An International Tag Rugby Festival will take place in Limerick in October, drawing 25 mixed teams from across Ireland and around the world.
The Limerick Civic Trust Legends International Tag Rugby Festival will have an added benefit of a rugby legend being assigned to play with each of the teams that has entered.
Former Irish internationals Peter Clohessy, Keith Wood, Trevor Brennan, Shane Byrne and David Wallace will be joined by Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam Winning international Joy Neville, former French international and the first man to lift the Heineken Cup Émile Ntamack, French international William Servat, and England’s most capped player Jason Leonard.
Each wil be assigned to their team at a draw to take place in Clohessy’s bar the night before the tournament gets under way on the weekend of the 25th and 26th.
The Festival will include entertainment and music across the city and will raise funds for Limerick Civic Trust projects including a memorial to former greats in sport that hailed from the city.
It is being managed by the Irish Tag Rugby Association and has drawn funding from The Gathering, the University of Limerick where games will take place and Peter Clohessy’s bar in the city.
“The ITRA founded and pioneered Tag in Ireland 14 years ago are very excited about this new ‘International Legends Tag Festival’ being hosted in Limerick,” said Director Simon Bewley.
“It is innovative and players will get the opportunity to not only meet their rugby legends, but actually play shoulder to shoulder both with and against their former heroes on the Tag pitch! Equally the legends will be able to squeeze into a pair of Tag shorts and see if they still have it! A great weekend of sport awaits.”
“As the home of Munster Rugby, Limerick has long been associated with some of the sport’s biggest names and we look forward to welcoming back some of these great players,” added Donal Fitzgibbon, Chair of the Limerick Gathering Steering Committee.
“This festival will help to further raise the profile of Limerick as a proud sporting city and county and is especially welcome as the city prepares to become Ireland’s first City of Culture in 2014.”
Sports Tourism Seminar at Croke Park (September 19th)
Sport for Business 20/20 at Ulster Bank HQ (October 8th)
The Business of Youth Sport Seminar (November 28th)
