Jakarta Komodos Rugby Club Raise Money to Sponsor Kids to First International Tournament

Five underprivileged members of the Jakarta Komodos Rugby Club will be traveling overseas for their first ever times to compete at an international rugby tournament in Singapore on Dec. 5 and 6 thanks to the generosity of club sponsors as well as club members who donated time to help fundraise or dipped into their own pockets for a worthy cause.

Jess Djamhoer, chairwoman of the Jakarta Komodos Junior Rugby (JKJR) Club, which actively develops rugby among poor or marginalised groups in Indonesia, confirmed that the Rp 25 million ($1,800) total thanks to a Rp 6.5 million contribution from the parents of a JKJR member.

“A target was set of Rp 25 million to cover the cost of passports, flights, insurance, hotel, transport and meals for this trip,” Jess said. “It was decided that we would try and raise this through fund-raising events. The Senior Komodos got wind of this and through some of their members donated Rp 12 million. This grateful donation was then followed by a BBQ at SPH [Sekolah Pelita Harapan] where Rp 6.5 million was raised thanks to a large amount of hungry kids, SPH’s generous permission to let us sell hot dogs as well as the hard work of Stephen Nye, and Steve and Marja Daffern.”

Jess also thanked the club sponsors for their ongoing support of the club and its rugby development initiatives and urged club members to return the favour by utilising their services and promoting them among their networks. Our sponsors can be viewed HERE.

The JKJR would also like to extend it thanks to club members David and Rini Hewitt of marketing and advertising agency Kemistry who have agreed to help shoot a guerrilla-style, viral-type video of the five boys on their first trips abroad. This will be an excellent addition to our website and excellent for promotional purposes.

How big a deal this will be for the five Karangan Geckos rugby players traveling to the Centaurs Youth Rugby Tournament cannot be overstated: they have never owned passports before, let alone ventured overseas. Further details about the Geckos can be found HERE, and more information about the Komodos rugby development programme in Indonesia HERE.

In other Komodos Rugby Club news, Seniors’ training will be help as usual at Lapangan D Senayan, Senayan sports complex, tonight (Tuesday). (It’s the field with the running track around it, next to JCC. Access is from Jalan Gerbang Pemuda. Take the first entry gate to the Senayan complex after you turn into Gerbang Pemuda from Jalan Gatot Subroto. Immediately turn left again.) Touch will be held at JIS at 7pm on Thursday.

The Senior’s are playing this Saturday at the Jakarta Intercultural School at JIS at 3pm. Also on Saturday, the JKJR age-group team are holding their final training runs at Jagorawi before the Centaurs Youth Rugby Tournament in Singapore on Dec. 5 and Dec. 6. It is important that every player traveling to Singapore makes this training session.