New Rules Will Encourage Primary School Pupils to Give it a Try

Proudly sponsored by Northgate Managed Services (Northgate) for the 5th year, the Mini Rugby festival will now place a sole emphasis on participation and fun, with the IRFU omitting the 'must win' element for the first time in over 35 years.

The festival will take place over four days where around 40 teams will play against each other in a series of four round robin matches. Scores will not be kept and no team will be crowned winner.

Commenting on the decision to change the festival's focus, Simon Wallace, Commercial Manager at Ulster Rugby said: "Despite its success over the years, we were keen to shift the emphasis away from winning and instead focus on encouraging widespread participation across all school groups, irrespective of their ability. Mini Rugby continues to be a fantastic way for children to become more active and develop their team skills and sense of 'fair play' and fun. We'd like to ensure this is true for all children and that no one is discouraged from future participation should their team not 'win', and so we've taken the decision to eliminate the competition element and rebrand the event as a festival as opposed to a tournament."

Stuart Gunning, Northgate Managed Services added: "Northgate Managed Services is committed to investing in the communities in which we work and as we continue to play a pivotal role in education through our work with Classroom 2000 (C2K), it is important for us to continue to foster links with the schools we work with. This more inclusive approach focuses much more on participation which develops key skills outside of the classroom such as teamwork. We are delighted to support the Primary Schools' Mini Rugby festival this year and we hope all the participants enjoy playing at Ravenhill."

The Mini Rugby festival will take place at Ulster Rugby's home pitch, Ravenhill 11th-14th May.