2015 indigenous Australian- USA Rugby Tour.

One of the joys of the internet, is that you never know who is going to reach out to you from what corner of the world.

A few months back, I was contacted by a man named Darrel Morris, an Aboriginal from Queensland, Australia.  He was keen to do a rugby tour with Aboriginal players. They wanted to play Native American, as well as other USA sides during their tour. I was able to refer Darrell to my good friends Chee and Timaris Montano of the Navajo Nation as well as some contacts with Pasadena Rugby who were able to get Darrell connected for some other games.

Chee and Timaris Montano and their family, of the Navajo Nation

For this tour, the Aboriginal side will play 5 different American college teams and an all native American side in New Mexico-where they will also stay on the reservation. The desire is to share cultural similarities as indigenous peoples and to develop international relationships.
https://youtu.be/wh2_Q8IVqfU


They will also meet with faculty at the University of California Long Beach with the department of American Indian studies. The team plans on reaching out to do coaching clinics for youth rugby with African American Communities in Los Angeles, and for greater Los Angeles Youth Rugby.

These players mostly aged 18-20 are from a high risk group from dropping out of sports, and keep them playing rugby to keep mentally and physically fit. The hope for these young indigenous players is to learn from experiences of Native American and African American communities to help provide advice for their communities back in Australia.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1012044254361&l=9adb297bb7

The games and dates:

University of New Mexico at Abuquerque:  Monday 11/9/2015
All Native American Side in Gallup, New Mexico-Tuesday 10/10/2015

Painting from Native American Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Arizona State University at Scottsdale Saturday, 11/14/2015
San Diego State University, Wed. 11/18/2015
Long Beach College at Long Beach, Saturday 11/21/2015
Belmont Shores at Long Beach, 11/22/2015

If anybody would like to get ahold of Darrell, please email me at rugbyrn60@aol.com, and I will be happy to pass along your message. This is a unique opportunity for the American rugby community to reach out to a group of players from a part of the world, where Aboriginals have much to overcome in their society, not unlike underserved Native American Reservations and inner city communities in this country. Hopefully they can take in some other sights here in California, as well.

Sunset over Venice Beach, California-looks somewhat like the Aboriginal flag.

I have been lucky enough to go to Australia a couple of times in my life to see with my own eyes the art and culture of Aboriginal Australians. I hope that people in American Rugby Community will come out watch some the games, as well as meet Darrell and his players.