ANTANANARIVO: The referee thought he was supposed to be on a goodwill mission.

Handing out penalties for spear tackles, calling both teams together to demand calm, and repelling invading neighbours as they scaled the stadium walls to watch was not in the memo.

And this was only a junior tournament.

The Air Seychelles Mike Ballard Foundation Conquistadors still have yet to face a Madagascar national team who are sore from a rare and costly defeat to Senegal last month.

On top of all that, the police are on alert due to civil unrest in the capital city last weekend.

What could possibly go wrong?

No matter the prevailing challenges, the side of touring Gulf rugby players could not be happier to be here, and they want to build lasting ties.

Ed Lewsey, the Conquistadors scrum-half, who organised Saturday’s junior tournament for three schools and two clubs sides at the national rugby stadium, is also the director of rugby at the British School Al Khubairat.

“The Madagascan Rugby Federation provided us with the name of 10 schools and clubs, and we didn’t know one from the other,” Lewsey said.

“We partnered different Gulf clubs and our school up with the various teams.

“We were partnered with Lycee Talatamaty, which is for kids of a similar age to our secondary school, so we decided we should try and start a relationship with them.

“That starts with this coaching session, but also we want to try to create a legacy so that our children in Abu Dhabi can form pen pals, and even in the future come to visit and help at the school,” Lewsey said.

“One day maybe some of their children can come to visit our school in Abu Dhabi.

“This is the start of it. It is a real pleasure to meet these kids, to give them kit, and to see them playing rugby.”

Ballard, who broke his back playing rugby two years ago and now wants to use his experience of adversity to help others, gave an assembly at BSAK before the tourists left for Madagascar.

Following that, the primary age pupils were set the task of writing a letter to send to the Lycee Talatamaty.

Lewsey had a packed folder full of correspondence to present to the players to share with their school colleagues.

Two former BSAK pupils, Harry Seward and Charles Etchells, are also part of the Conquistadors tour party.

Seward toured Sri Lanka and China with the school team before leaving for university at the end of the last school year.

He says the tour to Madagascar has been eye-opening.

“This is my first senior men’s tour and I have never been on a goodwill mission before,” Seward said.

“It has been good to get a perspective of how poor these guys really are, and what difference one jersey can make to them.

“It really opens your eyes as to how privileged we actually are. A pair of boots we might take for granted, over here it means a lot to them.”

Cargo reaches its destination

Having been held at Antananarivo airport by customs officials for the best part of two weeks, 40 wheelchairs and a variety of other medical equipment were released just in time to be presented on Saturday.

The intention was to donate the load to the staff at the Association Aide Manjakasoa Madagascar Rehabilitation Centre, in a central district of the capital city.

It might not have happened, had it not been signed off on the evening before the team made the trip to the rehabilitation centre.

As it was, the priest who was due to be accepting the donation was unavailable, as he was in the on-site church preparing local orphans for their first communion.

However, the contribution made by the touring rugby players from the Arabian Gulf is likely to have a lasting impact.

“There are many elderly people within our community who are very much in need of assistance but just can’t get it,” Rasamimanana Tahiriniaina, a doctor and medical coordinator at the centre, said.

“Because of this aid, we will be able to get more people here to provide help.

“We will be able to help needy people from the surrounding area and will work with the district authority to provide help for those who need it further afield.”

Mike Ballard, the Conquistadors manager, knows from experience how much difference the medical supplies his foundation have provided could make.

“If you don’t have the right medical equipment, life really does just stop,” Ballard said.

“There is not much you can do if you don’t have a chair, or you have a flat tyre, so unless you have that equipment at hand you can’t move on or move forward.

“Driving through the city, seeing how poor and devastated some parts are, this is a really nice place by comparison. It is a really good facility they have set up.”