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South African schools @lantic
7’s series a huge success
I
n its quest to find a way of investing in the community
through sport, @lantic together with BIZSPORT
initiated a schools sevens rugby series in 2007. This
was the first series of its kind in South Africa and fills
a gap at junior level. With @lantic’s national franchise
footprint the franchisees also have the opportunity to get
involved and in many cases expand their involvement
in their communities at a local level. The series has
helped to develop the @lantic brand nationwide.
The value of the Series in terms of exposure in the media has
far exceeded expectations. @lantic decided to use sport, and in
particular 7’s rugby, to create brand awareness across the county.
7’s rugby was used as part of the corporate social investment and
created goodwill in the communities. @lantic chose 7’s rugby
as it cuts across all colour barriers and is supported by all race
groups. With the enormous support received from the Springbok
sevens coach,
Paul Treu
, the series have exploded into the largest
schools sevens rugby series in the world.
The series consists of 16 provincial tournaments hosted in each of
the traditional rugby provinces. In excess of 1,200 schools have
participated in the series to date, exposing 15,000 schoolboys to
the game. Most of the tournaments are held at small schools and
in the countryside where events of this nature are unknown to the
communities, effectively taking the game to the people.
Pitching small rural schools against the traditional rugby
powerhouses has resulted in a number of upsets with the underdogs
victorious on a number of occasions. This format provides the
opportunity for players, which would not otherwise have an
opportunity to participate at national level, to show their skills
and be noticed as a player of the tournament is selected at each
tournament. This has become quite a prestigious achievement
and something the boys list on their CV’s with pride.
These players are included in the
@lantic Invitational Team
which
participates in international senior tournaments where the team
was unbeaten in 3 international senior tournaments taking the
touchline
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