CROUCH, BIND ...AND SET A WORLD RECORD
ALMOST 1,300 people have scrummed down to set a new world record on the rugby pitch.
A total of 1,297 participants were told to crouch, bind and set to score a new Guinness World Record for the world’s biggest rugby scrum yesterday afternoon in Cardiff.
It was the equivalent of more than 80 regular scrums joined together side by side.
Dreamt up by organisers of the Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival – a week-long celebration of the older generation of rugby players from around the world – the previous record was beaten by more than 100 participants at the University Fields in Llanrumney.
Paul Guest, festival director, said: “Beforehand I thought it would be like herding cats, but we have had some fantastic volunteers and we have been working closely with Guinness World Records. And who are the most organised people in rugby? The refs, and we had plenty of them along as well.
“Everybody was having an absolute ball. But aside from it being good fun I wanted to bring some attention to the Golden Oldies Festival. I hope people in Wales and the rest of the UK will think they can carry on playing sport beyond the age of 35 – our oldest player here is 74.”
Top Welsh referee Nigel Owens was called upon to officiate the scrum and, just as is seen all too often at prolevel, there were some hitches with the set piece – which had to be reset.