World Footy News

The Scottish city of Glasgow will again come alive on April to the sounds of umpires whistles, screaming crowds and calls of “Baaalll…!!” as the 2014 Haggis Cup celebrates its 10th year. The Glasgow Sharks will be hosting and organising the event, to be played at the GHA Rugby Football Club fields at Giffnock on the 12th of April.

This year’s event also boasts a distinctly international flavour in the men’s competition with English clubs the Huddersfield Rams and Tyne Tees Tigers being joined by French club, the Paris Cockerels to take on the three Scottish teams: the Glasgow Sharks, Kingdom Kangaroos and Edinburgh Bloods. The women’s teams will be confirmed and released shortly.

Glasgow Sharks president Stephen Connor sees the event as a great opportunity. “From my point of view it'll be great for the games development locally with the Commonwealth games also on the horizon we are on the crest of a sporting wave in Glasgow and we are hoping to harness that and get more people into the sport. It will be the first time we have a full women’s tournament at the Haggis Cup with 3 teams competing which has to be great for the development of the sport.”

Event co-ordinator, and Glasgow Sharks secretary John McIntyre agrees with Stephen’s thoughts on the event. “I would echo much of what Stevie has said. It is difficult to arrange and organise a tournament that keeps growing interest from teams every year. [And it is] especially trying to fit in a women’s tournament on the same day at the same venue. It has been challenging [but] luckily for myself there are many great people at our club who have all been keen to help out in any way possible.”

“My goal while organising this tournament was not to make it bigger than it has been but simply to have it run smoothly and efficiently and I believe the small army of volunteers we have will be key in the execution on the day.”

For more information about the event, contact the Glasgow Sharks through their website at http://glasgowsharks.co.uk or through the Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL) on their website at http://www.sarfl.org.uk

The following clip has been produced to promote the event via YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azK6D-KcQy0