Wednesday, 21 May 2014

 

 

Following the interest shown by 12 Deaf Unions a considerable amount of work has been undertaken to examine the feasibility of staging the Championships in August 2015.

 

This has involved the production of:

 

1. Event Staging Plan which has been fully costed

2. Participation Agreement both for Union and Player

3. Tournament  Manual covering all aspects of Championships

 

The purpose of the production of these documents was to ensure the Championships could be staged without financial risk to the WDRU and to stage an event which would be worthy of a World Championships.

 

It was recognised from an early stage that the Championships would need to be staged over a 14 to 16 day period to allow for rest days and proper preparation for all teams.

 

The staging costs for such an event over this period were calculated and it became obvious that there would be a substantial deficit from gate receipts against staging costs.

 

The Championships, in order to proceed, would need funding both from sponsorships and other sports stakeholders.

 

The fact that Rugby World Cup matches were being staged and there were pre- tournament matches scheduled for Cardiff has meant potential funding sources are not available.

 

It was considered unfair to look to pass these costs, which would be considerable, onto competing Deaf Unions. This the more so as Unions would be already paying for transportation to the Championships and their accommodation costs.

 

The WDRU are therefore looking post 2015 to stage the Championships  with the necessary funding in place and so ensure that

The  World Deaf Rugby Championships” are worthy of the name. While this delay is disappointing it will enable WDRU to continue o expand its Community model and so  increase support.

 

Gwynne Griffiths

Chairman

Wales Deaf Rugby Union

Wednesday, 21 May 2014