Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...

is a minor, but growing sport.

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tend to be more popular. The British first introduced the game to the islands, and for a number of years it was mainly played by expatriates. Now it has some uptake by the local population. Games against visiting ships, and touring sides are common, as well as against neighbouring Caribbean islands. In 2009,

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

Regional Development Officer Scott Harland visited Saint Kitts and Nevis, and stated that he was impressed by local interest in the game. Harland also said that the sport had suffered from an "expatriate" image but that it was not reflected by the

facts on the ground Facts on the ground is a diplomatic and geopolitical term that means the situation in reality as opposed to in the abstract. The term was popularised in the 1970s in discussions of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict to refer to Israeli settlement ...

. There is a school rugby programme in Molineux, and a

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...

volunteer at St. Theresa’s Convent School has also been involved in coaching the game. However, the islands' small population of 42,696 means it is unlikely to emerge as a power in the near future. The governing body is the Saint Kitts and Nevis Rugby Association.

References

External links

* * {{South America in topic, Rugby union in Sport in Saint Kitts and Nevis