icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
5 Feb, 2020 17:27

Snow Rugby - Russia's latest sports craze aiming for Red Square (VIDEO)

Snow rugby is Russia’s latest sporting craze and the sport’s chiefs Moscow have high ambitions for the quintessentially crazy sport - to play the annual tournament finals on Red Square. That’s if they can find snow to play on.

READ MORE: 'I want to make rugby top-3 sport in Russia' - National Team Captain Vasily Artemyev

At last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan, Russia crashed out of the tournament without winning a single game, despite a valiant 30-10 losing effort in the opening match against the hosts - seen by 20 million people worldwide.

Despite the setback Russias found a way to make the game suit them - unsurprisingly, the solution was to play the game on snow. 

And it paid off. Last December, the first ever European Snow Rugby Championships were held in Moscow, where Russia’s men’s and women’s senior teams became the first ever kings and queens of the continent.

READ MORE: 'Conor is a typical Irish guy' - Russian rugby captain Vasily Artemyev

The 9th annual all-Russia Snow Rugby Championships in the suburban Moscow town of Zelenograd, the historical home of rugby in the city, features 40 teams of men and women battle it out for bragging rights of the world’s biggest nation.

Only this year there was one slight hitch...

Podcasts
0:00
23:24
0:00
28:16