Argentine Rugby Coach is the fruition of three-year talks - Amb.Martino

By Rawle Welch, Sep 23, 2016, Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....r-talks-amb-martino/

Minister believes Sport could reduce impact of ethnic faultlines

Argentine Ambassador Luis Alberto Martino speaking at a Press Conference to officially announce the arrival of Rugby Coach Diego Giannantonio yesterday, referred to the occasion as the fruition of talks that started three years ago between the two countries.

Martino was speaking in the presence of Minister of Education, Sports & Culture Dr Rupert Roopnarine, Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) President Peter Green, Patron of the GRFU Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento, Giannantonio, Head Coach Laurie Adonis, Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) representative Charles Corbin and Interpreter Nicholas Fraser at the Argentine Embassy.

The Argentine diplomat in his opening remarks presented the credentials of Giannantonio, informing that he had been a senior member of the Argentine national team commonly referred to as the Pumas and who has developed into an outstanding coach retained specifically to improve Guyana’s ‘Green Machine in several areas of weakness like the scrum department and line-outs.

”We received an invitation from the Minister asking our assistance to find a Coach to assist the national team and here we are today. This is a good sign for future cooperation between the two countries,” Martino said.

He added that since 2013 the two countries had commenced discussions on how best they could cooperate in various areas with Sport being one of them and further disclosed that there is a Declaration of Intent that is in the draft stages as work on it continues.

”We are currently exchanging ideas which will eventually be put on a Paper with the aim of having a possible agreement.”

Green in his presentation gave a background to the request which according to him had started three years ago, but was not favourably received by the previous Administration. Green, who was returned as President for a second term, told the media that the only way Guyana’s rugby can go forward is to be playing teams at a higher level consistently.

The Union Head lamented the present state of affairs as it relates to the conditions that the team is always faced with leading up to international competitions, citing the facility at the National Park which is not exclusively used by them, but rather is a public space for anyone’s use and urged that the status quo change.

He took full advantage of the Minister’s presence to highlight the difficulty the Union faces in getting teams well prepared to compete at international competitions. Nascimento said the presence of Giannantonio is the beginning of a dream come through, adding that despite the success reaped in the Sevens format they (Union) always recognised that there is a vast difference when they play at the highest level.

He pointed out that Guyana’s Sevens team has had more success in many ways more than any other sport played in this country. “The Sevens team has played at the highest level including the Hong Kong Sevens, we played against New Zealand and drew with France and we’ve always been competitive,” Nascimento noted.

In signifying the importance of Giannantonio, Nascimento said the only way to raise the level of play is to improve the level of coaching. He was adamant that if they do it right Guyana could then compete against many of the top nations in the sport.

”Sevens is played at the Olympics and there is where we can compete because it is difficult for us to contend at 15s where real rugby is played. We are in the final against Mexico, but how far we go beyond that is highly debatable” Nascimento declared.

He mentioned the many attempts made to bring higher level coaches, but because of financial constraints, the efforts were just one-stop situations instead of the ideal long term need. He senses that Guyana’s rugby could grow if there is a long term relationship with Argentina, a country that is ranked in the Top 10 in the world.

Nascimento spoke of the genesis of the coach coming here which according to him was the result of discussions between Martino, himself and Minister Rooparine. According to Nascimento it was also agreed between the parties that the development of the sport must start in the school, an attempt that was made during the last administration, but struggled to gain traction.

GOA’s Corbin, whose entity has undertaken the financial burden of Giannantonio stint said for the project to be sustained it has to be anchored in schools and this will entail the involvement of the Guyana Teachers Union.

Corbin disclosed that there is an agreement in principle that exists between the GOA, Ministry of Sport and Argentina to construct a National Athlete Development Programme. Giannantonio made a passionate plea to the sport’s administrators to ensure that the facility that they train on is enhanced, citing poor lighting and a less than desirable pitch as examples of the difficulty that the players and coaching staff endure daily.

He, however, said he was willing to impart his knowledge in the short time he is here to improve the team’s chances of winning the important fixture against Mexico on October 1. He urged the players to continue to work hard and play as a unified team or else they would be giving the opposing team a window of opportunity to win.

The Argentine echoed earlier sentiments by stating that education of the sport should begin at an early stage. Roopnarine was stinging in his assessment about the absence of a more robust sports policy on the school’s curriculum, advocating the need to widen and deepen the experiences of children in schools.

”My own feeling has been that we should not measure our education by the number of subjects our children pass. I am no stranger to sport I played a lot in my younger days. Sport is an area that we could do a great deal,” the Minister opined.

He said that because of our ethnic faultlines, sport is an area that he believes could help reduce the impact of the insecurity that exists between the cultural groups. Meanwhile, Director of Sport Christopher Jones handed over a cheque for in excess of $2million on behalf of the Government of Guyana to Green, during the briefing.

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