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The Dog River Howlers are donating $1,000 to the Judah Camp Fundraiser and we ask fellow Howlers and all rugby players to follow suite. Tax receipts will be issued. 
The web page to make donations is -https://donate.rugbycanada.ca/e/judahcampbell
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By Rob Mason-Brown, Kelowna BC

Judah Campbell is a loving son, brother, partner, friend, and teammate. He is a fun-loving, popular guy who recently finished his Bachelor’s degree in Human Kinetics. Up until this month he was applying for medical school and intent on becoming a doctor. Those plans are on hold – for now.

On October 5th 2013, Judah broke his C4 & C5 vertebrae while playing rugby for the Kelowna Crows Rugby Club, damaging the spinal cord and leaving him mostly paralyzed from the neck down. He has started the long road back to recovery and is making small steps in the right direction through intense physiotherapy and rehabilitation. He’s one of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet, but he needs help to get there.

Up until the day of the injury, Judah was self-employed. He has no work disability insurance. He cannot collect Employment Insurance. The Rugby Insurance he thought he was protected by only covers full paralysis as a paraplegic or quadriplegic. Despite the fact that Judah cannot use his hands, walk, or move his body unassisted in a coordinated manner, he has very limited movement in his legs and arms and therefore does not fit into their definition of a ‘Paraplegic’ or ‘Quadriplegic’. This former UBC Okanagan Varsity Rugby Player is unable to hold a pencil, or a glass of water to take a drink, and he’s not covered. 

Judah was an excellent rugby player, and is an inspiration to everyone in his life. This was evident by the fact that Judah won the MVP of the year in Kelowna Crows 1st Division for 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 season, 1st Division's Most Valuable Back of year 2011, and UBC Okanagan Rugby Team's MVP 2011 season. He is determined to beat this injury and make the best recovery he can.

The Judah Campbell fund is aiming to raise $100,000 to help with the medical costs in the treatment and rehabilitation of Judah, help provide the constant care giving he currently requires, and assist with the future costs given his current state of paralysis along with adjustment to life outside the hospital. Follow Judah’s progress on Facebook at Judah Campbell Recovery page. Your donation and support is greatly appreciated.

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Canadian 15's international player and Howlers VP of the women's program Maria Samson (nee Jaworski) will be the player/coach for the Howlers women's squad at the Tobago International 7's. Her sister and fellow capped Howlers will act as the team manager.

1. * Davine Burton, Toronto Scottish RFC, Toronto, ON / St. Thomas, Jamaica

2. Catherine Carrier, Club de rugby de Québec, Québec, QC

3. Libby George, University of Guelph, Guelph Redcoats , Guelph, ON / Fenelon Falls, ON

4. Karley Guebert, University of Calgary / Calgary Hornets RFC, Calgary, AB

5. * Robin Hunter, Town of Mount Royal RFC, Montreal, QC

6. * Natasha Loucks, University of Calgary / Calgary Hornets RFC, Calgary, AB

7. * Marlene Nedved, Strathcona Druids RFC, Edmonton, AB

8. * Taylor Reidlinger, University of Victoria Vikes, Calgary, AB / Okotoks, AB

9. Nicole Ronsky, University of Lethbridge / Calgary Rams RFC, Lethbridge, AB / Calgary, AB

10. * Maria Samson, Calgary Hornets RFC, Calgary, AB

11. Allie White, University of Victoria Vikes, Victoria, BC

Coach - * Maria Samson (nee Jaworski)
Manager - * Patricia Jaworski

* - capped Howlers.

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DOGRIVERHOWLERS
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Canada
829
Trinidad and Tobago
89
United States of America
57
South Africa
31
United Kingdom
28
Germany
24
Colombia
18
Argentina
13
Mexico
12
Australia
11
Afghanistan
11
Costa Rica
10
Italy
9
Peru
8
Pakistan
8
Lebanon
7
Spain
6
France
6
Barbados
5
India
5
Venezuela
4
Rwanda
4
Cayman Islands
4
Laos
4
Burundi
3
Netherlands
3
Greece
3
Fiji
3
Czech Republic
3
Guyana
3
New Zealand
3
Brazil
3
Romania
2
Iran
2
Paraguay
2
Ireland
2
Uganda
2
Panama
2
Cuba
2
Honduras
1
Uruguay
1
Norway
1
Kazakhstan
1
Libya
1
Chile
1

(picture attached is of 2012 team)
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This is 16 team tournament with teams from Canada, USA, the Caribbean and Eorope.

The Team.
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1. * Davine 1.Burton, Toronto Scottish RFC, Toronto, ON / St. Thomas, Jamaica

2. Catherine Carrier, Club de rugby de Québec, Québec, QC

3. Libby George, University of Guelph, Guelph Redcoats , Guelph, ON / Fenelon Falls, ON

4. Karley Guebert, University of Calgary / Calgary Hornets RFC, Calgary, AB

5. * Robin Hunter, Town of Mount Royal RFC, Montreal, QC

6. * Natasha Loucks, University of Calgary / Calgary Hornets RFC, Calgary, AB

7. * Marlene Nedved, Strathcona Druids RFC, Edmonton, AB

8. * Taylor Reidlinger, University of Victoria Vikes, Calgary, AB / Okotoks, AB

9. Nicole Ronsky, University of Lethbridge / Calgary Rams RFC, Lethbridge, AB / Calgary, AB

10. Allie White, University of Victoria Vikes, Victoria, BC

* - capped Howler

The men's team will be announced in due course.

Last years tournament :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151134704471254.432785.514726253&&l=1255a39f3d 

 — with Davine D. Burton.

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This 16 team tournament that the Howlers won last year has teams entered from Canada, USA, England, South America and the Caribbean.

1. * James Acker - Montreal Irish RFC

2. * Derek Daypuck - London RFC - 

3. * Jered Douglas - Abbotsford RFC

4. Simon Fader - London RFC

5. * Ellis Gray - Halifax Tars RFC

6. Matt Law - Edmonton Clan RFC/UBC Old Boys RFC

7. * Rob Law - Montreal Irish RFC

8. Emanuel Parris - Castawaw Wanderers RFC

9. * Dan Smith - Regina Rogues RFC

10. David Stevens - Saskatoon Badgers RFC

11.* Konrad Rybkowski - Abbotsford RFC

12. * Paul Van Wyck - Montreal Irish RFC

* - Howlers cap

Coach - Derek Daypuck
Manager - Leo Lane
Photographer (men and women) - Judy Teasedale

Last years tournament :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151134704471254.432785.514726253&&l=1255a39f3d 
https://vimeo.com/58744912

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I would like to thank The Dog River Howlers Rugby Club for everything they have done to support the growth of rugby in Medellin, Colombia. 

The Howlers have sent packages of balls and other rugby resources for each of my 4 trips to Colombia. 

For my 5th trip, which will be spring 2014, The Howlers have made an extremely generous donation of well over 200 jerseys, 50 pairs of shorts, socks, mouth guards, practice cones, and 10 Gilbert rugby balls. All brand new. 

This donation will go to great use in Medellin and I am very grateful for all the support.

The Howlers philosophy of “it’s more than just a game, it’s a way of life” is easily translated into Spanish, and truly bought into by the kids it supports in Colombia.

Thank you
Damon Weigel
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The Story of Moravia and “El Morro” 
“El Morro”, “El Cerro de Basuras”, “The Garbage Hill”

Throughout the 1900’s people have come to Medellin searching for refuge from constant violence in rural areas. 

Because of its close proximity to the railroad, Moravia was the first place people who had moved to Medellin would arrive at. 

Moravia was used as a garbage dump for the city of Medellin. In the 1970’s, over 100 tons of waste was dumped there on a daily basis.

Without opportunities or even a place to call home, people began to inhabit the garbage mountain and tried to create “a job” for themselves by sifting through and recycling garbage. 

This mountain became known as “El Morro”.

In 1983 the city closed down the site as a dump, but people continued to come to the garbage mountain looking for some sort of security and way of life.

In 1984 a devastating fire took place on El Morro, the fire burnt for days destroying houses and leaving thousands of people homeless. 

People of Medellin say that while burning, the mountain of garbage resembled a glowing volcano. People rebuilt their houses using what they could and continued with their community. 

Because of its close proximity to the railroad, Moravia became a hub for illegal contraband, and the violence escalated. 

In the 1990’s Time magazine labeled Moravia as one of “the most dangerous neighbourhood in the world”. 

The Colombian government tried to physically displace the people. 

The battle between the people of Moravia and the government only accelerated.

One night police came on the mountain and physically forced people of El Morro, destroying their houses and bulldozing the community school in the process. 

With no opportunities for anything different, the people rebuilt. 

The next time the police showed up, the women and children formed a human fence around their community.

Today, most of the people have been moved off the hill in a more peaceful manner, but still a few “favelas” (hand made houses) remain. 

At the bottom of this hill, there is a field with a very unique history of its own being tied to the legendary drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. 

Those stories are best told from the people who lived through it.

“Del Morro” Rugby Project

Named after the garbage hill that gave a community life for so many years and in whose shadow this dream started. 

The idea that a community can survive off “leftovers” is the idea behind this project where old balls, old equipment, old people, can all be used. 

I came to Medellin for the first time in 2010 as an attempt to gain social work experience. 

Two weeks prior to arriving, I was asked to bring some rugby balls and do some classes in the Moravia neighbourhood. 

I had no knowledge of rugby being in Colombia but later found it had been developing in the country over the past 20 years (originally started by expats in Bogotá). 

Medellin has both men’s and women’s leagues of all age groups. 

Equipment, exposure, and “rugby knowledge” is what is lacking which El Morro Rugby hopes to address all those needs. 

The city of Medellin is developing sporting facilities at a tremendous rate. 

There is already a brand new two rugby field sports complex, with 3 more rugby pitches approved to be built in 2014. 

El Morro is not an attempt to bring a new sport to the country, it is an attempt to use rugby’s gaining popularity, and giving youth surrounded in violence a different avenue. 

Three years ago we had our first practice on a field of lumpy grass/dirt/garbage at the bottom of El Morro. 

Today over 100 kids are involved with rugby in the neighbourhood, they practice in the same location; however, now there is a beautiful synthetic turf field at the bottom of the “garbage mountain”. 

The rugby players of the neighbourhood have taken the rugby recourses already brought in and ran with them. 

They have created and entered their own club called the Moravia Myrmidons Rugby Club. 

They have entered in the league and in several tournaments, already having won city titles in the U16 and U18 age brackets. 

Six players from the club have been selected for the U16 state team (Antioquia), and another 2 have made the U18 Colombian National Team.

Del Morro Rugby hopes to continue bringing recourses to develop rugby in Colombia. 

The hope is that as we develop in Moravia, these players can begin to take their rugby knowledge into other areas thought too “caliente” (hot, dangerous). 

If anyone can work in these neighbourhoods the Moravia kids would be the ones to do it. 
Their story is well known.

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When you recall great sporting contests between Pakistan and India, you might be tempted to think cricket. You could cast your mind back to the 1999 Test match in Chennai, which Pakistan won by just 12 runs and received a standing ovation from the normally partisan home crowd. 

Or you might consider the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 final at the Wanderers, Johannesburg, in 2007 when India were victorious by five runs in a thrilling final-over finish. And, of course, there was the amazing semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Mohali when India sent a nation into raptures as two prime ministers, side by side, looked on.

But there is a new game in town and a sporting rivalry of an identically different kind has been born. Division 3 of the Under 19 Asian Rugby Championship is not a tournament that normally receives wide coverage, even in the host nation, but when Pakistan plays India in any sport and at any level, nothing is normal and this particular encounter generated high-profile media attention across both vast countries.

At Punjab Stadium, Lahore, in front of crowd in excess of 10,000 and with flags from both countries draped side by side over the stands, Pakistan won 13-11 in a hard-fought and enthralling encounter. The event was organised by the Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU) in collaboration with the Sports Board Punjab and the Asian Rugby Football Union.


Integrity, respect, solidarity, passion and discipline
-------------------------------------------
PRU President Fawzi Khwaja said the match was a thrilling spectacle where the physically dominant forwards from the Pakistan team controlled the match and managed to secure the win.

“It was a closely contested match and the Pakistan forwards did very well,” Khwaja told The Express Tribune afterwards. “Our forwards were better than theirs and our whole team performed well.”

But this match was more than merely 80 minutes of rugby. It was an opportunity for players and supporters to stress the game’s values of integrity, respect, solidarity, passion and discipline and reiterate the fact that sport can be a force for peace between two nations whose shared history is compromised by division, distrust and war.

India’s team manager Kulvinder Singh said the final was a step towards peace and it sent a clear message to both governments.

Sending a message to New Delhi and Islamabad 
----------------------------------------
"I am happy that kids of below 19 years are playing in this final. I wish the oneness back between India and Pakistan. We are sending a message of peace to New Delhi and Islamabad,” said Singh.

"I came here as a player in 1999 and now as a manager and have always felt at ease, got so much love and warmth that I feel at home. I know there are so many derailments but I am sure Pakistan will take India as its brother and India would feel the same way," he said.

Pakistan captain Dawood Gill said while the result was important to him and his team, there was a wider context to the match that transcended the number of points on the board.

"Pakistan is making progress in rugby and I am very happy we beat India but really it's all for the peace of the two nations. That’s what is important," said Gill.

Matt Oakley, the IRB’s Rugby Services Manager – Asia, was present in order to conduct a review of the Pakistan Rugby Union during the week of the tournament, including visiting various schools and universities in Lahore and Faisalabad to see the Union’s urban and rural programmes where they will grow the game. In particular, they will do this using the IRB’s innovative mass participation Get Into Rugby programme, which is now on stream and spreading throughout the world. 

Helping the prospects of talented young players
-----------------------------------------
Oakley said: “Significantly and excitingly, up to 30 rugby scholarships are annually available in Lahore alone, in five universities, providing free education to talented Rugby players from 18-21 years of age. This is a great initiative and one that is bound to help the quality of rugby being played as well as helping to improve the longer-term prospects of some of the game’s more talented players.” 

The year 2025 will be the centenary anniversary of rugby being introduced in the country – Karachi, in what was then British-ruled India, hosted the first recorded rugby match in what later became Pakistan in 1925. The IRB will now work with the PRU to create and support structures from bottom to top, such as player pathway and talent identification programmes to harness the growing national, state, public and private sector support for the game so that it grows.

“It was great to see so many schoolchildren at the Pakistan v India match in Lahore. Many of them were watching rugby for the very first time. We are working hard to make sure that all of them have the opportunity to take up the game and to reach their own personal heights. Who knows how many of them might be representing their country or be in university on a rugby scholarship in a few years’ time?” added Oakley.