BHUBANESWAR: Franchise-based leagues have become a trend in India for the last few years or so. The latest to join the bandwagon is the Rugby Premier League (RPL), which will be held in rugby sevens format. A seven-a-side rugby is a shorter, thrill-evoking version of union rugby and is played across the globe. The inaugural edition of the RPL, which will feature six franchises based out of Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Delhi, is set to kick-start on June 15 with the final set to be held on June 29.
All the 34 matches will take place at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. With the event knocking on the door, the excitement is palpable among players, coaches and the officials. Rahul Bose, president of Rugby India, is one among them. In a freewheeling chat with the New Indian Express on the sidelines of the Kalinga Black Tigers jersey launch event, Bose spoke about the league's vision and long-term ambitions, on sport's potential growth and more. Excerpts:
Bose on RPL & its vision
If this sport becomes one of the top five sports in a child's imagination, in creating a career, if we can get that (top-five sports), that will be a phenomenal outcome. It won't happen in a year. It will happen in a few years. We have to be prepared to also create a pathway. If the child says, 'mum, dad, I want to play rugby,' we have to provide the facilities for, 'where do I go to play rugby?' If I'm in a village or I'm in the middle of Jaipur, we have to be prepared to give them that. And what the RPL will do is create the financial reason to make rugby a (full-time) career.
On India's prospects in Asiad & CWG next year
The women are ranked 10th out of 36 nations in Asia. The men are ranked 15th out of 36 nations in Asia. At the last Asian Games (in Hangzhou, 2022), only seven teams competed in the women's (category).We were seventh. In the men's (category), the government had said if you're not in the top-eight as a team sport in Asia, you will not travel for the Asian Games. In 2026 (for the women's team), we are hoping that the field will be bigger. If it is the same field, our realistic objective would be seventh, sixth and fifth. To get to the top-two or top-three in Asia, it will take us four to five years. The federation's audacious dream is to be in the Olympics in 2032 for the women and 2036 for the men. And if we do that, we'll be the first team sport after hockey in 80 years that would have made the Olympics for India. (Cricket will make its return on LA 2028)
On how the RPL will potentially boost the grassroots
You are going to get a larger number of children interested in the league and the sport. To a child, (the franchise's) logo will mean hope. And that is transformational. Because till now, there is no such signage that we can give that means to a child who wants to play rugby in this country. Let us face it. It will mean, at best till now, it has meant a sport. Once you see these logos of these six teams in the future, that's what it will mean. So an increased amount of youngsters will be gravitating towards the game because of what they see on television. More than that, what's going to happen is that the internal engine of a successful league is six infrastructure and software injections into rugby in the country in those six regions. There will be personnel being hired on a full-time basis, be it the physiotherapist, the coach, the strength and conditioning instructor or a ground or a rehab facility. Those are the things that will then come up without the federation having to make any outlay.
On building an audience through RPL
So we have learnt from the experiences of other leagues. Number one, I don't believe individual sports make for successful leagues. Because (in team sports) there is a sense of loyalty and a sense of getting behind a team's culture. There is a kind of fandom that individual (sport) does not (possess). So in that respect, it ticks that box. The second box it has to tick is it the best thing you are watching on television in that sport at that time? We have the best players in the world. Third and equally important thing is that your sport has to have tremendous excitement every 30 seconds. You cannot be waiting for 90 minutes for a goalless draw. You are going to have to do it. Team sport, best in the world and incredibly exciting every 30 seconds on television.
On challenges the sport faces
Money. Basically I have 1600 players including those from the age-groups and the seniors, both men and women. What if I give them all a lakh just for making their state team? (Rs) 16 crores? They wouldn't leave. As soon as you are getting into the state team, you would not leave. You wouldn't drop out at the district level. The second example is, if you have money, you build infrastructure. But how you use that money to build, what you use it on — you have to have a vision, and intellect to execute it. Only then does it make sense. If you look very closely at the way Indian rugby has been playing itself out in the last 3-4 years, you will begin to see this pattern. You start with 20 players and devote all the resources you can at the high performance level. And then you start to take the lessons from this and take down the system. And then you start to create this culture here very slowly and you build from here. And meanwhile, this is developing and taking on new shapes because you were doing something wrong. Nutrition was important, you ignored it. Psychology was important, you forgot about it. Now you are building those systems and you keep trickling that down. So, it's a laborious process which is why 50 years goes nowhere. So a league like the RPL is like a vitamin injection which accelerates the process and reduces the time frames from 50 to 75 years hopefully to 25 to 30 years.