Under the axe

Dubai: The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union, the governing body for the sport in the Middle East, is to be dissolved before the end of 2010 under far-reaching restructuring plans.

As a regional rather than national body it is an anomaly in the organisation of the International Rugby Board which is keen to see individual countries in the region have their own administrations in the aim of fostering further growth and development.

The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) currently covers the entire Gulf Cooperation Council area and has full member clubs in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. There are also associate members in Lebanon and Jordan.

Beth Coalter, the IRB's Rugby Sevens Tournament Director, said: "The IRB understands that there will be some concerns about the restructuring, and that's why we have brought Matthew Oakley, our West Asia project officer, here to Dubai.

Transition

"He will start work in January, and will be working with clubs to discuss the transition period.

"We want rugby to grow and we see the restructuring as part of that process. There is a great opportunity to move forward, particularly with the support of Emirates."

The long-term aim of the move is to boost player numbers throughout the Middle East and foster further development of rugby which is lobbying to become an Olympic sport.

AGRFU is the host union for the current Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens and will remain in place for next year's Sevens World Cup, also due to take place in the emirate in March.

As hosts, the Gulf team were handed automatic qualification for the event. But the proposed changes mean that this could be one of the last times the representative side takes to the field.

Clubs in Egypt until recently also came under the AGRFU banner before being switched by the IRB for geographical reasons to be administered by the Confederation of Africa Rugby Union.

There are now plans for Egypt to form its own federation and establish a national side which it is hoped will take part in regional qualification for the 2015 World Cup.

There are enough clubs in the emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to make the formation of a UAE federation or union a logical step forward.

But it has yet to be announced how 'one club countries' such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar will benefit from the proposed changes.