries in staging such a competition – the finals proved tough going for Madagascar who struggled up front against all their opponents. They love rugby with a passion despite nature and evolution making it as difficult as possible for them.

Madagascar started with a 57-22 defeat against Zimbabwe which at least afforded the occasional glimpse of their exciting backs but they were outgunned by Kenya 34-0 and they were then blown away 89-10 by a Namibia team both intent on securing their World Cup spot and exacting a certain amount of revenge from two years ago.

The startling disparity in size between Madagascar and other teams up front doesn’t diminish their status as a genuine rugby nation, that rare creature of a country where rugby is truly the national sport.

The Fédération Malagasy de Rugby includes 400 clubs and 22,000 registered players and rugby undoubtedly has a strong presence on the island. The champion club of each of the eight major rugby unions contest an annual Super Eight competition at which crowds of 10,000-plus are the norm at regional stadia and no matter where you wander around the backstreets of Antananarivo you will see posters advertising the next big game.

The same social values prevail

Clubs in Madagascar do not always enjoy the same facilities as to what I would be used to seeing. The pitch is often a concrete-hard area of wasteland nestling between irrigation canals and landfill tips and will be used by the locals for every conceivable sport. The clubhouse, meanwhile, will often be a rusty shack next to a modest bar that will resemble a grocers more than a watering hole.  

Socially, though, they serve the same purpose as clubs around the world, somewhere to let off steam and play rugby with friends and an environment afterwards where the camaraderie of the game can take over as it always seems to.

That was very much the case when went in search of the TFMA team in one of the most deprived areas of Antananarivo and eventually found their clubhouse – in the end we simply followed the beguiling sound of music. Their former captain, Alain Lantoniaina, is a brilliant guitar player and singer who, sustained by a nip or two of rum, regularly holds court on Saturdays as a succession of matches are held out the back.

Elsewhere, rugby is becoming very popular in the schools and a number of schemes are proving particularly successful. As part of its global initiative which has already seen 500,000 players of school age try the game the IRB’s Get into Rugby programme is going strong in Madagascar with nearly 60,000 youngsters on the island having had their first taste of Rugby. An early morning visit, with the World Cup on board, to the Andohatapenaka Stadium in the suburbs of Antananarivo provided ample evidence of that with 1,000 young kids involved.

United Nations Food Programme

The UN World Food Programme has also identified rugby as a way of delivering its message about good nutritional habits and a schools festival they organised, in conjunction with the IRB, at the same stadium the previous day attracted upwards of 3,000 students.

Another interesting development project is at Father Pedro’s world famous Akamosa village eight kilometres outside of Tana. Father Pedro is a sports-loving Argentinian priest who rejected a professional football career to become a missionary. Born Pedro Opeka in Buenos Aires of Slovenian parents, Father Pedro was a trained brick-layer in his youth before following his vocation and was stationed in Madagascar in 1975 where he worked initially for 14 years as parish priest.

Eventually he decided it was time to resurrect his previous career and, following a donation of $900, set about building simple but clean houses for the poor who used to live on the landfill sites and refuge dumps of Antananaviro. Better still he would teach them how to build their own homesteads.

Father Pedro’s original “village” has grown into 18 separate villages with a cumulative population of 33,000 including a spotless school with a superb playing field, funded largely by the Grimaldi family and the more altruistic citizens of Monaco who direct much of their charitable efforts and fundraising towards this project.

Not surprisingly, Father Pedro was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and last year, by popular demand, he introduced rugby into the school curriculum. Now 1,200 pupils enjoy a minimum of one afternoon a week playing rugby at their Stade Pierre playing fields at the Lycee Grimaldi. Through the work of rugby-loving people like Father Pedro, the game is part and parcel of improving life, in tangible ways, for thousands of young people in this special country.

The IRB’s hugely successful ‘Get Into Rugby’ mass-particpation programme in Madagascar forms part of the global strategy to grow the game in partnership with its member regions and unions. The aim of the programme is to encourage players of all ages to try, play and stay in Rugby. Click here for more. 

This feature forms part of our Around The Regions series exploring the game beyond its traditional heartlands. Do you have an interesting story to tell about Rugby around the world? Let us know by emailing aroundtheregions@irb.com.

Article source: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/sport/rugby/howe-of-fife-s-george-horne-brought-in-to-scotland-s-gb7s-squad-1.384718

Madagascar: A hidden rugby gem