Top officials of the UAE Rugby Association (UAERA) have dismissed fears that the future of the Dubai Rugby Sevens tournament is uncertain once the hosts of this annual event - Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) - is delisted as a member of the International Rugby Board (IRB) on December 31.
“Nothing will change. The Dubai Rugby Sevens will continue because it is part of the IRB World Sevens Series and Emirates Airline are the sponsors. It will be like the UAE Football Association handing over the organisation of Brazil vs UAE football match to an event management company,” deputy general secretary of UAERA Qais Abdulla Aldhalai told ‘Emirates 24|7’ in an exclusive interview.
With the five-year contract of organising the Dubai Rugby Sevens tournament coming to an end, AGRFU chairman Andy Cole had earlier expressed concerns about who will be running it next year.
“We don’t even know who will run this tournament next year. We negotiated a five-year contract to run the tournament as the host union of the sevens and this is the last year,” he told reporters on the eve of this year’s tournament.
“Now they have to find another union. So whether that will be the UAERA or the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) we don’t know.”
He added that Dubai will be for sure a part of the IRB World Sevens series, but the only grey area was who will host it.
Tournament manager of the World Sevens Series Beth Coalter also confirmed that “without any doubt we like to make sure Dubai has an annual sevens event and that it is still part of World Sevens Series.”
However, Aldhalai said this was not an issue. “It will be like the UAE Football Association being hosts of the Brazil v Iran match which was handled by an event management company,” he said.
“It (Dubai Sevens) will continue like before. We will be working closely with the parties involved such as IRB and Emirates Airline,” said Faisal Abdulaziz Alzarooni, vice-chairman of the UAERA.
Aldhalai also revealed that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the UAERA signed with Gulf Rugby LLC, the legal entity of AGRFU, to run the domestic competition which was to expire this month will be extended till the end of the season next year.
The UAERA is in the process of forming their own entity called ARFU West Asia LLC with IRB’s project manager for the region Mathew Oakley playing a leading role in it.
“We want to ensure there is a smooth transition because the IRB is looking up to the UAERA as a role model for the region,” said Aldhalai.
This new entity will circumvent the problem of UAERA not being a full member of IRB unlike AGRFU when it comes to hosting the Dubai tournament, he said.
An Associate member of the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), the UAERA will be approved as a Full member at the Asian body’s next Council meeting to be held in Thailand in April. “After we have served one year as Full Member of the ARFU only can we apply to join the IRB as an Associate member,” explained Aldhalai.
However, they are sailing smoothly as they prepare to take over the baton from AGRFU and prepare a UAE team for the Asian Five Nations (A5N).
“We have already appointed Bruce Birtwistle and Shane Thornton as coaches for the 15-a-side tournament. A UAE team already made its international debut at the Sri Lanka Sevens tournament. We are ready to take over,” said Aldhalai.
Asked whether there would be more Emiratis playing when UAE takes the place of Arabian Gulf at the A5N tournament, Qais said: “We will inject local players gradually into the national side. We want to maintain the hard earned status of Arabian Gulf who finished third in the Premiership. We will retain UAE-based Gulf players depending on their being selected by the coaches.”
UAERA vice-chairman Alzarooni also reaffirmed that Gulf players living in UAE would be very much welcome in future UAE teams.
“Yes, they are very much part of the set up. When we went to Sri Lanka we showed everybody that we are not biased or against Arabian Gulf players,” he said referring to the fact that the UAE side contained Gulf stars like Khaled Helal, Duncan Murray, Hayden Palmer and Jason Voyce.
“We are only for rugby. We don’t have anything against anyone. We want to focus on UAE and improving the sport in UAE,” he said.
He expressed his gratitude to the IRB and ARFU for working closely with them to ensure a smooth transition of administration.
“There is a bright future ahead of us. The transition is already smooth. We are controlling everything slowly. We are very happy with the support we are getting from IRB and Asian unions and associations,” he said.
Asked about their programmes for the future, Alzarooni said: “We have national team coaches. We are preparing for Asian Five Nations. Our development at schools will start in January with the Princess Haya Initiative for Sport programme,” said Alzarooni.
AGRFU chairman Cole also offered their support for development activities. “We will still be involved and work towards helping the UAERA and ensure that they have a team in place soon,” he said.
“The boys really did well recently in Sri Lanka; there were five local players in the team. Three years back there was only one player in the team. So that shows there is talent here. We have to put a system in place and ensure we find the right talent and prepare the team for the future.”
Shane Thornton, who went as coach of the UAE team to Sri Lanka, said that there was talent in this region but a proper training system should be put in place.
“It’s not going to happen overnight. It will take probably five or six years to see the difference of good coaches coming here and helping them through their paces.”
However, he felt the most important thing would be to take the sport to the schools.
“The most important thing is we have to introduce it when the kids are really young. I started playing when I was just five. When you start early, when you are 11 or 12 years old you would have learnt the skills and prepared for it,” said the New Zealander.
“Another important thing is we have to make them enjoy it. Once they enjoy the sport they will learn the skills very quickly. We also have to make the parents understand the game and involve them so that they encourage their children.
“I will be around here and help them with the UAE sevens and ensuring that the sport gets into the school and make sure the coaching standard is up to the mark.”
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