Volcanoes seek sponsors for World Cup gold

MANILA, Philippines - They bagged the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in 2005 as a demonstration sport in Manila. This time the Philippine Volcanoes will aim for the gold at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, and the team is seeking sponsors.

It will be the first time that the Philippines is competing in rugby’s World Cup. Team manager Matthew Cullen thinks the country has a good chance of bagging the gold.

“We can win gold if you support us,” Cullen told a gathering Wednesday night at the New Zealand embassy residence in Makati, where Ambassador Reuben Levermore hosted a reception after a friendly Rugby Sevens match between the Volcanoes and his country’s International Rugby Academy.

Levermore, himself a rugby player, is trying to promote grassroots interest in the sport in the Philippines.

Commissioner Jose Luis Gomez of the Philippine Sports Commission said the PSC has a budget of P400 million this year to support 52 sporting games, or about P8 million per sport.

The Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU) considers P8 million sufficient “only for bandages and insurance” for the players.

Last November, the Volcanoes’ National Men’s Rugby Team defeated South Korea 22-19, bagging the bronze medal at the Singapore Sevens and making the Philippines qualify for the first time in the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Only three Asian teams qualified for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens to be held in Moscow in June: Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. The world’s top 24 teams participate in the games. The last RWC Sevens in 2009 was broadcast to 760 million people in 141 countries in 19 languages.

The Philippine Volcanoes are the reigning champions in Division 1 of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations tournament, making the team among Asia’s top 5. The team bagged silver at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand and the Borneo Sevens in 2011.

Over six weeks in April and May, the Volcanoes will battle rugby powerhouses Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

The PRFU is promoting rugby among the masses, through a training program called Rugby 101 at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City.

Jaime Zobel Urquijo, who has been playing for the Philippine team since 2010, said the game is perfect for Filipino children since they can move exceptionally fast.

Sponsorship packages ranging from P2.5 million to P10 million are being offered by the Volcanoes.

Also at Levermore’s reception were New Zealand Minister of Commerce Craig Foss and former New Zealand All Blacks player Murray Mexted, now the managing director of the NZ International Rugby Academy.