I am delighted to write this message for the 2005 ARFU Under 19 Tournament being held in Lahore, Pakistan, from 10 to 17 December 2005.The objective of Under 19 rugby is to provide a representative player pathway from Junior rugby through to the Senior ranks. The player numbers in Youth Rugby are rapidly increasing World Wide. The youth players of today are the National Representative players of tomorrow.

The 2005 Championships are to be contested by a total of 11 national rugby union Under 19 Teams. The 2005 Championships also serves as the Asian Sports Federation

 recognised regional qualifying tournament to determine the Asian Teams to play in the International Sports Federation recognised 2006 IRB World Under 19 Championships, namely, the 2006 International Rugby Board World Under 19 Championships being held in Dubai, in the Arabian Gulf, from 4 April to 23 April 2006.

Japan and Korea have already qualified for 2 Asian places, by reason of the fact of their placings overall, in the 2005 IRB World Under 19 Championships. The remaining Asian wildcard place will go to the most successful team in the 2005 ARFU Under 19 Championships, not being Japan.    

The European Region is the only other region in the world besides the Asian Region,  to hold a Men’s Under 19 Regional Tournament. Asia and Europe, both, are unique in this respect. This has been recognised by the International Rugby Board in that at its Interim Council Meeting  held  in Dublin on 17 November, last Year, the IRB admitted the Asian Rugby Football Union to Full Membership of the IRB Executive Council.

All of the ARFU Under 19 Tournaments have been won by Japan

[1994,1996,1999,2003]and Korea [1998,2000,2001,2004] but in recent time, there have been encouraging performances from Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei ,Hong Kong and   Thailand, all of whom have showed their mettle by subsequently playing in the IRB World Under 19 Championships on the basis of strong qualifying performances in the Asian Championships.

Prospects for the rugby’s future are looking very bright, with the confirmation of the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee that Sevens Rugby will be a Core Sport in the 1 to 15 December 2006,Doha,Qatar,Asian Games.

The example of tournaments such as the annual ARFU Under 19 Tournament were a great help in achieving that confirmation, which because Rugby was included in the 1998 and 2002 Asian Games, means that is now a Permanent  Asian Games Sport.

I look forward to seeing some of today’s Under 19 Players representing their respective Countries at the Asian Games in future years.

 I wish all concerned an exciting and happy Tournament.