The Welshman helping build a rugby legacy in deprived parts of Africa

A RUGBY-LOVING Welshman is helping to build a rugby legacy in some of the most deprived countries in Africa, having coached some of the continent’s rising stars.

Freddie Davies, 38, has been volunteering in Africa for a number of years, having first gone out there with a UK charity, but he decided to go it alone after becoming disillusioned with what he was doing.

The fitness instructor decided to start his own charitable organisation called Connect to Africa, whose volunteers focus on helping African citizens become independent and autonomous when it comes deciding their own futures.

After finding a common love of sport with many of the youngsters he came into contact with during his volunteering work, Freddie began holding rugby training sessions which grew from strength to strength.

Now he is seeing a lot of the boys and girls he coached go on to represent their countries at international level, with a hotbed of talent growing in east Africa.

Freddie, originally from Newbridge but now living in Treherbert, Rhondda, said: “I am an avid traveller and my passion is travelling. I applied for a UK-based charity and my thought was to go out there and do my bit of good and come back, but I realised I could do a lot more out there on my own

“When I got to Malawi I made a conscious decision to help a few of my friends I had met out there. There was no masterplan. I’m a boy from the Valleys and I wanted to show people that they’re my friends and break down all of those boundaries. I remember playing down a park during the 1999 Rugby World Cup with a flat ball and it was the best thing ever – we’re doing the same thing over there.”

Freddie, who has played for Penalta, Abercarn, Crumlin, Crosskeys College, and teams as far away as Vancouver and Sydney, has connections with the international setups in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The University of South Wales alumnus and Cardiff Metropolitan University student said: “I am director of Ethiopia rugby. We have launched an office which will become the Ethiopian Rugby Federation.

“In Kenya we have a lot of work in women’s participation in the sport and in Tanzania we’re about to create the only black rugby team. We need to be worried about them in 10 years’ time if they come to Wales.

“This year we’re holding the Invitational East Africa Rugby Sevens Tournament in Rwanda, we require support in terms of rugby kits. In Uganda, I do a lot with the women’s national team, I coach them, they’re in the top 10 in Africa and they’re number one in terms of sevens. To see Uganda win the sevens in Africa, that was the pinnacle in seeing five boys I coached playing. We have also helped to set up a junior east Africa league for under-15s and under-18s.”

Describing the popularity of rugby out in east Africa, Freddie said the sport was on the rise, with many international teams on the up. He said: “Uganda is a massive rugby country, and Rwanda have become an IRB nation. Most of the countries in Africa have a huge player base but the difficulty they have got is the pathway to progress to the next stage.”

Despite rugby being a big part of what they do, volunteers with Connect to Africa also try to teach life skills to young people they come into contact with that will help them in everyday life.

He said: “We have got one project called Rugby Tackling Life. Rather than just teaching rugby, we teach them the safety aspect and these girls learn about life skills as well as things such as contraception.”

Freddie is always looking for new volunteers to help out on his trips to Africa.

He is also always on the lookout for second-hand rugby kits.

Visit https://www.facebook.com/ connecttoafricateam / for more information.