Due to the popularity of our 2018 Rugby Festivals, many of which are now sold out, we wanted to publish the dates of our 2019 events as early as possible. Our UK festivals are a great opportunity for your players to compete against new teams from all over the country, while our European events are a great opportunity for you to take your team overseas for the first time, and play against teams from all over Europe.
The Gent Easter Festival
Dates: Friday 19th to Sunday 21st April
Ages: U16-U18’s Boys & U18’s Girls
The Gent Festival will be running its 31st festival in 2019 and will be hosting for U16s to U18s Boys, U18s Girls and Senior men as well as ladies festival over a weekend of fun rugby and partying. The festival has a big draw to touring teams but also from teams from Europe looking to play in a competitive festival. The tour starts with a Belgian beer evening and pre-tournament party. Once the rugby has finished the amazing Belgian hospitality is shown with a ‘all you can eat BBQ’ followed by a club themed party.
On the Sunday you may wish to take a day trip to Brussels, or visit the popular Oceade Water Park or the Walibi World Theme Park. We can also arrange an additional fixture with a local side. In the evening, you will have the opportunity to head to an open air party in the historical city of Ghent: The City throws great parties on Sunday-evening, as Easter Monday is a public holiday in Belgium!
The Hilversum Festival
Dates: Friday 19th to Sunday 21st April
Ages: Boys U9-U19’s
The Hilversum Festival draws its entrants from a range of countries and provides a fine example of how the Dutch embrace youth rugby and enjoy the social side of the game. This gives you a great chance to play against teams the normally you wouldn’t meet. Burleigh Travel have been arranging tours to this event for almost 15 years and work very closely with the rugby club throughout the year. With this relationship we are able to offer a great Mini and Junior tour to Holland.
Your group will be based in one of our popular holiday parks in Holland that boasts a wide range of activities, which are sure to keep your group entertained throughout the duration of your stay. This safe and secure environment also offers a bar and restaurant for the older members to enjoy. All these great facilities being located in the park means that there is no hassle when it comes to organising you evening meal.
The Dearne Valley Festival
Dates: Easter
Ages: Boys U7s to U16s
This is one of our newest festivals and is designed to offer you an unforgettable touring experience. We are offering you a combination of exhilarating team building activities and an action packed day of rugby, at nearby Doncaster RFC, against both local and touring teams.
You will be staying at Dearne Valley which is located in the beautiful rolling hills of South Yorkshire. This fantastic state of the art activity centre is spread over 50 acres of grass and woodland; and during your tour you will have the opportunity to enjoy a range of challenging apparatus such as zip lines, climbing walls, high ropes and a leap of faith. The Kingswood centres won the award for the Best Residential Experience at the last School Travel Awards.
All these activities take place in a safe and secure environment, under the supervision of qualified staff, all of which are included in your tour package. The whole weekend is tailored to give your players a unique team building experience. You will never have experienced a sports tour quite like this!
The Bournemouth Festival
Dates: Easter
Ages: Boys U7s to U16s
The Bournemouth Festival is one of the largest and most well established festivals in the UK. The start of tournament is in pool stages and then progresses into the Cup, Bowl and Plate games. The weekend is split so that the Junior teams will be competing on the Saturday, and have a day off to enjoy the facilities on the Sunday. Where as the Mini’s is run the other way, they will compete on the Sunday and have their free day on the Saturday. Once all games are complete prizes will be awarded and then the celebrations start.
Your accommodation will be at the popular Sandford Holiday Park which has plenty of onsite amenities to keep your group entertained! These include a heated indoor pool, tennis, table tennis, short mat bowls, crazy golf, multisport court for basketball and football, 2 outdoor play areas with a climbing wall and amusement arcade with Tenpin Bowlingo! The parks also offer a variety of restaurants and evening entertainment.
The South Yorkshire Challenge
Dates: Sunday 5th May
Ages: U7-U16’s
This is one of our newest festivals and is designed to offer you an unforgettable touring experience. We are offering you a combination of exhilarating team building activities and an action packed day of rugby, at nearby Doncaster RFC, against both local and touring teams.
You will be staying at Dearne Valley which is located in the beautiful rolling hills of South Yorkshire. This fantastic state of the art activity centre is spread over 50 acres of grass and woodland; and during your tour you will have the opportunity to enjoy a range of challenging apparatus such as zip lines, climbing walls, high ropes and a leap of faith. The Kingswood centres won the award for the Best Residential Experience at the last School Travel Awards.
All of these activities take place in a safe and secure environment, under the supervision of qualified staff, all of which are included in your tour package. The whole weekend is tailored to give your players a unique team building experience. You will never have experienced a sports tour quite like this!
The Abergavenny Festival 2019
Dates: Sunday 5th May
Ages: U7-U16’s
This festival is amongst the largest in Europe, hosted in Usk’s Showground and supported by the Newport Gwent Dragons squad. The junior age groups play 15-a-side which allows for extra space on the pitch, hopefully leading to some enjoyable end of season running rugby!
You will be based eight person caravans at The Trecco Bay Holiday Park. The park will have a variety of onsite amenities such as an indoor pool, crazy golf and an adventure playground.
This is an ideal location where your group will find plenty to occupy them in a safe environment while also enjoying playing in the Abergavenny Rugby Festival.
On the day of the festival facilities will be put on so that there is live music in the evening and a fully stocked bar.
Terenure 13’s Rugby Festival 2019
Dates: Sunday 5th May
Ages: U13s
The Terenure 13s Rugby Festival is one of the most competitive junior events in Europe, attracting some of the best teams and clubs. Taking place each year over the Bank Holiday Weekend it always attracts a large number of touring teams.
However, the tournament is not all about the best of the best – it’s a celebration of rugby at all levels. And to facilitate a sense of fairness the competition features a series of pool stages on Day 1 streaming all teams into a series of knock out competitions on Day 2, including Cup, Bowl and Plate. There is also a special award for the team that demonstrates the greatness sense of fair play†– a critical value, part of the ethos of the competition.
Teams from all over Europe have the opportunity to include Ireland on their rugby tour itinerary, at the fantastic Terenure College RFC location – one of Ireland’s best-known rugby clubs, and the adjoining Terenure College School, which boasts among the most significant rugby facilities of any school in Ireland.
The Wimborne Rugby Festival 2019
Dates: Sunday 5th May
Ages: U7-U12’s
Taking place on the May Bank Holiday weekend this event sells out every year with teams from all over the UK travelling down to take part. You will have plenty of time to explore the stunning south coast over the weekend, and a full day of rugby action at the festival.
The park also has a large grass area, which is ideal for a light training session or maybe enjoy some fun beach rugby during your stay on the beach made famous by the TV series Broadchurch. The majority of the units are conveniently comprised of three separate bedrooms which means no-one has to share or use sofa beds.
There are plenty of on-site amenities to keep your group entertained, including the heated indoor pool with flume, Ten Pin Bowling, amusement arcade and pool tables which combined with the abundance of outdoor space it will be easy to keep your group entertained. The park also has fantastic evening entertainment to keep your group occupied after dark with acts such as cabarets and magic shows.
If you would like any more information on any of the rugby festivals mentioned above then please don’t hesitate to contact our team who will be happy to send you over more information and an itinerary for your team.
