Edie makes impassioned plea for support after Jamaica’s World Cup qualification
Published:Wednesday | April 27, 2022 | 12:10 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica Rugby 7s captain, Oshane Edie, wants more support for the team in order to be really competitive at the 2022 Rugby 7s World Cup in South Africa in September.
The Reggae Crocs secured a historic second straight qualification to the premier rugby 7s showpiece after reaching the final of the North American Rugby (RAN) qualifiers, where they lost 29-12 to Canada in the final.
Edie, who was also a part of the 2018 team that qualified for the country’s first World Cup, noted that they have achieved their goals under very trying circumstances, with minimum support.
However, he believes that if they can get a field to train on, proper financial assistance for airfare and get into a few tournaments before the World Cup, it would help a great deal in lifting the level of the team so they can compete with the ‘bigger boys’.
“It has been a hard journey for us but the momentum has been building for a while. We started out in 2015 trying just to represent our country as best as possible.
“We weren’t winning many games and it took us a while to take over the region, but things have come together at the right time because of the chemistry we built,” he said.
He pointed that though they have beaten teams on their level consistently, they have not been able to beat the bigger teams that train three times per day, compared to their team that only trains three times per week because players have regular nine-to-five jobs.
NEEDS SUPPORT
Despite the relentless attempts of the Jamaica Rugby Union (JRU) to solicit sponsorship, acquiring funding has been largely a non-starter. But Edie strongly believes that if the team gets the support to properly prepare, the bigger teams at the World Cup will get a serious run for their money.
“Sponsorship does not come in, so players try to do their own little thing by getting sponsors from families and others to help get things done. So most players reach out to families to help make up things like airfare.
“But the sacrifice has to be made because we are not a first-world country, so we have to do something to help us realise our dream.
“We have gotten used to not being comfortable. The boys come from different destinations and we might only have one or two days together to prepare for tournaments.
“So imagine if we had more time like a two-week training camp? If we can get support and sponsorship to put training camps together it would make a big difference and we can perform among these big boys and will definitely provide good competition,” he said.
According to Edie, the team would also benefit greatly from having a designated training venue.
Getting top-level competitions by playing in international tournaments is also something he thinks would help them a great deal.