Howlers Trip to Guatemala and Gran Jaguar 7s Wrapup

A Photo Essay on the Howlers Guatemala Gran Jaguar 7s Tour Featuring Photos by Chris Graham

The Howlers motto is “it’s more than a game, it’s a way of life”. This photo essay takes you through the Howlers tour to the Gran Jaguar 7s tour in Guatemala in October 2024. It features the photography of Chris Graham.

Sunday
(photos by tour supporter)

We visited one of the poorest neighbourhoods, “barrios”, in Guatemala City that is part of Zone 3. It’s where the city dump is located and people make a living scavenging at the dump. There was a documentary made on life there, called The Beast of Zone 3.

The Howlers brought in pizza and pop and the players served the residents, children lining up first. Several suitcases filled with needed supplies were also donated by the Howlers. It’s a common theme on Howlers tours where public service and social awareness are part of the lead up to rugby, after all, “it’s more than a game…”

During our brief stay in Guatemala City we stayed at the Barcelo Hotel, a few minutes from the airport. It’s a secure location with shuttle to and from the airport, it has everything a touring rugby team needs, a super breakfast buffet and a sports bar that stays open late.

Monday

Tour photographer Chris Graham joined the tour and all the following photos are from his gallery (except where noted), with his permission. It started with a group photo from the Barcelo hotel lobby, then we were off to Antigua.

Our stop today before reaching Antigua was the San Jose HIV/Aids Hospice. As their description explains, they are “a non-profit, non-governmental association that provides comprehensive care to children, adolescents and adults living with HIV/AIDS and/or common diseases treated in social services; providing a better quality of life and adequate integration into society.” Again the players brought pizza and pop, fed the children, and left suitcases full of supplies for the hospice.

The following are a series of screen captures from my video camera at the hospice. All entering had to wear masks, those at the hospice included infants impacted by HIV/Aids. The hospice also runs a school for older children.

We finally arrived in Antigua, our home base for the tournament. It’s easy to know when you’ve arrived in the city as the UNESCO Heritage site has cobblestone streets throughout, Chris caught some of the beauty of the city.

Antigua is a very safe city but there is a large police presence, it’s a tourist town but there is extreme poverty all around, so some common sense rules apply, travel in groups when possible and be cautious at night.

The hotels in Antigua aren’t quite as luxurious as the Barcelo in Guatemala City but they adhere to the UNESCO Heritage guidelines, and are a bit dated by modern standards. Still we were here for the rugby and the hotels were friendly and welcoming. It was all hands on deck to get the suitcases off the bus.

The actual tournament was in the adjoining town San Miguel Duenas at the Estadio municipal de San Miguel Duenas, a lovely stadium with a well maintained grass pitch. During the week however the team practiced at another stadium, Polideportivo Jorge Vega in Jocotenango, which had artificial turf, the turf was well worn, suitable for soccer but not contact rugby. The teams got to work on Monday evening.

Monday evening was the team meal, reservation for 50 at Patio de la Primera. There are many good restaurants at a reasonable price in Antigua.

Tuesday

The highlight Tuesday was the visit to the CANI Asociación Casa del Niño school in Jocotenango. The school “is a non-profit institution that works on prevention programs aimed at the most vulnerable children and youth in our country.” The Howlers had visited last year and left rugby balls, it was a good thing, as someone forgot the balls at the hotel. The rugby balls came out and the players led a rugby session, followed by pizza and pop, and as usual on the Howler visits supplies, clothing and toys were donated.

Afterwards there were presentations, one of the Howlers parents had supplied a couple of new laptops, these were presented by Katryna Mattern to the school principal, also in the photo Tito, the Howlers translator and guide during the tour.

The school also made a presentation to the Howlers, presented by two of their upcoming rugby stars, to the tour managers Ian Godfrey and Leo Lane.

To close out Tuesday evening, the players were hard at work on the practice pitch, while supporters enjoyed the hospitality of Angel, the Guatemala Rugby Union president. Rugby tours, like life, aren’t always fair.

Wednesday

The majority of the tour group went to Lake Atitlan for the day which is about a 3 hour drive from Antigua. It’s a popular tourist destination with towns spread out around the lake which are accessible by boat.

It proved to be a tiring journey and after four days of being on the go with daily practices most of the players (and supporters) took the opportunity to recharge whenever and wherever possible.

I personally chose a more energy conserving option that day and stayed in Antigua to explore. I found a cigar shop specializing in central american cigars that had a private smoking lounge. Also I discovered the Snug, an Irish pub, and had a chat with the owner, Rory from Dungannon, while enjoying a cigar on the rooftop lounge. It was a relaxing day. He sponsored one of the Guatemala team jerseys at the tournament, easy to spot as they were emerald green with the Snug logo on the front. I would have bought one if they had them available in XXXL. (photo by supporter)

Thursday

It was pre-tournament day, players were focused on the tournament and working hard. Supporters did their own thing in Antigua.

Friday and Saturday

The Howlers won both the men’s and women’s competition. Jordan Ng was selected the men’s player of the tournament and Angie Olukunmi won the women’s player of the tournament. Both teams went undefeated in the tournament, the men defeated Guatemala in the semi-finals and the Mexico team in the finals. The women’s competition was a round robin and the Howlers defeated Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador twice.

Some of the match video live streams from Guatemala Rugby are posted below, plus a Howlers highlight reel I posted to the BCRN YouTube account. The player profile photos by Chris Graham as well as an associated action photo of each player (also by Chris) is also posted below.

As a sidenote, Guatemala Rugby attended the South American 7s tournament this weekend, that tournament was won by Chile in the men’s division and Argentina in the women’s division, but the Guatemala men defeated Costa Rica in the battle of the Central American sides. Guatemala are the top Central American side in 7s out of Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama. The Central American countries are part of the World Rugby South America region, unlike Mexico which is part of the World Rugby North America region.

Would I go back to Guatemala, absolutely, a beautiful part of the rugby world. If you scroll to the bottom of the article you’ll see an interesting little addendum about Canadians involved in Guatemala Rugby going back to 2010.

Men’s Matches (live stream by Guatemala Rugby)

Women’s Matches (live stream by Guatemala Rugby)

BCRN Highlights of Howlers

Men’s Team

Simeon John

Jaden Howell

Simon John

Luke Prest

Matt Fish

Jacob King

Owen Barlow

Denver Fatt

Nathan Sgrazzutti

Jordan Ng

Finley Easton

Logan MacDonald

Women’s Team

Katryna Mattern

Katie Salverda

Spring Mosset

Trinity Todd

Kaycia Flaman

Angie Olukunmi

Brogan Mior

Carli Patenaude

Gracie Anderson

Kira Katan

Nikol Durango

Cassandra Steel

Danica Pedric

Addendum

Just when we thought we had wrapped up the article, more good information came in on Guatemala Rugby and a Canadian connection. In 2010 two Canadians played for the Guatemala Quetzal Rugby Club, a newly founded rugby club in Guatemala City. The two Canadians played for Guatemala in a match against El Salvador, although not an official international, it may have been the first match between a Guatemala club and the full El Salvador national team. Craig Geddes on the left of the photo played tighthead prop, and Colin Brown, second from the right, played #10. Colin Brown, now Dr. Colin Brown is an acclaimed educator who is head of the American School of Taichung in Taiwan. Thanks to Craig for sending this in when he read the Howlers in Guatemala article.

Posted in Front Page, Tournaments & Tours.

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