Dear Hugh,



Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me this afternoon. I am sure you were surprised to hear that there is in fact a Cyprus Rugby Federation alive and kicking here in the Republic of Cyprus. You must have been even more surprised to hear that an ex Glasgow Academical is the current Vice President, soon to be President as from June 2008.



I hope I did not bother you too much with the short history and development of Rugby here on the island. You may find more details on our web site www.cyprus-rugby.com



As in all new federations, the question of finance is uppermost in our minds. The CRF is no exception to this. We are currently struggling to find major sponsors, who will become our partners in helping us to develop the good sport of rugby here on the island.



We have achieved a tremendous amount in the few short months of our existence, culminating in organizing, and hosting the European Rugby League Division 3D tournament that took place last October/November. On the positive side, the CRF won this tournament convincingly and now we remain the only unbeaten International XV in the world, with 4 victories out of 4 games. Unfortunately the down side is the huge effort and expenses required to host such events, and 3 members of our committee had to personally guarantee all the costs. We ended up losing £7000, but, heh, we won.



As one Academical to another, I am sure that we both have the love of the game in our blood. We in Cyprus have the same love for the game, and we are making huge efforts to raise funds, so that we can continue with our development. We have been brainstorming to try and come up with fund raising ideas, and we are asking you to tap into your vast experience and suggest some novel fun raising ideas, that have the potential to succeed. It would be interesting to hear your experiences on this matter, and any help you can give us will be gratefully appreciated.



We would be interested to hear if there are any rugby fanatics from back home in Glasgow, living here in Cyprus, who would be interested in joining our quest to make rugby here in a major sport.



Finally, Cyprus is a wonderful place to come and tour, especially in May, as the major civilian team in Paphos has its annual fun day. Every year they play against the combined services, and this match attracts between 2000 to 3000 supporters. Maybe such a tour would interest the Glasgow Hawks.



I look forward to hearing some of your suggestions, and I hope that we can have a fruitful sporting relationship.



Yours in Rugby

Loukis Pattihis

Vice President
Cyprus Rugby Federation

This article was posted on 7-Feb-2008, 14:56 by Hugh Barrow.