Lydia Linna: The Rugby Club Esch-Les Furets been registered with Luxembourg’s federation since July 2023. One year later, how has the team evolved? What are some highlights from the last year?

Rodrigo Esteves: That’s correct. Officially, the RCE has been registered since 2023 with the FLR. However, it began in winter 2022 as an idea between three friends. What we didn’t know at the time was the exponential growth our club would have. The project was expected to gather enough people to form a senior XV team in five years’ time--it happened in one year.  Given this sudden growth, we had to adapt and overcome. Lacking infrastructure, financial resources and human resources, RCE showed its resilience to find solutions.

Partners like the Ville d’Esch provided the infrastructure needed (playing pitches, training grounds, locker rooms, etc), our valuable sponsors and members helped on the financial side, along with our many events through the year. As for the human resources, not only do we play rugby, but many of our team members have unique skills that are valuable for the club’s development--as a family of Ferrets we work all together to get the club to the next level.

We now count over 35 members (the senior XV team has around 25), and this is one of our biggest season highlights: recall, we went from three people to 35 in one season. This has required seeking new projects--as there were no domestic championships in Luxembourg and other Luxembourgish teams were competing in Germany, RCE took its attention to international tournaments, 7s and 10s rugby tournaments, as well some friendly games.

Do you see a lot of interest in rugby--both amongst adults and children--around Esch?

Indeed, we do see it. We believe that we found a ‘sports niche’ that has been missing for a long time in the Minett region. Rugby has been growing worldwide. Events like the recent rugby world cup, the Olympics 7s--all together, they have been shining light on the sport. Our proximity to France increases this interest with some of our recent player ‘acquisitions’ coming from the other side of the border. We have players coming from all over southern Luxembourg, of different nationalities--this shows that the demand has been there for a long time, but there was not an offer.

It’s the same for children. There are parents that would like to enrol their kids in sports close to their homes, we offer that possibility. We are already seeing the fruits of it. It’s a recent project that will be evolving during season 24/25, so it’s still early to disclose how beneficial it will be to the community. No doubt it will be great.

Over the last year, the RCE was involved with the LASEP [Ligue des Associations Sportives de L’Enseignement Primaire] and other sports events to offer rugby workshops to Esch schools and students. This helps to facilitate the relationship between children and rugby, which culminates in the interest to attend RCE Rugby School.

Rugby Club Luxembourg organised a Rugby Ladies Day in May, attended by equality minister (DP) and sports minister (CSV). Do you see interest from women/girls in playing rugby as well?

Indeed, a great initiative that has our full support. Rugby is often seen as a male-dominated sport, which couldn’t be more far from the truth. Over the recent years, women/girls rugby have been increasing and they’ve become more and more interested in the sport.

At RCE, we count four senior ladies at the moment that train with the male team whenever possible. RCE does not discriminate on gender, everyone is welcome. It is our future project--maybe in the distant future--to get a women/girls team in Esch. We will work to make it happen. As we said, the demand is there, it just needs the offer.

Is your club open to all ages/levels of experience?

There is a gap of ages that we currently do not offer rugby, which is from 12 years old to 16 years old. However, if there are people interested, we can always contact other clubs that offer rugby to this ages and point the young people on the right direction.

All levels of experience are welcomed, beginner or experienced, it’s not relevant. RCE gives equal opportunities to everyone, and we make sure everyone feels welcomed and comfortable during our training sessions. If we need to slow down, we slow down; if we need to speed up, we speed up.

A collaboration with the University of Luxembourg and a new rugby school are in store for the 2024-25 season. Could you provide a little more information on these developments and any other things to look forward to during the upcoming year?

At the end of the last season, at one of our meetings, we brought this subject to the table. ‘Uni.lu is our neighbour (Belval Campus), they have literally thousands of people between staff, academic professional, students. Why not seek a partnership?’ So we did so; we offered the possibility to the academic community to experience rugby with RCE.

Now through the , it’s possible to book sessions to be part of Les Furets trainings.  With this partnership, we also hope the academic community--or part of it--falls in love with the rugby and RCE to become a long-lasting member of RCE.

How about the rugby school?

At the course of last season RCE was invited by the FLR to organise one event, called ‘LuxLeague’--so we did it. Given that we did not have any rugby school at the time, we gathered the members and we organised with great success this event at our training grounds in Hiehl, Esch.

Following this event and our involvement on school sports day, the LASEP activities, etc, we said: why not create our own rugby school in the south? As we said, the demand is there, children just needed the offer. It is under discussion already that RCE will once more organise a LuxLeague event in 2025 (dates TBC).

This is a project that we are currently developing--it’s scheduled to start on Saturday 21 September at 10am at our training ground in Hiehl. It’s directed to children 4 to 12 years old, male and female. All information is currently available on our website and everyone can easily reach us at .

Additionally, a new project came up to re-launch the new Rhineland-Pfalz league, including German and Luxembourgish teams. Several discussions have occurred to bring all the clubs in the region to agree on the format (tournaments) and how this would take place. RCE has been invited to be part of this new league and it will be our first experience in this field of regular competition.

The first tournament was on Saturday 31 August and it was a tremendous success. As this unfolds, it will become better. There are already few dates we can announce: 12 October (RC Mainz), 7 December (RC Luxemburg) and 14 June 2025 (RC Bad Ems). The remaining dates still need to be scheduled, and Rugby Club Esch will most probably host a tournament in April 2025.

Finally, what would you say makes the Les Furets team special?

Its members, its sponsors, the values, the resilience, the passion on and off the pitch, the camaraderie, the will to become better. We are proud that our team has naturally evolved from the very beginning into a true family. A group of friends you can rely on both on and off the field, who look forward to training together, chatting, helping one another and sharing moments together. This is the fundamental element that forms the DNA of RCE-Les Furets.

The ferret is a social animal that loves living in groups, and in that sense, our cherished mascot represents us perfectly. Behind Les Furets is a supportive, committed, and motivated group that wants to play rugby together, engaging in an authentic process of progress and development of a competitive team, training seriously while always emphasising the importance of having fun and enjoying good times. Who does not want to join a family like this?