The secretary general of the UAE Rugby Federation has told rugby administrators not to underestimate the sport’s standing in the Middle East.
Mohammed Al Zaabi was responding to comments made by the head of the United Rugby Championship, a league which involves professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales.
Speaking to media in the UK earlier this month, Martin Anayi, the chief executive of the URC, said the competition’s new sponsorship agreement with Qatar Airways can help create a legacy for the sport in the region.
“What they can take from a partnership with a rugby competition is that we stand for great values and stand for championing those values,” Anayi was quoted as saying in the Irish Times.
“They are about legacy post Fifa World Cup in December. What do they do after that and can rugby and its values be part of that conversation going forward. Rugby has never been that in Qatar and the Middle East.
“I think rugby and western values around rugby especially are more pertinent than ever in the Middle East.
“And they are open to having those conversations around progress and sport is a big part of that conversation of how they progress, how they’re seen to be progressive, and I hope we can be part of that.”
Al Zaabi disputes the idea that rugby has never been part of the sporting landscape in the region.
“Talking about creating a legacy for rugby in the Middle East underestimates our history,” Al Zaabi said. “If you are talking about rugby in the Middle East, there was a match at a stadium in Alexandria between New Zealand Forces and a rest of Egypt side in 1943.
“Here, the Dubai Sevens has been going for more than 50 years, and it is bigger that the Sevens World Cup – and even that tournament was hosted in Dubai in 2009.
“It is the biggest sevens competition in the world, with more than 40,000 spectators [per day] and over 300 teams from all over the world.
“So if you want to talk about legacy, please don’t underestimate ours. We have created that through our partnership with Emirates, who are one of the biggest supporters of rugby in the world.
“We need to protect our legacy. Don’t mention legacy and forget UAE and Dubai. What is the legacy they want to invent?”
To support his position, Al Zaabi points out there are clubs regularly playing recreational rugby in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Ras Al Khaimah, as well as Dubai.
He points to the fact rugby is part of the PE curriculum in Emirati schools, which – pre-Covid – saw 120,000 children given a chance to try rugby. He also says the federation is proud of their success in bringing Emirati female players to the sport.
In November, there are plans to stage the third leg of the Asia Sevens Series in Ajman, an Emirate which has been without rugby until now, in either a converted football or multi-sport stadium.
In the same month, Dubai will host a tournament involving Portugal, USA, Hong Kong and Kenya that will decide the final qualifier for the next 15-a-side World Cup.
“What else do we need to build?” Al Zaabi said. “It is fine if you want to focus on your own partnership with anyone – whether it be Qatar, Saudi, it doesn’t matter. We are all brothers, the same culture.
“But don’t jump on other people’s efforts, and the work other unions have done. Don’t say you want to create a legacy. The legacy has already been created here in UAE and North Africa.”
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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