Gibraltar Rugby this week made public its strategic plan for 2021- 2024 setting out its vision for the next few years.

The strategic plan, as was revealed by GRFU committee members when speaking to this newspaper was a revision of its past strategic plan following the changes which the sport has seen since it opened up its home at Europa Sports Complex.

Although their initial plan had only been established just a year before they moved to their new facilities, the sport had experienced a surge in numbers, especially at its grassroots levels and the previous plan was not fit for purpose to accommodate the changes it had experienced from moving from being “behind closed” doors, to now having its own facilities from which to build its “business.”

Importantly the sport had set about to build its “business”, a word which they clarified had nothing to do with the economics of the sport but of its structural and development structures, basing themselves on the views expressed by their own membership. This leading to an expansion of its committee and the tabling for a new plan of action to be drafted.

Although their move to Europa Sports Complex had taken place just months before sports globally was impacted by the global pandemic, rugby in Gibraltar has still seen its numbers grow to levels that they had not quite anticipated at first.

With some 700 members now in their books, over 500 of which are grassroots members, the sport is now looking to build towards building for its future with aims to continue growing in numbers. At the same time establishing the frameworks and structures which will maintain many of the aspects which continue to attract members and build on its development programme.

Recognising that the sport suffered from its past, with a generation gap clearly apparent within its ranks created by the fact they were forced to play within the confines of Devils Tower Camp, the sport is making tentative steps towards increasing its senior team numbers.

As GRFU General Secretary Chad Thomson indicated the senior level of the sport still sees a predominantly military or expat based majority which he believes needs to be addressed.

This he believes is predominantly due to the time the sport had just 40 hours of allocations per year on civilian facilities offered to them forcing them to play behind closed doors and making it difficult to build and develop its grassroots and community relations, especially with the perceived restrictions created by playing at the DTC which meant families did not participate in the same way alongside youth players.

The GFRU General Secretary is hoping that with their new approach and forward planning they will within the coming years turn the figures around and secure at least a 60% of its membership coming from the local community. Turning rugby into a truly community sport.

Already the first steps have been seen with Gibraltar Rugby’s grassroots development seeing hundreds of children and families converging onto Europa Point on Saturdays when the main sessions for mini, juniors and youth take place.

With some 30 youth players every year expected to progress into the senior levels within the next few years, Gibraltar Rugby is confident that by maintaining a high level of commitment towards offering players and members what they expect they will be able to build up the senior leagues further. The sport looking at trying to have at least six teams within the coming years.

As they indicated the sport was not looking for elite players, “not looking for the Leo Messi’s of the sport” but were instead open to all as an amateur sport. The sport which is run on a voluntary basis with only two persons actually getting paid for their services, the technical Director and a Medical consultant, is also looking at how to build on its finances to continue its development.

As was pointed out by the GRFU committee members speaking to this newspaper the sport sees 90% of its income coming from its commercial and corporate activities with just 10% of its funds coming from Government funding.

Happy that they have been facilitated with facilities they can now make their home, the sport is not looking at sitting back and merely using them. Instead, their strategic plans includes keeping its self-sufficient policies alive. The facilities are seen as “what you take into them”, where developing the structures which will provide for increased membership, events and activities led programmes and even sports-tourism-led initiatives are seen among many of the areas the sports can try and exploit in the future.

There was, however, a sense of reality, with the realisation that Covid-19 had changed much of the scene in which they now worked and had restricted how far they could go into the future on such initiatives.

However, attracting international matches, even whilst outside World Rugby membership, developing the already successful Rugby 7s initiative to in the future attract not just players from abroad but actual teams and continue bringing coaches from beyond our shores to develop its grassroots where within their plans.

Importantly, the sports had also not taken its eyes away from its attempt to enter World Rugby.

Whilst the new strategic vision for the next couple of years was seen as a further step forward for the sport, inclusion into the international scenes as a recognised member of World rugby was seen as an exponentially even bigger step which would take the sport even further.

There was no sitting back or holding back on the challenges ahead, instead it was a fighting talk from GRFU committee who highlighted that whilst keeping a realist down to earth view on how things were for rugby at the moment, they intended to maintain their fight to join World Rugby, with success seen as “just a matter of time”. The objective, at the moment, was to achieve this by 2024 with litigation already in the process.

The sport confident that the elements which would lead to their eventual success were already in place, this already including the fact that 20 other World Rugby members already existed who had similar political similarities to Gibraltar and who had already been allowed as members.

Within the coming weeks we will be looking at how Gibraltar Rugby aims to take the sport into the future, looking at different aspects of its strategic plans and how it has already succeeded in jumping into its first stages of growth even with Covid-19 restrictions standing in their pathway.