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mong the 2,000 different locations where World Rugby’s Get Into Rugby (GIR) programme was rolled out in 2015 were two of the coldest ever.First in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk where the sight of thousands of youngsters running around with ball in hand was certainly one to warm the hearts on a day when temperatures hovered around the -21 degrees mark. And then in December when, during the polar night, the Russian city of Murmansk claimed the mantle of both the coldest and most northerly launch.World Rugby’s Get Into Rugby programme has snowballed from there, touching the lives of more than one million children over the course of the last 12 months. Encouragingly, just over a third of participants have been girls. Launched in 2012 with a four-year plan to increase player participation at grassroots level in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Rio, Get Into Rugby assists its 154 member unions, of which 129 A68 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2015ABOVEBrazilian children comprised over 10 per cent of the programme’s participants in 2015LEFT TO RIGHTGet Into Rugby in action in the Philippines, Senegal and ColombiaWorld Rugby’s mass participation programme Get Into Rugby reached out to more than one million children in 2015.GET INTO RUGBY HITS ONE MILLION MARKwere active in 2015, in developing the game in a progressive and sustainable way.It provides clubs, coaches and teachers with the resources to introduce children to the game and its values and encourage a lifelong relationship with rugby. Nearly 22,300 trained personnel have delivered rugby sessions in schools and clubs and organised festivals, tournaments and leagues. As the largest of World Rugby’s regional associations, Rugby Europe accounted for 344,000 of the total participants. But Sudamérica Rugby were not far behind in the numbers stakes, attracting an uptake of just over a quarter of a million children. The 2016 Olympic Games host nation Brazil has the highest level of engagement (105,000) worldwide, while Colombia are ranked fourth with around half the number of participants as their regional neighbours. In Colombia players from the national team, Los Tucanes, act as Get Into Rugby development officers and role models to the children they teach.“For me, taking part in the INSPIRING PARTICIPATION | GET INTO RUGBY