Cricket vs. rugby

Shouts reverberate across a football field in the southern Indian metropolis of Chennai, as fifteen girls sweat it out under the harsh summer sun. They tackle each other and huddle together in "rucks" and "scrums" to gain possession of an oblong-shaped ball. This is rugby, a contact sport that is fast catching on in many parts of India.

Although considered a "man’s game" in India, rugby has been drawing in many women across the country. Within a span of a decade, thousands of women have been taking up rugby as a sport. Now nearly 600 women participate in national and international tournaments.

Not 'ladylike'

Yet this participation comes with its share of challenges, says Rakhee M., a college student who had a hard time convincing her family to let her play a rough sport in the sun. Rakhee says she had been light skinned before she started playing rugby, then: "My complexion had become dull. I was getting tanned. I became dark; I was the darkest in my family." She says her family was worried she might not find a husband with such dark skin. "People were telling me, 'why are you straining yourself, you have to get married in two years, who will take you? We have to fetch in more money for your dowry.' I said, 'no problem, I will sit in the house for two more years and I will get my color back.'"

While Rakhee has managed to play during college, continuing with rugby after graduation even as a hobby is out of the question. Like most of the other girls in the Chennai squad, she will soon take up a job elsewhere or, more likely, get married, only to be replaced by fresh aspirants.

Reaching out to the underprivileged

Apart from the school and college teams, rugby has also been reaching out to children from underprivileged backgrounds. In Chennai, for example, several members of the junior rugby team are young boys from city slums or fishing villages around Chennai. Many of them are victims of the December 2004 tsunami that struck here.

One of them is 16-year-old Venkatesh, who joined the rugby club after watching a rugby game on a beach in Chennai. He says, "Rugby gives great exposure to the underprivileged. I come from a poor family, but thanks to rugby, I have been able to travel abroad to countries like South Africa, Fiji Islands, and England." He adds that for people with his background, that is a big deal. "Plus rugby helps keep me fit, which will ensure that I have a good future ahead."

Job opportunities

The rugby club in Chennai provides boys like Venkatesh with basic financial support like a travel and food allowance. But better still would be the promise of job opportunities, which the rugby club is currently trying to provide. This has been difficult, primarily due to lack of awareness regarding the game, says J.J. Jain, promoter for rugby in South India. He says there are special recruitment drives for sportsmen for jobs at the railway, in the army, police forces and customs, as well as in central excise and income tax departments. But, "for that they only select people from the major games like football, volleyball, basketball, cricket, swimming, athletics. Rugby is not considered a major game, and most of the big corporate houses and big government offices do not have a rugby team."

Despite all these odds, rugby enthusiasts are determined to bring the sport into the mainstream.

Author: Pia Chandavarkar
Editor: Sarah Berning