Marhaba fi Marrakesh – To celebrate its 30th year of existence, Rugby Africa wished to do things in a big way ! For the occasion, many sports personalities joined the ceremony, Lahcen Sekkouri Minister of Youth and Sports ; Nawal El Moutawakel, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee ; Kamal Lahlou vice-president of the Moroccan National Olympic Committee ; Bernard Lapasset, president of World Rugby ; Oregan Hoskins, president of the South African Rugby Union ; Daniel Bilalian, Director of Sports for France Télévisions and Tahar Boujouala, president of the Moroccan Royal Federation of Rugby.
The birthday party was attended by some of the founding fathers of Rugby Africa. For this big event, Aref Belkiria, Reggaya Bourraoui, Larbi Bergem, Abderahim Bougjaand Guédel N’Diaye were gathered once again 30 years after the creation of the Confederation of African Rugby. Ivory Coast – another founding country – was represented by Elvis Tano, the current chairman of the union.
All were able to participate in many workshops set up by the Confederation. During group meetings the future of African rugby was discussed in depth. Everyone had a say in this to map to road for the oval ball on the continent for the next thirty years.
After four days of intensive work, the seminar of Marrakesh ended on Sunday the 10th of April. Guests flew back home, the most fortunate made it in 2 hours while some others spent more than 20 hours in the air.
While some were already familiar with the city of Marrakesh, others discovered the red City for the very first time. Marrakesh is a perfect symbol of what Morocco is about : a country with roots in Africa and foliage in Europe, an « hyphen country », a crossroads of various civilizations. An ideal location to meet and discuss the future of our noble sport : rugby !
