Leading North American rugby retailer World Rugby Shop has become the latest distributor of Rugby Packaposts – the world’s first truly portable rugby posts with a regulation-height crossbar.

The deal makes it possible for rugby competition organisers, clubs, schools and others across the USA to purchase the posts direct from the World Rugby Shop online store, in addition to Packaworld’s USA online store.

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said the high-quality inflatable posts could be set up in minutes and would enable training, tournaments and games to brought to more locations. Their versatility allows them to be used on a variety of different surfaces, including synthetic turf where new holes cannot be drilled for permanent posts.

Students joining the University of Western Australia (UWA) got a taste of the unique and challenging sport of goalball during a recent Orientation Day event.

The ‘O Week’ event, organised by Goalball Western Australia in collaboration with the university’s inclusion team, made use of portable Goalball Packagoals from Packaworld to allow the game to be played ‘for real’ by an audience that might not otherwise experience it.

While the game is primarily played by visually impaired athletes, the ‘Have a Go’ event introduced the game to the entire university community to grow the sport’s profile, offering those without a vision impairment the chance to feel what it’s like the experience the game.

Packaworld has launched a campaign to bring Visually Impaired Rugby to Paralympic Games. 

Run with the support of UK Charity The Change Foundation, the campaign aims to raise the profile of the sport and further its case to be played at the Paralympic Games in future.

“Rugby is a way of life where we are based in New Zealand,” says Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts.

“We’d love to see pathways created for our rugby-mad visually impaired athletes to compete at the highest level globally. If we can get a full scrum of supporters packed down behind us, there’s no telling where the sport can go.”

A German sports programme is using innovative portable goals from Packaworld to grow participation in the Paralympic sport of goalball – following the recent launch of Packaworld’s online store in Europe.

The Association for Disabled and Rehabilitation Sports (VBRS) is using the unique inflatable Goalball Packagoals for their project “Die Aufklärer (The Scout)”, which brings goalball to school students in the north-east German state of Mecklenburg—Western Pomerania.

Youth Goalball Coach Heiko Prinz says the inflatable Packagoals have allowed VBRS to introduce the sport to more people with and without vision impairments. The portability of the new goals makes the easy to take to new communities and schools, unlike standard metal goals which are difficult to move due to their width and bulk.

Jenny Blow is an international goalball star who has competed in three Paralympic Games. A key player for the Aussie Belles Australian women’s team, she is currently undergoing her final preparations for the Tokyo Paralympics later this year.

We caught up with Jenny ahead of one of the team’s training camps to gather her thoughts on the team’s preparations, their chances for the upcoming campaign, and why she loves goalball.

The training camp was held in Victoria and featured one of the team’s secret weapons – Goalball Packagoals. Created by Packaworld International, these full-sized inflatable goalball goals have helped the team continue training from new locations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and hold considerable potential for helping to grow the sport of goalball across Australia