Rugby union in the Seychelles
Encyclopedia
Governing body
The governing body is a member of the Confederation of African RugbyConfederation of African Rugby
The Confederation of African Rugby is governing body for rugby union within Africa. The Confederation currently has 37 member nations and is responsible for running various rugby tournaments within Africa, especially the Africa Cup, and CAR Super 16.-History:The Confederation was officially...
(CAR) but not of the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
.
History
Rugby was first introduced to the Seychelles when it was a British colony. The first games were probably played by British sailors, and for a long while, expatriates and whites dominated the game there.The national ground has an unusual distinction: it is formed from ground flattened from a massive landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
caused by a heavy rain from a cyclone
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
.
The Seychelles are a founder member of the Confederation of African Rugby
Confederation of African Rugby
The Confederation of African Rugby is governing body for rugby union within Africa. The Confederation currently has 37 member nations and is responsible for running various rugby tournaments within Africa, especially the Africa Cup, and CAR Super 16.-History:The Confederation was officially...
(CAR), which was launched officially in January 1986, in Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
. Rugby officials from Tunisia
Rugby union in Tunisia
Rugby union in Tunisia is a significant sport. They are currently ranked 35th in the world, with 15,057 registered players , and 72 clubs.-Governing body:...
, Morocco
Rugby union in Morocco
Rugby union in Morocco is a significant, and popular, sport.-Governing body:The Royal Moroccan Rugby Federation was formed in 1916, joined the IRFB in 1988.-History:...
, Senegal
Rugby union in Senegal
Rugby union in Senegal is a moderately popular sport. They are currently ranked 55th by the IRB.-History:Senegal is a founder member of the Confederation of African Rugby , which was launched officially in January 1986, in Tunis, Tunisia...
, Ivory Coast
Rugby union in Côte d'Ivoire
Rugby union in Côte d'Ivoire, also known as "the Ivory Coast", is essentially amateur, with some degree of semi-professionalization in its top flight league and the national rugby union team....
, Tanzania
Rugby union in Tanzania
-Governing body:The governing body is the Tanzania Rugby Union, which is an associate member of the IRB.Originally the Tanzanian Rugby Football Union was incorporated into the Rugby Football Union of East Africa in 1956...
, Kenya
Rugby union in Kenya
Rugby union is a popular sport in Kenya, in particular due to the success of the Kenyan Sevens Team in the rugby sevens format, and tournaments such as the Safari Sevens, which has been growing yearly, and now includes numerous international teams....
, and Madagascar
Rugby union in Madagascar
Rugby union in Madagascar is a popular team sport. Madagascar is ranked 43rd worldwide by the International Rugby Board , and boasts over 22,540 registered players and more than 410 rugby clubs...
also attended.
"The Seychelles Affair"
In 1981, rugby played a tangential, if bizarre role, in Seychelles politics and history. Colonel Mike HoareMike Hoare
Thomas Michael Hoare is an Irish mercenary leader known for military activities in Africa and his failed attempt to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles.-Early life and military career:...
, an anti-Communist warlord from the Congo, attempted to stage a coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
, against Communist president France-Albert René
France-Albert René
France-Albert René was the long-time socialist President of Seychelles from 1977 to 2004. He is known by government officials and party members as "the Boss". His name is often given as simply Albert René or F.A...
, to try and reinstate James Mancham
James Mancham
Sir James Richard Marie Mancham KBE was the first President of Seychelles from 1976 to 1977.-Political background:...
.
Hoare got together a group of white mercenaries, and dubbed them "Ye Ancient Order of Froth-Blowers" (AOFB) after a posh English social club of the 1930s. The thickset, muscular mercenaries, were to be disguised as South African rugby players taking a holiday. In order for the plan to work, he disguised the mercenaries as a rugby club, and hid AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
s in the bottom of their luggage, as he explained in his book The Seychelles Affair:
- "We were a JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
beer-drinking club. We met formally once a week in our favourite pub in BraamfonteinBraamfonteinBraamfontein is a central suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa. It is well located, straddling Jan Smuts Avenue and Empire Road. The Nelson Mandela bridge is a landmark that connects Braamfontein to the city...
. We played Rugby. Once a year we organised a holiday for our members. We obtained special charter rates. Last year we went to MauritiusMauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. In the best traditions of the original AOFB we collected toys for underprivileged kids and distributed them to orphanages... I made sure the toys were as bulky as possible and weighed little. Rugger footballs were ideal. These were packed in the special baggage above the false bottom to compensate for the weight of the weapon."
The plan was foiled when another passenger on their charter flight (uninvolved in the plot), who had boarded on a stop-over, was caught with illegally imported fruit. This meant that the Seychellois customs were going to commence checking every single bag, which was not something the mercenaries could afford. As a result, the AK-47s were removed prematurely, and an armed skirmish ensued, in which the men hijacked an Indian jumbo jert to fly to South Africa. Hoare and the other mercenaries spent several years in South African prisons for their troubles.
See also
- Seychelles national rugby union teamSeychelles national rugby union teamThe Seychelles national rugby union team represents the Seychelles in international rugby union. The nation have yet to play in a Rugby World Cup tournament....
- Confederation of African RugbyConfederation of African RugbyThe Confederation of African Rugby is governing body for rugby union within Africa. The Confederation currently has 37 member nations and is responsible for running various rugby tournaments within Africa, especially the Africa Cup, and CAR Super 16.-History:The Confederation was officially...
- Africa CupAfrica CupThe Africa Cup is an annual rugby union tournament involving African nations, organised by the Confederation of African Rugby . The tournament was first held in 2000, and has since been contested on an annual basis...