From school rugby festivals to mini, youth, veteran or senior festivals, these are the experiences beyond rugby itself. A perfect and unique combination of sports, fun, friendship and celebration is what attracts people to take part, and to compete with other teams, resulting in celebrating life and spending quality time with friends and family! Attending rugby festivals could be an excellent form of recreation, but besides that, this activity provides the same benefits as professional rugby! Being a part of these communities can give you the opportunity to travel the world while playing the sport you love. Not to mention the great benefits of being physically active.
Oftentimes, they can be organized for a worthwhile cause, in order to support a lot of different charities by raising life-changing amounts of money and contributing to the community. However, there is a variety of festivals around the world to choose from! Where should you start if you’re interested in participating in one of them?
Choose a place you would like to visit. Then choose your team (if you’re not already a part of one). Or even better, make a team with your friends, family and other people you know that would be happy to hang out and be active. The truth is, there is a variety of festivals to choose from, but here are the top 5 you shouldn’t miss visiting!
1. Rugby Youth Festival Portugal
This is the best youth rugby festival in the world! Made of young teams selected from schools, clubs, academies, and with an enormous audience made of thousands and thousands of fans as well as thousands of other spectators and visitors, these festivals are one of the most visited and famous around the world. It is also an impactful national organization since it contributes to the Portuguese tourism industry with a few million a year! All teams are competing with international opponents. In only a few days, three hundred matches are being played!
This is a great opportunity for young people to make friends and share their passion for rugby with others from different cultures and nationalities. The fantastic standard of the playing facilities, as well as event organization and level of security, is what makes this festival so unique.
2. Krakow Rugby Festival
Absolutely a great social rugby gig – everyone is welcome, various skill levels are catered for, from amateurs to semi-pros, senior and veterans teams, male and female – having a great time is what the main goal of this festival is ! Over the last few years, Krakow has earned his reputation in the world of rugby and managed to attract players from numerous places in the world such as Holland and England, France and many more. What they’re most famous for is their social aspect, as they are emphasizing the process of socialising and the importance of making new friends and spending quality time together.
That is why they invite individual players to participate and they’re encouraging people to come along so that they can join other players they haven’t already met, and to have fun in the group of like-minded people who just want to enjoy the game, attend parties, drink beer, eat wonderful food and play some rugby! If you want to bond with other people, break all the boarders and simply enjoy life, here’s where you start polandrugbyfestival.com
3. Golden Oldies Rugby Festival Denver, USA
With various amenities, communities, restaurants, culture and breathtaking nature, Denver Colorado has a lot to offer if only visiting. But what would you say if this could all be combined with rugby? It sounds like a perfect combination for having a great time. Golden oldies from Denver consist of seniors and others who have retired from competitive play but whose soul stayed in their favourite sport and who want to participate and share their passion with others. Games have been played in a spirit of goodwill, at the same time providing astounding opportunities to travel, explore new places and spend time with your loved ones.
Visitors say that experience they had during the festival exceeded all of their expectations which is a perfect invite for everyone who wants to explore new places, meet new people, and connect with different teams, having picnics, dinners and enjoying other activities. There are various programs, packages and they even have their own merchandise if you are a fan of t-shirts, cups and other products.
4. Milano Rugby Festival
If you have wondered do Italians play rugby the answer is yes! The largest rugby festival in this country takes place in Milan and it’s open for all the categories of people including men, women, veterans, and a lot of others. Everyone is invited and everyone can expect having a time of their life in Milan! Games are being played during the day, and afterwards, amazing parties, concerts, DJ sets, live music is what waits for the guests to come and experience!
You can count on having delicious food since Italy is well known as a country of fantastic food, tasty local specialities, friendly people and a Mediterranean climate. You can join their campsites and become a part of the community or you can just party hard every day, celebrating the moment or perhaps the good score you made that day! Children are welcome as well as spouses, cousins and anyone you can think of!
5. Ghent Easter Rugby Festival
This is an international rugby festival that offers lots of fun in a busy port of the largest city of East Flanders province, in Belgium. Visitors are attracted to the beauties of the city that can be explored by foot or boat and countless amenities that can keep them entertained all day long. This is a relatively old festival that has been organized for 32 years already, and which is open to teams made of younger players as well as seniors, both male and ladies.
Partying is always included in the agenda of every festival and that’s the case with this one too. You can eat barbecue, enjoy nature or check out the city carting centre in Forest. Visiting Brussels is also a great idea, and doing a little sightseeing as well as indulging in open parties in the historical city of Ghent.
For the ones who love sports the same way as partying, making friends, drinking beer, exploring new places and tasting the world’s specialities, going to rugby festivals is a perfect opportunity to do all this at the same time!
