New Delhi: Rugby is still new in India which
is trying hard to establish a name but the people associated
with the game feels more media coverage coupled with
government support would help the sport get its' due
recognition.
"In this cricket crazy country, most of the people don't
know about Rugby. There is no TV coverage or telecast of
matches. It's important to make people aware about the game by
regular coverage from Doordarshan or private channels," Pramod
Khanna, President of Indian Rugby Football Union, said.
Indian Rugby Development manager Greg Davey also agreed
with Khanna, saying, "the game should be properly marketed on
TV like other sports and be given prime time coverage if one
wants to promote it."
"We want better tuning from government's side. They are
paying for all the overseas tour, but in the end they say it's
your sports, you better take care of it. The mindset needs to
be changed," he said.
"Rugby is most watched and popular team sports in the
world. We need to change the sporting culture here to make
sports popular. We have to make people understand the game. We
have to generate peoples' interest in the sport," he added.
IRFU officials also their displeasure over the fact that
there is not a single dedicated ground for the sport in the
country.
"For the betterment of Rugby, we need infrastructural
support from the government. We want proper grounds to
practice. Next year, we have Commonwealth Games here and if we
want our team to be competitive, at least fulfill the basic
infrastructural need," Khanna said.
IRFU vice-president Aga Hussain said, "they (government)
need to understand that we don't want any funding, all we want
is 3-4 quality grounds."
On India's prospect in the next year's Commonwealth
Games, Davey said, "if we get into top 12 out of the 16
participating nation, that will be a great achievement.
"Top 10 Rugby teams of the world are from Commonwealth
countries and seriously we don't have any medal hopes."
Meanwhile, Hussain said that off late more and more
schools and universities are organising Rugby tournaments and
recognising it as a major sport.
"Around 400 schools are associated with us and 17,000
players are registered with us. More than 67 Rugby clubs are
participating in various tournaments. Schools and universities
earlier didn't recognise our game but now they are coming
forward," he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009, 14:43