“In our reflection, it is important to look at the brakes and constraints which mean that the practice of rugby, in particular women’s rugby, remains quite limited compared to other sporting activities, and to reflect on the levers and actions to be to put in place, in order to give a sustained impetus to this sport, and to encourage its practice by girls”, affirmed Mr. Belqasmi at the opening of the national symposium on the future of rugby in Morocco, organized at the initiative of Rugby Morocco think-tank (RMTT).

To this end, awareness and communication seem to be an essential lever, in order to encourage the practice of rugby, and to act on the collective imagination which perceives this sport as essentially masculine, noted Mr. Belqasmi, also President of the African Federation of School Sports and Vice-President of the International Federation of School Sports.

The partners acting in the world of sport have an important role to play in this area, he underlined, mentioning some elements in order to feed the reflection on the avenues likely to help the massification of the practice of rugby in Morocco. , and its democratization among girls.

In this sense, he suggested drawing up a quantified inventory of the practice of rugby in Morocco, to draw avenues for improvement in terms of supply and demand, to identify the obstacles linked to the development of rugby in Morocco, and to the female practice of this discipline, with a view to identifying the levers to be activated and the actions to be put in place to overcome these obstacles and to define a quantified objective, in terms of the number of rugby players, which will be mobilizing for all actors and partners, within an identified time horizon.

It is also a question of identifying the actions to be carried out with a view to consolidating and strengthening the major role of school sport as a breeding ground for the national sport of rugby, as well as the human, material, technical and regulatory resources to be mobilized, and the possibilities optimal pooling of existing sports facilities and equipment, as a lever for the promotion of rugby in Morocco, in addition to mobilizing all players and partners (sports associations, players in the sports world, sports federations, parents, media , … ), to make the development of rugby a common goal, he said.

Moreover, the development of the practice of rugby also requires appropriate sports infrastructure, continues the official, noting that the grouping of school sport and sports within the same ministerial department, today offers real opportunities for pooling infrastructure and existing sports equipment for school sport and national sport.

This merger would also create greater synergy in the implementation of any action aimed at promoting and developing the practice of different sports, and in this case rugby, he insisted.

Obviously, the school is a real nursery for the national sport. Based on this, the Ministry of National Education, Preschool and Sports, in collaboration with the Royal Moroccan Federation of School Sports and other sports federations and associations, ensures that, for each school year, a national program of school sports competitions, underlined Mr. Belqasmi.

This program is intended to be rich and diversified, by broadening the spectrum of sports activities carried out within schools, in accordance with the principles of territorial equity, inclusive education, and gender equality, he said. .

The school sports program includes rugby, the final competitions of which were organized in partnership with the Royal Moroccan Rugby Federation, at the beginning of current June, under the slogan “school sport at the service of girls and boys students”, and which saw the participation of 316 male and female students, representing 27 teams, he recalled.

“Our ambition is to further increase the number of practicing students, taking into account the objectives aimed at promoting this discipline in Morocco”, he further affirmed.

Regarding the Symposium, Mr. Belqasmi welcomed the themes of the well-chosen panels, saying that the issues to be discussed truly draw the outlines of a strategy for the development of rugby.

“I would also like to salute all the participants, who have demonstrated through their presence, their commitment to promoting this sport, considered a rather masculine sport, and which requires more effort in order to broaden its scope. practice, like other sports practiced by the general public,” he said.

“The symposium is a crucial opportunity to engage in in-depth reflection on this subject, and to bring out, through the sharing of experiences and through the strength of the proposals of the experts and players in the sports world present here, new ideas and proposals concrete for the development of rugby in Morocco,” he added.

This conclave, which aims to find lasting solutions to the crisis that rugby is going through in Morocco, will serve as a platform to discuss the possibilities of development of the national oval ball, the methods of its organization and its projection in the future.

He aspires, according to the organizers, to “refuse narrow calculations, the antagonization of actors or sterile polemics. It is, in fact, to put rugby and its future at the center of reflections”.

The themes to be addressed during this symposium, marked by the participation of an audience of former players, managers and lovers of rugby, are linked to the perspectives of rugby union, women’s rugby, rugby sevens, school rugby, university rugby and the legal framework for the practice of this sport.

It is a question of clearing axes of the future by the reflexion, the force of proposal and the creation of a dynamics of change and reforms. The objective is the emergence of a legitimate, inclusive think tank open to all regions.