Yesterday we attended a very interesting and frank media meeting at the UAE RUGBY office in Dubai. Here is a synopsis of some of the main points. Talking to us were, Qais Al Dhalai, Secretary General, Mohammed Shaker, now UAE Rugby board member and UAE Performance manager, Roelof Kotze. Points of interest from the meeting. Confirmation that the UAE sevens boys are primarily focused on the Development Asian Sevens Series. To remind everyone, there are 2 Tournaments, one in Al Ain and one, which will be in the South of India to be confirmed. The UAE must rank highly in these tournaments to be able to be a core team for 2015 Asian Sevens. Ranking highly means probably WIN one event and 2 or 3rd (max) in another. We will confirm the teams participating when we know. The Arabian Knights Rugby Club have agreed to partner with UAERF and create an Emirati U16 team within the Knights club system. This is number dependent, so if they only get 10 players for example, then the players will integrate in the Knights U16 system, and then build towards an Emirati only team AND also hopefully some mixed integrated squads. The UAERF will pay 80% of the club joining fee and the Knights will pay 20% in what the UAERF sees as a way of showing the commitment of the club. Both the Hurricanes and the Exiles were in communication and have to this point, not agreed a deal, but are meeting again on the 9th September. So we may see other teams soon. Last main point from the meeting was the UAEs confirmation that they will be bidding for the 2018 Rugby Sevens World Cup.. The IRB, soon to be renamed World Rugby !!!!! noted that Moscow was a disaster in terms of spectators and that is something we in the Gulf have proved time and again for the Dubai Sevens. There are many obstacles to come, but we could have it again, 9 years after the last time. Watch this space. More on all these stories in more details later.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 05:44:17 +0000
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