Hyderabad Can Be a Launchpad for India’s Rugby Dream: Rahul Bose

Excerpts from an exclusive interview

Rugby remains a niche sport in India. What’s the one change that could accelerate its growth?

Any sport needs the oxygen of fan support and sponsor support and this always happens when you are ready to be covered in mass media. In this case, of course, television, digital, etc. It can be a huge catalyst in generating fan support and sponsor support and RPL is largely the only way we can bring this sport to the eyes, hearts and minds of the public.

What was the biggest turning point in Indian rugby in the last five years? RPL exclusive

We think the biggest turning point in Indian rugby in the last five years has been the professionalisation of approaches when it comes to improving the skills of coaches and PT teachers, whether at the grassroots level, providing assistance to all our state federations in this endeavour. There are much bigger efforts to be made over the next five years and also the professionalisation of the approach to how you train and look after your players at the high performance level that is at the national level. We have introduced what we call 360-degree high performance support to our players, covering psychology, nutrition, strength and conditioning, rehabilitation, player insurance and even paying players for participation in national camps and national missions. It was created 360 degrees so that our players can go on the field with minimum pressure and maximum comfort, both physically, mentally and psychologically.

Women’s rugby is gaining worldwide visibility. How do you see the development of the Indian women’s team?

The development of the Indian women’s team has been very encouraging. Like all team sports, it is slow moving and cannot be measured linearly. But overall, the federation is very pleased with the progress made by our women’s teams.

This is underpinned and supported by the fact that female players are being looked after better, especially in our age group, the under 18s and under 20s. Men too, of course. But in women, we are seeing results a little faster because the pool of countries in international women’s rugby is a little smaller and also because the professionalization of women’s rugby in India happened a few years after men’s rugby took off. So they have the advantage of tried, trusted and proven processes, and we use those to move forward.

What role can schools and colleges play in creating a stronger rugby culture in India?

As we all know, if you want to play a sport that a country can perform at the highest level, you must identify, observe and select children from school. Because rugby is a physical game, we first start with touch rugby in schools where children are 10, 11 and 12 years old. Then of course we move on to semi-contact rugby for under-15s and then full-contact rugby.

So the whole grassroots system anyway is based on outreach to schools, communities and districts, perhaps a cluster of schools, where the intervention takes place not with a single school but with a group of schools. And of course, we ensure that through coaches and PT teachers develop their skills and include rugby in their programmes. So right now all the effort has been in schools, rural areas and hinterland areas, but gradually the plan is to move to schools in urban areas as well, so they too will start introducing sports.

And with the RPL, there are also cities where these players, for the first time, can get behind their rugby trio teams and form a sort of support base for their team, and also where watching their team play will give them the wind under their wings to continue their sport.

Hyderabad has a strong sports ecosystem. How important is City Rugby to India’s development plans?

Hyderabad is in any case the main focus of rugby development in Telangana. And from there the effort spread throughout the state. So, of course, it plays a very important role when it comes to state unity.

But with RPL having a Hyderabad Heroes team, there is even more momentum for the sport to gain traction in the city. As I said in the previous question, there will be outreach to schools, starting from the six cities where RPL is located. This will further increase the importance of Hyderabad in contributing to Indian rugby.

I wouldn’t call it our ambition but our biggest hope for Indian Rugby in the next decade is for both our teams to qualify for the Olympics and for that we need to reach at least the top two in Asia. Our women are currently ranked sixth in Asia so they need to move up four places and we hope they will do that by the 2032 Olympics and our men are ranked 12th in Asia and we have built a path for them to progress and hopefully be in the top two in Asia by the 2036 Olympics.

What can the City expect from the Rugby Premier League this year?

The city can expect the best rugby on the planet, at least in and around these few months. City can expect the best players in the world by playing the best Indian players in the country. This time our men and women are participating in the RPL men’s and women’s competition. This time there are not only RPL men, there are RPL women too. Therefore, giving the same importance to women’s football as the men’s game excites everyone. That has always been the belief in Rugby India and we want to extend that belief to RPL.

The game is very easy to understand. The game is very exciting. Very very fast. It’s very physical. So something happens every few seconds in a rugby sevens match. And since a game is four minutes each consisting of four quarters, the total game is about 20-22 minutes. So it’s not something where you have to sit around for a long time and wait for something to happen. In rugby sevens a score is made every 90-120 seconds. So, it’s easy to understand, constant excitement with the best players in the world. So it’s a win-win-win situation.