|
Rugby in
Pakistan
dates back to over eighty years of history to it. It began as far
back as 1926 when the Karachi Rugby Football Union was formed. The
game remained exclusively an expatriate sport, with KRFU being
active on the All-India circuit up till the late fifties. The
sixties saw a decrease in the expatriate population and travel to
India becoming more regulated, therefore the club became more
reliant on playing fixtures with visiting British Navy Ships, at a
time when Karachi had become a regular port of call for R&R and
supplies. In 1968/1969 fortunately a handful of local players were
introduced into the club: this would prove to be the saving grace
for the game in the country. By the mid seventies the British Navy
reduced its presence in the
Indian Ocean and port visits became infrequent, and by the
early eighties
Rugby had become almost non-existent. The Karachi Rugby Football
Union continued to play, yet due to limited funds it was unable to
travel abroad for matches and suffered from lack of opposing teams
to play within the country.
The
interest in Rugby was rejuvenated in the nineties by a combination
of passion and commitment of the locals who had been introduced to
the game in the seventies and resurgence in the expatriate presence.
Whilst some experienced local players established clubs in Lahore
and Karachi, staff from foreign embassies, commissions and banks,
consisting of Frenchmen, British, and some Americans, established a
club in Islamabad. 1992 onwards has seen regular fixtures between
teams from these cities. By the mid-nineties an Islamabad club
consisting mainly of local players had also been established in
addition to the side made up of expatriates; the latter passes
through phases of dormancy subject to postings and availability of
players
The
three major clubs in
Pakistan.
Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi initiated an annual Pakistan 7’s
Championship on a rotating basis, Sixteen such tournaments have been
held so far.
The
Pakistan Rugby Union was formally established in 2000 and gained
membership with the Asian Rugby Football Union in 2000. In 2003,
Pakistan fielded a national team for the first time, participating
in the Provincial Tournament in Sri Lanka and there played the
Indian National side as well. Pakistan Rugby Union then became an
associate member of the IRB (International Rugby Board) in November
2003.
In Nov of 2004, it participated in the 19th Asian championship in
Hong Kong and in December 2005 it hosted the Asian under -19
Championship at
Lahore
with eleven countries participating , this was also the IRB Asian
qualifying round for the Under-19 world cup held later in 2006 at
Dubai. Lahore also became the venue for the Asian Rugby Football
Union’s council meeting in December 2005.
Rugby has now been introduced at the Provincial and District level
by the Pakistan Rugby Union. Schools have also been targeted for
Rugby to be introduced at the grass root level.
PRU
started working with schools in the last few years and that in turn
helped in forming The Pakistan under-19 team which participated in
the under-19 championship at Lahore.
A
National Rugby Sevens Tournament was held in December 2006 with 12
teams participating , its is noteworthy that Pakistan Army, Wapda,
Pakistan Police , LUMS in addition to provincial teams from Punjab,
Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP all fielding teams in the Championship
for the first time.
A
schools under-14 and under 17 event was organized by the Punjab
Rugby Association ( an affiliate of the Pakistan Rugby Union and the
representative body of the Sport in the
province
of Punjab ) , it was heartening to see over 300 boys from 17
school participating actively in the championship.
The
sport is still in its infancy stage in Pakistan but we expect to
see big things in the coming years. We further believe that the
physical litmus and the talent required for the sport is present in
the country. |