Body blow to Indian Rugby as cricket and American football eat into it's territory

Indian rugby team

Indian Rugby seemed to have received a huge shot in the arm when Delhi hosted the event at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Four years later, however, its back to square one for the sport with almost a hundred promising rugby players making the switch to American Football.

A combination of internal politics in the national federation and a lack of support from the government have been factors in the Indian Rugby team not qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow which will take place later this year.

The first signs of trouble for the Indian Rugby Football Union came when Delhi University converted the state-of-the-art rugby facility, constructed specifically for the Delhi CWG at an estimated cost of Rs 304.26 crore, into a cricket ground soon after the Delhi Games.

“The Delhi University Sports Council bowed to the pressure from an influential lobby and converted the turf into a cricket pitch. The Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU) made several representations to DU, SAI and the sports ministry staking its claim for the ground, but nothing happened.

We were told not to even talk about it. It was against the normal practice as after any big Games the facility is handed over to the respective federation,” IRFU sources told TOI.

“What they spoiled was a world-class facility. It had dressing rooms with ice baths and (was) fitted with imported showers. Now there is not a single rugby pitch in India.”

All the good work done by the association before and during the games bore no fruit as the sport received virtually no support from anyone.

“We had selected 36 probables, who got world-class training and exposure trips. They had a foreign coach from South Africa, and travelled to places like New Zealand, South Africa, Malaysia and Hong Kong for training.

They got all the facilities, and it could have been easily evolved into a good group. There were always feelers from Sri Lanka, who will compete in Glasgow, to play matches but it never happened. In the end, we didn’t have enough ranking points to qualify for Glasgow,” an IRFU official said.

IRFU relies on the grant provided by the world body, he added.

“The federation gets Rs 80-90 lakh every year, but that is not enough. Players are told to bear expenses for boarding and lodging during tournaments. As a result, players’ interest has declined,” a player said.

Another blow for Rugby has come in the form of American Football setting shop in India through an influential NRI. By offering contracts worth several lakhs a year, the Elite Football League of India (ELFI) were able to eaily rope in rugby players.

“Nearly 100 rugby players, including at least three who played for India at the Delhi Games, switched to American football. It affected almost all rugby-playing centres in India. Some of them want to come back, but they can’t represent India again as they have gone professional,” sources said.

Some of the top rugby players that the ELFI are Amit Lochab, Gautam Dagar and Mandanda Thimmaiah all three of whom are India internationals.

“There was not much support for us from any quarters when we were playing rugby. But in ELFI everything is taken care of,” said Bangalorean Roshan Lobo, a running back, who won the MVP award last season. “The new season will begin in July and the sport is catching up. Last weekend, there were more than 10,000 spectators in Hyderabad to watch our pre-season matches.”

Asked about the transition, Lobo said: “It was not all that difficult. The only difficulty was to learn to run wearing the kit,” he said, adding that the players will sign a new contract with ELFI soon.