Host Union
The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) is the Governing body of the sport of Rugby Union Football within the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The AGRFU has 12 full member clubs and 12 associate member clubs in the area of its jurisdiction, with approximately 5000 playing members.
As the Governing Body the AGRFU organises competitions for men, women and children throughout the region. The aim of the Union is to promote interest and participation in the game at all levels from grass roots development to international level. The union encourages local nationals and expatriates to take part in the game and can accommodate players at all levels.
The Arabian Gulf RFU (AGRFU) is making extensive efforts to lift the profile of the sport in the region through the hosting of high-profile events, such as the annual Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby7s, the IRB Under 19 World Championship in 2006 and the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. It's all a far cry from only a few years ago when matches were mostly played on sand pitches. These days, virtually all games are played on lush grass paddocks although sand, oil, gas and sunshine are still the region's most abundant natural resources.
Rugby in the region is still very much an amateur pastime with the vast majority of players, coaches and administrators willingly giving their time to developing the sport. However, the AGRFU does employ a Full Time Development Team, consisting of Development Manager Bruce Morton and Jordanian National Ghaith Jalajel, these two dedicated individuals cover the whole region. Both are IRB Educators and deliver education courses to coaches and teachers, as well as organising tournaments and coaching clinics in clubs and schools.
Teams from Dubai, Muscat, Doha, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Wanderers and Bahrain - covering an area similar in size to Western Europe - contest the Arabian Gulf League each season, which runs from September through to April. Clubs taking part in the Arabian Gulf League and Cup competitions must overcome unique problems to fulfil their fixtures such as bank-breaking airfares and visa costs, while players often have to put aside an entire day for just one match.
Dedication and love of the game are essential requisites for anyone playing here. As well as taking part in Gulf-wide competitions, players have the chance to catch they eye and push for selection in the Arabian Gulf representative teams.
The side competes each year in the world-famous Dubai round of the IRB World Sevens Series and will compete as the Host Union of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens to be held in Dubai from 5th to 7th March 2009. The Full International team at 15 a side competes in the HSBC Asian 5 Nations that was inaugurated in 2007.
The Arabian Gulf also puts great store on youth development, running international representative teams at under-16 and under-18 level while the Arabian Gulf Women's team competes on the international stage at the Dubai and Hong Kong Sevens each season.
