news from Islandsportz (January edition)
Indonesia’s “White Rhino” charges into sporting folklore this month. And IslandSportz will be on the spot in the Philippines as our first all-national rugby team, under its recently-unvieled national emblem, plays a history-making series. The seven-a-side hit-out could see rugby introduced as a South East Asian (SEA) Games sport as early as 2007. Indonesia’s 16-man squad from Jakarta, West Irian, Kalimantan and the Malukus went through an intensive training camp at Senayan in Jakarta under a Bahasa-speaking coach from Singapore the week they departed.
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In rugby’s biggest win for the year - Indonesia has been awarded full membership to the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU). Ratification of the move came at Lahore in Pakistan last month where Indonesian Development Rugby’s (IDR) Bill Ryan attended the ARFU’s annual general meeting and Asia’s Under-19 Championships. Indonesia became the ARFU’s newest member along with Cambodia, Brunei, Lao, Macau and Iran. The promotion of the Indonesian Rhinos comes hot on the heels of a historic silver-medal performance at the South East Asian (SEA) Games in early December. It was the first time a full national team has represented Indonesia. And also the first full international to be played on Filipino soil.

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