Trinidad Enthusiast Rugby Club - Carribbean Rugby Sevens Tournament

This tournament is the brainchild of a few rugby enthusiasts who perceived the need to boost local rugby in Trinidad & Tobago. It was felt that there was no better way of doing this than by staging a seven's tournament involving the widest participation from both local and foreign clubs.

In 1986, the general manager of LIAT (a regional domestic airline), offered to sponsor a Caribbean Tournament by way of subsidized fares. The Trinidad Enthusiasts RFC took up the challenge, further sponsored the airfares and agreed to origanise a Seven-A-Side Tournament.

In 1987, the first LIAT Sevens was contested by local Trinidad clubs and teams from four other Caribbean islands. Since then the tournament has been played annually over the first weekend in December with teams coming from progressively further afield.

The Reivers, a representative team from the Borders of Scotland, started the influx of "foreign" teams in 1989 and have been attending ever since, even in recent years when the demands of the new "professional" game have made team selection anything but an easy task.

The Scots were followed by teams from Venezuela, Canada, the United States, Ireland and Japan, as well as from the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, St. Lucia, Barbados, Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe and the Dominican Republic.

Arguably the strongest team to compete in the tournament so far has been the Africanadians (a combination of Canadian Internationals and South African Provincial players) who won in 1996.

The original aims of the tournament, have not and will not change. They are to encourage as high a standard of rugby as possible, with participation from as far afield as possible without ever forgetting that the game should be played for fun and enjoyment. The climate, culture and very nature of the people of Trinidad & Tobago lend themselves perfectly to the achievement of these objectives.

The organiser's of the tournament, the Trinidad Enthusiasts RFC, are a long standing over-35 team with a fairly flexible constitution enshrining the main aims of fostering rugby in Trinidad & Tobago as well as the wider Caribbean by making regular overseas tours. Over the past fifteen years, most of South America has been covered, as have New York, Toronto, Ireland, Cuba, Scotland and all of the rugby playing islands of the Caribbean.

List of Participants since 1987

Aesculpians RFC (England)
Africanada (Canada/South Africa)
Anaucos (Venezuela)
Arlequines (Venezuela)
Anti-Assassins (England)
Atlantis (USA)
Australian Legends
Bank of Irelan RFC
Bahamas RFU
Barbados Scorpions
Barbados RFC
Barbados Renegades
Bermuda Barbarians RFC
Bermuda Irish Rugby Club
Bermuda RFC
Bogota Barbarians (Colombia)
Border Reivers (Scotland)
British Virgin Islands RFC
Boisripeaux Rugby Club (Guadeloupe)
BRUC (Guadeloupe)
Canadian Nomads RFC
Cayman Islands RFC
Caracas Exiles (Venezuela)
Caribs RFC (Trinidad)
Caracas Teachers (Venezuela)
CRUM (Venezuela)
Defence Force (Trinidad)
Dominican Republic
Dread Lions RFC (Japan)
Enthusiasts RFC (Trinidad)
Exiles RFC (Trinidad)
Falcons RFC (Trinidad)
Guadeluope RFU
Guyana RFU
Guyana Hornets
Guyana Defence Force
Golden Lion RFC
Guevaras RFC (Trinidad)
GF United RFC (Trinidad)
Harvard RFC (Trinidad)
Jamaica RFU
Martinique RFU
New Orleans RFC (USA)
Northern RFC (Trinidad)
OMBAC (USA)
Osos (Venezuela)
Police RFC (Trinidad)
Rainbow RFC (Trinidad)
Roebucks RFC (Trinidad)
Royalians RFC (Trinidad)
Rugby Canada Maple Leafs
Rugby Club Bair Mahault (France)
Rugby Club Caracas (Venezuela)
Rugby Ecosse (Scotland)
St. Lucia RFU
Tamarac RFU (USA)
Turks and Caicos RFC
Trinidad and Tobago RFU
Tobago RFC
US Virgin Islands RFC
Ultima Thule (Shetland UK)
University of West Indies RFC (Trinidad)
UCV - Universidad Central de Venezuela
UCAB - Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (Venezuela)
USB - Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela)
Venezuela In Goal
WIRU (West Indies Rugby Union
Yamaha Caribs (Trinidad)