Rugby first originated in the Gulf as recreation for expatriates that had been stationed in Kuwait. The first documented games in the 1940's were those between military personnel and Kuwait Oil Company workers, played on sand pitches in clearings that were meant for cricket. Nowadays the facilities are world-class, and the six-nation Arabian Gulf is ranked 39th in the world. What hasn't changed in 60-odd years however is that the sport still very much survives due to expatriate interest.
Two years ago the International Rugby Board (IRB) decided to restructure the AGRFU by the end of 2010 and replace it with individual national unions. Andrew Cole is a former player for the Arabian Gulf team that took part in the World Cup qualifiers in 1993. Now chairman of the AGRFU, he is sceptical about the reasons for the IRB's decision. "It must be said that it does seem strange that a decision was made based on an anomaly - being that the Gulf team is made up of more than one country. I suppose you would need to question why Ireland (North & South) plays as one or why Hong Kong [now part of mainland China] plays separately."
Some feel a certain injustice in terms of the undoing of the AGRFU's hard work. "It's pointless, and completely unjustified. It is built on a far-fetched presumption!
They are destroying the development of the game throughout the region with the exception of the UAE. The likes of Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait will have to form their own league - there's hardly enough interest as it is," said a winger for the Dubai Exiles on condition of anonymity.
Cole points to difficulties that will be faced on an administrative and bureaucratic level with the planned dissolution. He says, "Funding has made the biggest difference to the sport and disbanding the Union has meant the loss of around 70-80 per cent of funds. Last year we spent over Dh2 million on development and Dh2.5 million the year before. I cannot see local sports councils coming up with those sorts of figures especially in a sport they know little about." Funding provided for rugby in the region is already meagre in comparison to the resources provided to countries like Japan where they have 192,000 registered players, most of whom are on full-time contracts. In the Arabian Gulf, there are less than 4,000, none of whom are paid a salary.
Mike Cox-Hill, captain of the Arabian Gulf team sees potential in the region given the right support. "If someone like Emirates sponsors us then maybe it will be possible. It's certainly possible given the amount of money given in the Gulf. There seems to be a lot of interest in buying foreign football clubs from this part of the world. It would be good to see someone make an investment at home."
Cole does not know where his own future lies once the Union is dissolved but has been working on building a framework for the survival of the sport after the AGRFU. "I do feel it is right to push Arab nationals to take up the sport, and to do that we must get in to local schools. We had our first all-UAE National Schools tournament this year at the Rashid School for Boys," he says.
Of the schools that participated in the tournament, a fair amount had coaches who are accredited by the IRB. Bruce Birtwistle is the head coach of the senior men's XV's and has enjoyed significant successes as a coach in New Zealand, nurturing the development of players who went on to represent the All Blacks team. The talent at the junior levels is on the rise. The proportion of teenage union members has been growing and now makes up the majority. The under-19s Gulf squad even came away as champions of the 2000 Asian Championships in Sri Lanka.
The UAE is the region's best hope to pick up where the AGRFU left off. The country is a recurring venue for the World Seven's tournament and home to a large portion of the Arabian Gulf's existing players. The IRB has said they will hold the AGRFU's world ranking of 39 for the UAE pending their performance over a ten-game period. The transition however is not occurring as smoothly as Cox-Hill would have hoped. "The Arabian Gulf has been going for 20 years and has established contacts and funding for the 15s as well as the sevens and the juniors. The UAE rugby union hasn't approached or contacted any of us. We're completely in the dark about what is supposed to happen now," says Cox-Hill.
Bahrain won't be as strong since they only had five players on the Arabian Gulf team. But they will fare better than Oman and Kuwait, who are likely to be phased out completely at the national level, but their club sides will still compete with the best in the region. Taif Al Delamie is the only Arab national member of the AGRFU squad. The half-Irish, half-Omani winger, and one of the talents on the squad, hopes to play for the UAE because of the lack of future opportunities in his own country. "I am still unsure whether I will qualify based on the fact that I've played for the Arabian Gulf previously or because of the length of time I have been a resident in the UAE." Only those who have been a resident for three years are eligible to play for the UAE. It is likely that the new federation will impose rules requiring a minimum number of UAE nationals to be part of the national squad.
Like many others however, the uncertainty surrounding the sport is not lost on him. "Who are the development officers? Who is in charge? Do they know what they are doing? Where is the money coming from? When we finished our recent Asian 5 Nations campaign the players, coaches and management had nothing but unanswered questions in relation to what will happen in the future."
Cox-Hill's sense of loss is deepened by the fact that the team stuck together despite the odds. "Technically, we're all amateurs. Each one of us had to take time off from work to play in the Asian 5 Nations. We're committed to a professional standard when it comes to training etc, we just don't get paid for doing it," he says. "We were playing in Japan in front of 25,000 people and then went back to work on the Sunday. It's a pretty massive anti-climax when you come back and nobody knows you had been there."
At the moment, interest for rugby in the region is in a fledgling stage. Enthusiasm can, however, be cultivated if people were witness to a successful team, but the disbanding of the AGRFU has the potential of setting the sport back a few years in this region. The Arabian Gulf team has had an admirable run - one that deserves the population to take notice. They bowed out by beating Korea, who are ranked 20 places above them, 21-19 in their last ever game.
