On a sunny warm Saturday November 1 at the National Sofia Academy playing fields in Sofia, eight teams - each of eight to nine players a team - took to the pitch in a rugby tournament hosted by Sofia's Murphy's Misfits team.
The tournament is a charity event aimed at raising awareness and financial assistance for Dreams and Teams, a programme initiated by the British Council with the participation of the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Bulgaria. The event itself was organised by Murray Te Huki, president of Murphy's Misfits RFC and the Murphy's Misfits rugby club.

The teams and players who took part in the charity event were Mercury RFC, the NSA Women and Juniors RFC team, US embassy team, and LS Property. The tournament commenced with two groups of four teams and a round robin was played to determine the places in each group, with the winners of Group A eventually coming up against the winners of Group B who then played on the final for "The Murphy's Misfits Charity Touch Trophy".
Having passed the first round of the knockout stages and reached the final of the event, Team Orange (LS Property) overwhelmed team Blue 2:0. Meanwhile, the two sides that lost on the semi's, Team Yellow and Zeon, shared third place.

The good news is that interest in the event was high, with more than 100 people congregating for the charity rugby tournament. The result was also good - more than 4000 leva for the "Dreams and Teams" were raised by the participants, sponsors and fans. To date, this has been the most successful charity event the Murphy's Misfits club has run.

The Dreams and Teams project is a three-year joint venture with the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Bulgaria and the Youth Sport Trust of the United Kingdom. It is aimed at developing leadership potential in young people and including young people with disabilities in sport in Bulgaria. Dreams and Teams is a project developed by the British Council in many countries around the world, but in Bulgaria there has been a special addition to the mix. Apart from leadership training through sports, Bulgarian participants have also been able to achieve inclusion of children with and without disabilities in the one and the same "team", which in the end makes "the dream comes true" for all of them - not to distinguish between children on the basis of their physical or mental abilities.

In addition, in all three groups engaged in the project (trainers, leaders and festival participants) people with and without disabilities, of different ages and social status alike, take part - from members of governmental and non-profit organisations, through young people from various secondary schools to the youngest participants. Only in this way can organisers of the event ensure that the approach taken will be the same at all levels and for all participants.

Everyone is invited to participate in Murphy's Touch Tournaments whenever they take place in the future (watch this space for future tournaments). People can submit a team of seven to 10 players or come alone and be placed with others to make up a team. The teams will be determined at 11 with t-shirts provided for each team and play to commence at 12. Prizes will be awarded after the event's completion. The games are refereed by members of the Misfits Rugby Club, they are usually played with seven players a team and for 15 minutes a game. Teams can substitute players at any time.