The Canterbury Gold Coast Rugby Carnival

What's the Carnival all about?

The GCRC is the largest and longest running rugby event of its type in Australia and adopts the credo of:

"Competitiveness, Sportsmanship, Friendship".

The Carnival had its inaugural year in 1992 and has been under the control of former Wallaby Barry Honan ever since. Barry spent 23 years as a maths an science teacher in a number of large rugby playing Queensland schools and is now Director of Worldsport Pty Ltd., the travel and event management company that organises the event each year and also takes care of the travel arrangements of participating teams.

Who usually attends the Carnival?

School age teams from all around the world, from Under 14 upwards. Many overseas teams also play in the Palm Beach Currumbin Tens Festival.

How is the Carnival organised?

Any school or school age club team is welcome to enter at Open, Under 16, Under 15 and Under 14 levels.  Every effort is made to grade teams into pools of similar standard. Teams play a round robin and are then organised into age group playoffs depending on the pool results. The emphasis is on giving players as many games as possible, not on the final result. Division playoffs eventually produce a winner and runner-up and trophies are awarded to both.

Are there any special Law Variations?

Conversions are worth one point and to speed up play must be taken as a drop kick from in front of the goal posts with the ball being passed off the ground to the kicker by the try scorer. Opposing teams may charge as soon as the passer touches the ball. Otherwise there are some official Australian law variations and Queensland Rugby Union interpretations that may differ from what some teams are used to and these are explained on the referees' game management guidelines sheet, along with an explanation of the "Mayday" safety procedure. Kiwi teams should also note that there is no local law variation to stop halfbacks following the ball around at the scrum.

In 2007 and 2008 permission was granted from the IRB to use most of the ELVs that are currently being trialled throughout the rugby world.

How are the playoffs decided?

Above all we try to reward attacking rugby.

Pool Matches
Win 4 points
Draw 2 points
Loss ( with at least one try scored) 1 point
Loss (with no tries scored) 0 points

Should 2 pool teams finish with the same number of competition points, final order determined by:
(a) the head to head result (HHR)
(b) tries scored in the event of a drawn HHR.

Inter Pool Matches Finals
In the event of a drawn match, the criteria used to determine the winner will be -
(a) Pool position. If for instance a team finishing 1st in its pool draws with a team that finishes 2nd in its pool, the team with the higher pool finish will go through
(b) Most tries scored.
If in the case of a division final the above criteria fails to determine a winner, both teams will be declared joint winners.

A complete set of Competition Rules and Regulations is available by clicking this link

Are there any trophies at all?

There are trophies for the finalists in each division but the most prestigious trophy is the "Spirit of Rugby Award" which goes to the group whose play, off field behaviour and general attitude best reflects the long cherished ideals of Rugby. You can go winless through the Carnival and still win the "Spirit" award, which is decided by a vote of all team managements, referees and administrators.

Do we have to book our travel through WorldSport if we want to attend the Carnival?

Other than for exceptional circumstances, all travel and accommodation arrangements MUST be made by Worldsport

WorldSport has been running this event since 1993 and has developed extensive experience in coping with every request and every eventuality. If you want to play additional games as part of an extended tour we have the contacts to arrange that. If problems should arise Worldsport is on the spot to find solutions - not thousands of killometres away in a different time zone. We pride ourselves on providing personal service and working to your budget. Since the Carnival's inception over 900 teams from 10 different countries have attended - and all but a handful have had their tour arranged by WorldSport.

Can supporters come along too?

Definitely. A separate tour packages are available to parents and supporters  which provide them with greater flexibility and more varied options than the packages designed for player and officials.  Application forms showing the various accomodation and activity options will be available to parents and supporters before the end of September 2008

So how do we book?

Easy. Open Sesame.