Rock and roll with Momentum

Justicia Shipena





The Momentum Rugby Boards Trophy League, which is run under the auspices of the Namibia Schools Sports Rugby (NSSR), and sponsored by Momentum Metropolitan, is gearing up to bring the nation the very best in school rugby talent in 2020.

Learners from across the country take part in the under-14A and B, u-15A and B, and u-19A, B, C, D and super leagues.

This year 57 schools competed in nine different leagues. A total of 69 teams involving approximately 1 800 players participated in 314 matches.

Momentum Metropolitan has confirmed their sponsorship for 2020 and an agreement will be signed during the sponsorship handover ceremony on 6 May next year at the Hage Geingob stadium in Windhoek. The league games will then commence on 16 May and conclude on 15 August.

According to Abie van Wyk, the chairperson of the NSSR, they are positive about getting more teams involved next year.

Van Wyk said they want to put more effort into the premier league and hope that teams like Windhoek Technical High School (HTS) and Dr Lemmer will enter more teams, so that they have a big final with lots of players.

He emphasised that the tourney is a local Namibian league and no foreign teams can participate.

“We are in the process of inviting international school teams to visit us in August after our finals for tests against our Namibians. Unfortunately no fixed response was received.”

Speaking to the Zone last Thursday, Van Wyk said the rules and regulations for the league will remain the same for players, but additional regulations will be put in place to protect the mascots.

“This will include not tackling, bullying and hurting the mascots, so any teams that infringe the regulations might lose league points.”

There will also be new rules and regulations for parents, spectators and officials, with regard to their behaviour next to the field.

If they are guilty of bad behaviour, they will be given cards and their team might lose points or a home game.

The Momentum team plays an important role in getting the word out, in order to create the same hype for all games, whether they are playoffs or finals.

“We want to build the vibe and hype of the entire league and the professionalism with which the games are presented adds to the excitement of the players and spectators,” Van Wyk said.

Momentum acts as a platform to polish young players to be selected for the national team and can get the chance to represent Namibia internationally.

Van Wyk said they are looking at starting a u-20 club league that will cater for learners who, due to their curriculum changes, might be leaving school earlier; this will be, for example, different regions competing against one another, if there are not enough players to form a team.

Van Wyk urged the young players to start practicing so that they can be ready for the tourney in 2020.

The Momentum Rugby Boards Trophy League schedule for 2020 is as follows:

16 May - Momentum league games round 1.

30 May - Momentum league games round 2.

06 June - Momentum league games round 3.

13 June - Momentum league games round 4.

20 June - Momentum league games round 5.

27 June - Momentum league games round 6.

04 July - Momentum league games round 7.

11 July - Momentum league games round 8.

18 July - Momentum league games round 9.

25 July - Momentum league games round 10.

31 July to 1 August - Momentum quarterfinals.

7 to 8 August - Momentum semi-finals.

14 to 15 August - Momentum finals.