Life's a Beach: Steve Redfern talks about the Majorca Beach Rugby Tournament

Steve had been a Rugby Union and professional Rugby League player in the 1970s and 80s, playing for Leicester Tigers as a tighthead prop before moving into coaching in the 1990s. He has coached teams in the UK, Sweden and Italy and held a coaching position with the women’s England A team working with them through several national and European championships. So safe to say, he knows a thing or two about the sport.

How did the Majorca Beach Rugby begin? The first year that we did it we set it up in Santa Ponsa. We had six Spanish teams, and six English teams, so it started off pretty quiet, and progressed from there. We quickly realised that a lot of people who were traveling for the event were staying in Magalluf for the weekend, so we moved it to Magalluf, and it has gone from strength to strength since then. We hold it on the UK May Bank Holiday weekend every year.

What was Magaluf like back then at that time of year? It was pretty quiet, but then businesses started to open in time for us to arrive and they started to use the tournament as the opening for their season.

It’s grown a lot since the beginning in terms of teams that attend, is it mainly you organising it still? Yes, but I have been joined by my wife Debbie and our son Louis, and we have a company who helps with booking the hotels for the teams. And of course we have all of our referees who are really bonded as a group. They are all properly affiliated to the Leicestershire Referee Society or the West of Scotland Referee Society which is very important, as we need good, experienced and strong referees for the event.

How does the game work on sand? Basically it is more based on rugby league. It’s quite fast. Sand is quite tiring to run on, so it is five minutes each way, you only have five people per team on the pitch, and five rolling substitutes.

It’s still for fun though, no team wins any money? We have spoken about introducing prizes, but I think then we would lose some of the fun and friendly atmosphere that we have managed to get.

Where do the teams come from? All over Europe: we have teams coming from Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, and the four counties of the UK. We’ve also got a team of Kiwis and Aussies, so it’s quite international.

And, I heard that this year you had more women's teams than men’s teams. Yes, the women’s game has really grown a lot in the UK, and obviously I have quite a lot of contacts in that side of the game as well from my coaching years.

What about the camaraderie between the teams off the pitch? On the pitch it’s a battle, but after the game everyone is very social and they all enjoy themselves. For example, we have a German team which comes and sets up a tent on the beach and invites its opponents to a beer and some ham after the game! And then of course, we go for a drink together afterwards.

How would you describe rugby? It’s a hard game played by gentlemen. It’s a battle on the pitch, and a social party away from it.

Are you thinking of expanding the concept to other countries? We are looking at it, but if we did a beach rugby tournament in the UK we would be up against the tides! You can’t mark out the pitches on Friday for the weekend and expect them still to be there on Saturday morning, all of the barrier would have floated off to France!

The event is possible through the support of the Calvia council and your commercial sponsors isn’t it? Yes, we have to say a massive thank you to our main sponsor: The Square Magaluf, along with our other sponsors, Robinson Crusoes, Blackbeard’s, Chili lounge, The Duke Beach, Tunel and Coca Cola with a huge, extra thank you to Calvia Council for their continuing support. Without them we would not be able to do it. The council has always been very interested in helping sport-related events. We also have the support of the Balearic Rugby Federation, they add it to their calendar so that they don’t schedule any matches to conflict with our weekend.

And we are looking for more sponsors to help us. Our costs are always growing, for example we fly in all of our referees who are volunteers, but we make sure their costs are covered for the weekend. We had 52 teams playing this weekend, and they and the spectators meant there were about 2,500 people on the beach. We know we have a big impact on the local economy for this weekend.

How does the weekend work? What’s the timetable? We start on Friday night with the Referees' fancy dress party, the theme this year was Witches and Wizards, there were some good costumes actually! And then we play on Saturday, and have a night out in the evening, and play again on Sunday, and then pack up the beach and do the trophy presentation and then have a few beers again. The Deputy Mayor from Calvia came to present the trophies to the winners, Minot, from France, for the Men and El Toro, a local team, for the women.

You spend the weekend on the beach, what does it look like when you’ve finished? We are always very careful to leave it in even better condition than we found it, we always clean up after ourselves and make sure it is perfect.

You’ve been bringing groups to Magalluf for 15 years now, have you seen any changes? Yes, definitely. When we first came to Magalluf the strip was very busy, it was like being in a football match if you know what I mean, the atmosphere. But these days the bars are very much more family oriented, it is changing a lot.

So we will see you again next year? Absolutely, the dates are already on the website, and the teams are booking!

Visit https://www.majorcabeachrugby.co.uk/ for more info about the tournament, and if you are interested to sponsor the event get in touch with Steve via the website.