“Give a future to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth through the Rugby Union game”. This sentence is the motto of our association, initially established in 1992 as the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Trust, in Sydney, by a group of concerned rugby enthusiasts after a double assessment. Firstly, a lot of discriminations persist and life conditions of many Aborigines are still precarious nowadays. Secondly, Rugby can help them to be more integrated in a society where pictorial art and sport are the only sector where they feel playing equally.
The Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Team Inc. changed its name in 1995, and since this date concentrate its Rugby Union development towards schoolboys and schoolgirls, in cooperation with the Australian Rugby Union. Our goal is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth to see education as paramount, and staying in school as a priority. Historically, the Rugby Union game is an upper class game which is played in the private schools, too expensive for the major part of Aborigines. This sport is an entrance ticket into these prestigious institutions and allows us to fight against the lack of schooling, a major scourge for the aboriginal populations. Thus, even if they don’t become professional rugby players they could assert a recognized diploma to access university or work.