Krakow’s biggest rugby festival, Kracking Rugby Fest. or KRF takes place every year in the 3rd weekend of June. Hundreds of rugby enthusiasts come to Krakow for an international weekend of parties and rugby 10s for the men and 7s for the women. KRF Package Deals to include unlimited beer & cider, accommodation, airport & pitch transfers, all meals including end of tournament Gala Dinner, live entertainment, pub crawls, skill & drinking games and cups, trophies & awards all in the mix.
Starts at 8pm on the Friday and finishes midnight on the Sunday with the fantastic atmosphere of social rugby on and off the field, so, choose your package deal to suit and meet teams from all over the world in Krakow’s buzzing city life but would you have the ovals to compete and complete it?
The KRF is held in Rkz (rfc) Juvenia Krakow’s stadium a 5 minute tram or bus ride from the city centre. The Juvenia rugby team nicknamed The Dragons (Smoki) play in Poland’s top flight rugby division called Ekstraliga. The club itself was founded in 1906 initially with football and other sports like volleyball and swimming although rugby was included it was not until 1973 that the sport of rugby became a registered league club and since then the club has continued to progress to reach the top level Ekstraliga. In recent years Juvenia Krakow has nurtured a prolific grassroots program which currently has over a 100 young players of all ages both boys and girls. The U.19 team won the silver medal as a finalist in the prestigious Dubai 7s tournament in 2019 and 6 of the Juvenia juniors have been included in the Polish junior national squad with 4 Juvenia seniors called up to play for the national team. Also the women’s rugby has made its presence felt with the Juvenia Krakow Kobiety (ladies) and play in the equivalent Women’s Ekstraliga 7s with the captain Magda Korona taking on the role of assistant coach of the U.18 Polish national team as well in 2020.
The KRF in conjunction with Juvenia Krakow was first introduced in 2016 and proved to be highly successful with the visiting teams bringing that all essential rugby spirit and styles of play which was quickly absorbed by Juvenia’s players and management, so much so that Juvenia now has been able to strengthen the squad with non-Polish players joining as a result of the KRF tournaments.
The first ever KRF Champion Winners was a team from the University of Nottingham, (Eng) and the subsequent year, 2017 saw West of Scotland RFC from Burnbrae in Scotland crowned champions. In 2018 the KRF introduced women’s 7s to coincide with the men’s tournament and this prompted massive interest with teams coming from as far away as UAE, the eventual winners were the magnificent Hampstead Ladies WRFC from London, (Eng) as inaugural women’s champions and the men’s team from Dubai, Barrelhouse RFC take the KRF Champions title. Then in 2019 with the KRF gaining more popularity and interest throughout the rugby grapevine we saw teams from all over the world descend on Krakow’s biggest tournament plus a travelling group of referees, the Bristol Referees Association (UK) adjudicating the matches. This time the Juvenia Krakow Kobiety earned the title of KRF Women’s 7s Champions and the splendid Mighty Bovs RFC from Edinburgh in Scotland narrowly defeating Juvenia Krakow RFC in the men’s 10s final to become KRF Champions.
The Krakow Rugby Festival is the tour your team has been waiting for, non-stop entertainment, parties and, of course, competitive and stylish rugby. Although the KRF and its tournament itinerary runs from a Friday evening until midnight Sunday many clubs or teams like to extend their stay, so, we offer extra opportunities to experience Krakow and its attractions, especially if you’re staying for 3 or more nights. When it comes to cultural tours or activities we suggest 3 of the best below which are a “must”:
Wieliczka salt mine tour
This particular mine has over one million visitors a year. Once again a morning departure is advised to see everything properly. Although you can also hire the underground caverns for celebration parties and even sleep there. There are 2 types of tours on offer, the Tourist or The Miner Tour, on this one you are dressed and equipped as a miner then you begin the descent into the mine with its underground lakes and grottos with sculptures and recreations of how salt was mined through the ages. Salt played a very important part in daily life in bygone times, used as currency or to help make food last longer for example. The highlight of the tour is St. Kinga’s Chapel, everything you see, touch or stand on is or was carved from rock salt, even Da Vinci’s Last Supper is reproduced but totally carved in rock salt. The 5D interactive museum room is a truly magic experience. Only 2% of the mine is open to the public but you will have to walk a minimum of 4km viewing it. The mine reaches a depth of 327m but visitors do not go below 135m. One interesting fact, the Graduation Tower at the mine is a health spa in the sense that spending some time in it the air is purified by the salt and aids people with breathing problems or allergies. There is a lot to be said for salt!
Auschwitz/Birkenau tour
Oświęcim which is the Polish name for this city was the chosen place for a concentration camp to hold, originally, Russian prisoners of war. Approximately 10,000 soldiers were interned there and not very many survived. Later, the camps were used for holding Jewish, Roma and anyone else not to the liking of the Nazi regime. Today, the Auschwitz/Birkenau Memorial is a World Heritage Site and is a stark reminder of the horrific crimes committed there for all humanity to reflect upon. Auschwitz/Birkenau tour
Krakow sightseeing…on board the Partybus ! (https://luab.org/en/krakow-sightseeing-by-party-bus/ ).
Other than the above you can also try party river boat cruises, white water rafting or visit the Krakow shooting range – you can book this and even more sports and fun activities with Krakow Stag Do Specialist.
