India's rugby story

The game of rugby has been moving up steadily, but there’s a long way to go

Across all of Fiji’s 333 islands, spattered with sun-kissed beaches and coral gardens, groups of men and women fiercely chasing an oblong ball is a common sight. The rugby-mad nation currently has around 80,000 registered players and fanaticism about the sport is reflected in their top-10 world ranking. At the other end of the heap and still trying to find a firm foothold in the psyche of the nation’s sporting tapestry lies Indian rugby, which briefly recreated the fervour of the sport at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. With stalwarts of the game such as New Zealand and Australia part of the competition, the Indian team expectedly didn’t manage anything of note in the four matches they played, but the presence of a bunch of rugby enthusiasts even in the scorching sun that shone on the Delhi University stadium lent weight to the possibility of the sport growing in the country.

Singing along with the music that played each time a team scored a try, waving their flags in between applauding the players and the final wave of exhilaration raising the decibel level sky high when the New Zealanders performed their acclaimed victory drill — the Haka — the atmosphere was one of the most festive seen at the Games. Fijian coaches Usaiah Biumaiwai and Elenoa Kunatuba, currently working with India’s mens and women’s team respectively, believe that the creation of a “rugby culture” will go a long way in improving India’s standing. “When I came here I could see that there was no awareness about the sport at all. Rugby is very new in India,” says Biumaiwai, who has been with the men’s team since 2007 and filled in as interim coach of the women’s side before Kunatuba took over this August. “Back in Fiji everybody eats, sleeps and breathes rugby; that is the kind of rugby culture we have been trying to introduce here. It’s what cricket is like all over India, but over the last few years there has definitely been development in the right direction in rugby too.

“When I began coaching them I focused on the basics — passing and receiving the ball but everything needed attention, from fitness workouts, to skills and technique and knowledge of the game.” There aren’t too many grounds in India — the notable ones are at the Bombay Gymkhana, in Kolkata and the Balewadi Complex in Pune. “The government doesn’t provide a great deal of support either, so that’s another hurdle to be crossed,” adds Biumaiwai.

Fitness has been given a great deal of attention and even the diet has been regulated with a view to getting the players up to the required level. “It’s a very physical sport and so they need to be in great shape. We do fitness training in the morning for a couple of hours and then some more work in the gym. The evenings are for improving skills. I’m happy with how they have adapted to the routine,” he says. “There wasn’t much technological assistance in place when I came here but now we have video sessions and we study matches as well.”

The majority of India’s men’s rugby team is from the Army, where the sport was introduced in 2003. Initially it was part of the day’sroutine at the base in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, and it later branched out to the Bengal and Haryana regiments. There are now rugby clubs in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. The game has been moving up steadily but it has a long way to go yet. Men’s Rugby 7s (which has seven players per team as opposed to the usual 15) was part of the Delhi Commonwealth Games itinerary but Biumaiwai says the main aim of participation was simply to make some noise. “We had no chance for a medal and we knew that. Our aim was to show the world that India also plays rugby. When the crowds come and watch, that is how their interest in the game will grow. With the presence of top teams like the Kiwis, we also learnt a lot,” he says.

There was no women’s rugby at the event, though, and, it is the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, this year that Kunatuba has primarily been hired for. She echoes Biumaiwai’s observations about rugby’s position in the Indian sporting hierarchy and hopes more coverage of the game and increased funding will make a difference. “There’s a lot of work to be done. Travelling and getting some international experience will be a big step. We plan to go to Borneo, Malaysia, and Singapore over the next few weeks,” she says, speaking from the team’s training base in Pune. Kunatoba played with the Fiji women’s team for 10 years and has been coaching since 2004.

She hasn’t been out and about in Pune much but is enjoying her first trip to the country. She spares a bit of time in her day to watch the Twenty20 Champions League, but her cricket interest isn’t shared by compatriot Biumaiwai. “Some of my players only talk about cricket and there’s cricket on TV all the time. I don’t want to discuss cricket at all!” laughs Biumaiwai.

Rugby may have quite a distance to cover before it can rival cricket for fan-following, but from the import of Fijian expertise and the rapidly upgraded training methods, the beginning is definitely full of encouraging signs.

(Prasun Kumar is a Delhi-based freelance writer)