ERC Sandakan: Malaysia’s rugby hub
SANDAKAN: The Eagles Rugby Club (ERC) in Sandakan and Sabah Rugby Union (SRU) are virtually the home of rugby in Malaysia.
The club and state association, helmed by Velayuthan Tan, have given the sport of rugby an uplift with facilities, training, development programmes for both boys and girls, coaching, international exposure and management at world standards.
It is therefore little wonder that the state of rugby in the state is exemplary and continuously growing from strength to strength.
Velayuthan, 64, who is affectionately known as Vela in the rugby circle, is also the deputy president of the Malaysia Rugby and Asia Rugby council member and chairman of the development committee. He also comes from a family who are passionate about rugby.
Vela’s brother, Tan Sri Krishnan Tan, was the former president of the Cobra Rugby Club and another brother Dr K.H. Tan is the vicepresident of Malaysia Rugby and deputy president of SRU while Sagaran Tan is the honorary auditor of ERS.
K.H. Tan’s son, Nathanael, is a national rugby player and coaching staff of ERS.
What ERS and SRU have to offer to rugby is a wholesome package which, as Vela puts it, “We offer rugby as more than just rugby.”
“We want the sport to impact the future generation. We want to offer rugby as an opportunity to play, coach, manage, education and career. Basically, a pathway to excel through hard work with honesty and sincerity to become good leaders for the future.
“Me and my family came from a background of poverty, making sacrifices and working hard. We owe it to our late mother for all her sacrifices and the good values she has instilled in all four of us.
“We now want to give back to the game we are passionate about and help the younger generations with opportunities made available to them,” said Vela, who hailed from a small village - Sungei Renggam - in Klang.
The ERC’s history dates back to 1998 when Vela, who was with IJM Plantations, managed to convince the corporation to give a piece of land under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to become their legacy towards the promotion of rugby in Sandakan, Sabah and the nation.
Eagles Rugby Club Sandakan was formerly known as the Sandakan Rugby Club Sabah (SRC) in 2003. It was officially registered with the Registrar of Societies on February 24, 2005.
However, in compliance with country’s Sports Development Act of 1997, the club then registered under the Sabah Sports Commissioner’s Office on 3rd October 2012.
ERC has the right of use and management of a clubhouse building, rugby pitches and other facilities built on six acres of prime land located at Bandar Utama, Mile 6, Jalan Utara, Sandakan.
It is one of the very few sports facilities, if not the only, in Malaysia that was planned, designed and built specifically with the game of rugby in mind. In short, the club building, amenities and the pitches are ‘rugby-centric’.
The clubhouse has other facilities like an international sized futsal court, a pool table, table tennis tables (including a special mechanised training table), table soccer and dart boards for members to enjoy.
There is also a newly completed four-storey building which houses a canteen, coaches’ quarters and a dormitory capable of accommodating up to 60 players comfortably. It especially benefits school children coming from the rural areas to take part in rugby training or tournaments held in the city.
A two-storey high performance cross training centre with a fully equipped gymnasium that features state of the art training equipment has also been completed recently.
The club has also engaged top foreign professional coaches and players from New Zealand and Fiji to head and assist in their comprehensive promotion and development programmes.
Together with the Sabah Rugby Union, the Sabah Education Department and anchor sponsor IJM Plantations Berhad, the club is building a sustainable reservoir of young rugby talents through the Sabah Academy for Rugby Excellence where over 50 schools throughout Sabah are involved.
There is also a ‘Centre for Rugby Excellence’ project at Sandakan Secondary School where around 40 sports-inclined boys are groomed by professional Fijian coaches five days a week to learn the finer aspects of the game.
Almost all their daily necessities and academic requirements are also taken care of such as extra food and tuition classes.
ERC also directly organises and sources funds for two major annual tournaments targeting school children.
The annual 10s and 7s age group events continue to be key components of the Sabah junior rugby calendar, drawing overwhelming participation from schools all over Sabah - so much so that housing the hundreds of students became a major challenge by itself.
ERC has also developed good networking with international rugby clubs and in 2011, 20 Under-14 students accompanied by two officials were sent to New Zealand for a three-week rugby learning attachment last year which included attending training camps at a leading rugby institution there and playing in local tournaments.
Another training/learning excursion to New Zealand was successfully organised at the end of 2012 with Under-16 and Under-20 boys having their turn to experience rugby boot camps in Auckland.
The programme continued in 2014 when another batch of 20 Under-15 youth underwent 23 days of training at rugby academies in New Zealand.
These mid and long-term plans are expected to bear fruit in the near future and Sabah should reap the benefits and reaffirm itself as a premier rugby force in the country.
Recently at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Ipoh, the Sabah women’s team who had trained in three phases at the Academy went on to win the gold medal without conceding a point.
Meanwhile, the ERC Borneo Eagles Rugby team has also made headlines and left their mark at various major tournaments, both local and abroad. Their recordbreaking three consecutive victories at the Heineken Hottest 7s in the World, held in Darwin, Australia, is one exploit that they are proud of.
The Borneo Sevens Internationals for men and women which has earned the title ‘The Greenest Sevens in the World’ is another effort the club is proud of.
“The tournament started when local rugby fans first mooted the idea of organising a rugby tournament in Sandakan to give locals a chance to test their competition skills,” said Vela.
“Today, Borneo 7s has moved up to a level where it is recognised by Asia Rugby.”
In the 2018 tournament in March, 34 top teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, China, Tonga, Samoa, Hong Kong, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Cook Island and Malaysia took part in the three-day meet.
“We are confident that rugby in Malaysia and particularly in the state of Sabah, will progress to a stage where it will earn its place as a ‘core sport’ in Malaysia. In fact, I would say that the game has already taken firm root and is all set to flourish further,” said Vela proudly.
More recently, ERC added another feather to their cap of achievements when they launched the Sir Gordon Tietjens Eagles Rugby Academy on 15th March 2018.
Indeed, SRU and ERC have established themselves as the home of rugby and look set to continue to soar to greater heights with the commitment of the club and its officials.