Message from WURIT 2019 Organising Committee Member - Yuri Ito!

Introduction

Hello, my name is Sadakazu Goto and I am a director for the Waseda Club. In 2015, to coincide with the England Rugby World Cup, Oxford University held the first ever University Rugby World Cup!

This tournament was intended to inspire and bring the significance of rugby at the university level to the foreground, showing off its significance to the world, as well as paving the way for a new age of not only university rugby but sport in general. Teams from 8 different nations got together to make this happen!

For this second tournament the torch was passed on to a university that was holding the next Rugby World Cup that being Waseda University in Japan!



After experiencing Rugby in the land of its birth, we have learnt a lot!

We received the torch from Oxford University, with the goal of using the experience and knowledge we gained from the trials and tribulations we faced in while in the tournament, to carry on and create another place where players can show their skills as well as come together.

With all this together, we look forward to taking on the role along with other universities to create a successful WURIT 2019 that can run alongside the Rugby World Cup!

WURIT2019 Information

・Tournament Name ：『World University Rugby Invitation Tournament 2019』　
・Scheduled Dates ：Monday September 16th 2019～ Monday September 23rd 2019
・Grounds to be used ：Waseda Kami Igusa Ground, Yokogawa Electric Ground, Pitches in Nerima Ward and Suginami Ward, etc.
・Organising Body ：『World University Rugby Invitation Tournament 2019』 Organising Committee
　

The Universities that will participate are the following:



※¹Previous Champions
※²First Time Participants

Official WURIT 2019 Video!

The reason we started this crowdfunding campaign

We wish to raise money to support the「World University Rugby Invitation Tournament」via crowdfunding.

After Match Functions are a key point of Rugby Culture. It is a thing where players from both sides, leave everything at the pitch at the last whistle and come together, looking back not as enemies but as friends in this wonderful game.

During the last Tournament, our gracious hosts in the UK, Oxford University, made sure to create such an event, to look back over the past days of matches, and rejoice in the magnificent time that they were able to spend!

We came together, a mass of players, forgetting countries and nationality, and joining together singing, and laughing as rugby players.
We wish to put on this type of function again for the players that are coming in to Japan during the tournament.

In order to create such an event and to pick everyone together, it is necessary to get the support of not just the players but everyone from the rugby community! Please support these young lads that come to play and participate in a once in a lifetime event!

What will the money be used for?

The reason for this crowdfunding campaign is not just to create an amazing tournament but to do a lot of things that pertains to the tournament!

・　To create an after match function to follow up this tournament to never forget!

Like we said before, after match functions are a key part of rugby culture. It allows for the players to forget about any clashes or fights on the pitch and come together to celebrate the game itself. It’s a place for the players to improve communication and with that, it is an essential part to this tournament. With the function, it will allow the players to come together and learn not just about each other but other cultures as well.

・　To help improve the area that guests will come to watch!

With your support we wish to create an amazing tournament not just for the players but everyone that comes to watch. In order to do so, some of the money raised will go to making a special seating area for those that back the project.

・　To help create chances for the local children to participate with the incoming foreign players

During the tournament, we aren’t focusing on just communication between university students, but also bringing together local children and the foreign university students and creating a lasting link between them.
This being maybe the first time for the local children to really interact and learn about rugby, it means that it’s an important time to get them interested in rugby and become part of the community! That is why is makes it even more important to make this world cup an amazing success!
As well as this, by having the kids get involved with not just Japanese players, but also international players, they can start their road towards a more global future. With the future looking to be more like this, it could be an exciting and important turning point for them at this early stage!

About the significance and goals of this tournament

From getting the torch to carry on this tournament, our main goal and aim has to think how to promote the founding values of rugby. To put aside pros or amateurs to the game, but look to the future players, and see what is important and what needs to be passed on to help make this game even bigger and better.

That is to say, that it is DIVERSITY that makes this game one of, if not THE best game in the world. It is a game that helps build spirit, brings people together and helps relationships grow!

The WURIT is a great chance for players that are just starting out their career or those that are already on the way to being pros to get together and discover or rediscover these pure values. By taking these values, and using them not just in the future matches but their own lives, the players and those involved will grow as people helping to creating a world that is better.


With all this in mind, we plan to make WURIT 2019 the best it can be!

Message to the readers of this page

Thank you so much for reading this page and take time out of your day to do so.
We want to create an event that is unforgettable and we want to get everyone involved! In order to do so, we want to involve the players and teams by updating this page, with profiles of each of the teams and their players, their aims for the tournament and their hopes.

The target for this project is 5,000,000 yen.

If this goal isn’t reached, the tournament described on this page will be impossible to achieve. We need the support of every single person involved with the tournament, not just the players and managers but also the friends and family and everyone around us!

Please support us and join our journey as we move towards creating a tournament that is unforgettable and leaves a lasting memory for not just the players but everyone involved!

About the project creator- Sadakazu Goto

Sadakazu Goto(後藤禎和)

Director and Head of the Secretariat of Non-Profit Organisation – WASEDA CLUB
1967 – Born In Tokyo Japan
1986 – Entered Waseda University studying social sciences. Joined Waseda Rugby Club
1990 – Graduated Waseda University. Joined Yamaha Motor Company. Joined the company rugby team
2003 – Graduated MBA in Asia Pacific Studies at Waseda University, Left Yamaha Motor Company and helped create the NPO Waseda Club becoming a director and Head of the Secreteriat
2012～2015 – Ran Waseda University Rugby Club as Director
↑Taken during Managerial position of Waseda University Rugby Club

Waseda Club Profile

Waseda Club is made up of previous old boys of Waseda University Sports Clubs, who look to familiarize and promote to the general public various sports that the OB hold close to their heart.

Name: WASEDA CLUB (NPO)
Official Site:　https://www.wasedaclub.com/(Japanese Only)
Aim：This NPO was formed with the following aims, to promote all sports to the public, to help the youth of today become healthy, to help revitalise the push for healthy living in the local community, and to help in contribute in general to creating a better world.
Actions undertaken as NPO：

1. Promotion of Social Education
2. Promotion of Community Development
3. Promotion of Culture, Arts and Science, and the Fine Arts.
4. Promotion and Planning of Child Development
5. Expansion of International Cooperation

Final Message

Tetsunosuke Onishi, Previous head coach for the Waseda University Rugby Football Club as well as national team coach had the belief that, “We play rugby so we don’t war.”
After experiencing war for himself, he strived to be a social leader, so that what happened to him wouldn’t happen to the youth after him. With this he pushed for rugby as being a way to learn about self-discipline and poured his heart and soul into this course.

This tournament will not be a tournament which decides which team is the most technically skilled team in the world.

It will be a tournament for rugby teams from all over the world, to come together and show their love for the game, to learn and understand from different points of views the beauty and merits of the game, and to send that out to the world!

We hope that you can understand and agree with these goals and if you do we hope that you can back and support this tournament.

Thank you so much for your time!