The Trinidad & Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Sports Club Rugby Section turned forty (40) years on October 20, 2018.
In a chance meeting on the staircase of the old Police Headquarters between Verne Ross and Anthony Francis, who both played for different Clubs at the time, Police Rugby Section was formed. It’s first Chairman was a Police Inspector called Thomas Bailey.
Police Rugby Section kept moving from strength to strength and eventually played unbeaten for one year. The Club captured the Trinidad & Tobago Rugby Football Union’s (TTRFU) Senior Division League and Knock Out Competition titles, which promoted them to the Championship Division League.
In July 1986, the Team proceeded on what is still the longest tour by a Club Team in the history of Trinidad & Tobago Rugby and was the first to host an individual Seven-A-Side Rugby Tournament, thus setting the trend for the Seven-A-Side Series of Tournaments which are part of the rugby calendar today.
Police Rugby Section has also established a Women’s Team which has dominated the TTRFU Women’s League for the last four (4) years.
The TTRFU can boast that there is now a Sevens Circuit consisting of five consecutive Sevens Tournaments, the only one of its kind in the Caribbean. This has resulted in the burden being taken off the TTRFU, who has hosted opening and closings Sevens Tournaments in the past.
The Sevens Series has undoubtedly assisted the National 7s Teams in preparation for International Tournaments, resulting in the Senior Women’s National 7s Team qualifying for the 2018 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
It is expected that the Series will unearth new talent that will add to both the Senior Men’s and Women’s National 7s Teams performance at the 2018 Rugby Americas North (RAN) 7s Tournament, which double as a Qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Police Rugby Section’s 7s Tournament is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 17, 2018 and Sunday, November 18, 2018 at the Police Academy in St. James (Barracks).
The TTRFU would like to congratulate Police Rugby Section on its 40th Anniversary and wish them much success in the future.
