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A fresh new start – Year end is often synonymous of changes and good resolutions. In Africa, we use this time to organize General Assemblies, just like in Ivory Coast where a brand new board was recently elected.

For this occasion, Rugby Africa wished to know a little bit more about Elvis Marcel Tano. He used to be the union’s doctor and therefore is already a familiar figure in the African rugby family,. Now President, he told us about his hopes and expectations for the future of the Ivory Coast Rugby Union.

“I began to play rugby in Bouaké high school – a city in the center of Ivory Coast. Then I wanted to try soccer. 
Since 2011, I am the person in charge of the medical committee of the FIR and I’m the medical educator for World Rugby as well. I’m currently doing a trainer medical course with World Rugby and Rugby Africa.

I wanted to manage the Union because of the many difficulties met by the FIR (lack of motivation, lack of a real development program, lack of transparency in finance management  etc..)

Today, one of our main priority is to foster rugby development in Ivory Coast. We will achieve this goal by creating rugby schools in the municipalities of Abidjan and inside the country, by establishing a U18 championship and then by introducing 7s women’s rugby.

To reach our ambitions we plan to lean on Rugby Africa, in particular through its vast Get Into Rugby development program and its numerous trainings. We really want to gather all the people living outside of the country and those passionate about rugby inside Ivory Coast together around the oval ball, to move forward together with a common interest. We are going to modernize the administrative and financial management of the FIR and finally promote the research of sponsors and local partners to support our projects.”