MANILA, Philippines - After successfully developing and popularizing rugby in the country, leading real estate services and advisory firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Philippines says it remains committed to promoting the sports at the grassroots level. It does so by organizing the CBRE Juniors Tournament, a premier training ground for young and aspiring players. The latest tournament for this year was held at the Don Jones Field of the British School Manila in Taguig City and had over two hundred expat and Filipino kids playing in various age divisions (U8, U10, U12, U14, U16).
This is the third straight year that CBRE Philippines, through its partnership with the Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU), has successfully held a youth rugby tournament of this scale. The CBRE Juniors is the largest tournament of its kind in the country to date. “The support of the local community has made the tournament very successful,” beams Rick Santos, chairman and founder of CBRE Philippines and concurrent secretary-general of the PRFU. “Being well-received by Filipinos has aided us in holding the tournament nationwide — in Cebu City, Clark Field, Pampanga and Davao City.”
“We’ve got hundreds of kids now playing rugby in the country. We plan to bring it into the thousands,” added Santos, a former rugby professional himself who played for UC Berkeley, the Harlequins in London, and for Oxford University during his youth.
Santos has been at the forefront of promoting this sport even before he founded CBRE Philippines in the early ’90s. By 2008, CBRE Philippines, through Santos’ efforts, put a lot of emphasis on bringing youth rugby to a bigger venue and has since been an integral part of CBRE Philippines corporate social responsibility program. The support from CBRE Philippines comes in the form of funding and training. The company has sponsored tournaments and brought in international coaches and players to train members of the national men’s and women’s rugby teams and other aspiring players. The all-out support made rugby the fastest growing sports in the country today and put the Philippines on the rugby map.
“We’ve taken the Philippine rugby team from Division 4 to Division 1 in the Asian 5 Nations Rugby in just a span of two years,” says Santos. PRFU is likewise now able to field 100-percent-Filipino-heritage players in the national team.
The Philippine Volcanoes, as the national team is known, is the second most successful rugby team in Asia over the last six years. The only other team to win more games than them is Japan, according to national team coach Matt Cullen. Cullen started playing rugby at age five and retired from the sport at age 28. The former pro in the Australian league adds that the Philippine Volcanoes only lost one game in four years.
However, the players, who play from around the world, have to be brought together to represent the country in international tournaments. CBRE Philippines is trying to meet this challenge.
“The biggest challenge is to develop the sports here in the Philippines so we don’t have to get the players from overseas,” says Cullen. “By holding the CBRE Juniors, in 10 years’ time, some of these boys and girls, will be good enough to play in the Philippine team. The CBRE Juniors is fundamental and crucial to the development of the sports in the Philippines.”
For more information, visit www.cbre.com.ph or call 752-2580.