World Rankings

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

Rugby in Dubai is popular and growing.

Source?

Wikipedia, for the growing part

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_u ... _Peninsula

Look at the websites of one of their top level clubs

https://dubaiexiles.com/playing-rugby-i ... ugby-club/

This is high standard rugby. A large proportion of Dubai's population is from tier 1 rugby playing nations.

[Canalina Profile]

One of the little things on World Rugby hard to understand, to me, is the fact that more or less one year ago (during the World Cup, if I recall correctly) they changed the date searching engine on their ranking from weekly to daily. Which is the point of such a move? Just during the World Cup they update the rank day by day, in the other three years and ten months the changes happen on monday. Searching week by week was certainly quicker than day by day

https://www.world.rugby/tournaments/rankings/mru

[ihateblazers Profile]

Rugby in Dubai is popular and growing.

Source?

Wikipedia, for the growing part

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_u ... _Peninsula

Look at the websites of one of their top level clubs

https://dubaiexiles.com/playing-rugby-i ... ugby-club/

This is high standard rugby. A large proportion of Dubai's population is from tier 1 rugby playing nations.

It would be pretty cool if World Rugby could sign Sonny Bill Williams up as an ambassador or something and have him visit Muslim nations to spread rugby.

[RugbyLiebe Profile]

Rugby in Dubai is popular and growing.

Source?

Wikipedia, for the growing part

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_u ... _Peninsula

Look at the websites of one of their top level clubs

https://dubaiexiles.com/playing-rugby-i ... ugby-club/

This is high standard rugby. A large proportion of Dubai's population is from tier 1 rugby playing nations.

It would be pretty cool if World Rugby could sign Sonny Bill Williams up as an ambassador or something and have him visit Muslim nations to spread rugby.

With only 15% of the Dubai population (3,3 million totally) being UAE passport holders, it would be interesting to know how many are actually Muslim though.

[victorsra Profile Website]

Most of the population is South Asian (Muslim or Hindu). No surprises that cricket is so popular in Dubai.

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

I would expect hardly any of the Dubai rugby community are Muslims. It is an expat community.

[victorsra Profile Website]

They have a development national team of Arab players called UAE Shaheem http://uaerugby.ae/Page.aspx?id=29 .

[ihateblazers Profile]

Fair point about the UAE and their foreign born population, Qatar is the same from my understanding. Just a thought that came to my head. I think he could be an inspiration for young Muslims and rugby’s core values seem to gel well with Islam.

[RugbyLiebe Profile]

Fair point about the UAE and their foreign born population, Qatar is the same from my understanding. Just a thought that came to my head. I think he could be an inspiration for young Muslims and rugby’s core values seem to gel well with Islam.

I think we make too much out of him being Muslim and actually doing so from a colonial view. Do you really think that Islam plays such an important part in most of those people's lifes? Does Christianity play one in yours?

There are a lot of Muslims who don't care too much and we in the West make the mistake of assuming if you happen to be a born Muslim you must live like (and that's the big problem) like muslim orthodox people do. I mean I think the evangelicals in the USA and many other bible-literal taking Christian groups are all batshit crazy and that's what many Muslim people would also say about people we in the West see as role-models for Islam.

So much said Sonny Bill Williams can be a role-model for Muslims already playing the game, but I have my doubts if he can attract others just because he is Muslim.
I couldn't give a sh*** if a Christian or German speaking famous cricket player would show up. Would you if a famous Handball player was English?

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

"Would you if a famous Handball player was English?"

I would be surprised, but also not care.

[iul Profile]

...also, rugby, at least in some of the t1s, is goig full blast with homosexual and other sexual degenerates propaganda. Not exactly the sort of "values" embraced in the islamic world (and plenty of other societes too)

[NedRugby Profile]

rugby, at least in some of the t1s, is goig full blast with homosexual and other sexual degenerates propaganda

Other sexual degenerates propaganda? What else is World Rugby promoting now? I'm curious. Bestiality? Paedophilia? I can't say I've seen it, but maybe I wasn't paying attention.

[victorsra Profile Website]

rugby, at least in some of the t1s, is goig full blast with homosexual and other sexual degenerates propaganda

Other sexual degenerates propaganda? What else is World Rugby promoting now? I'm curious. Bestiality? Paedophilia? I can't say I've seen it, but maybe I wasn't paying attention.

They are drinking kids' blood. You need to pay attention to the news more.

[RugbyLiebe Profile]

"Would you if a famous Handball player was English?"

I would be surprised, but also not care.

Exactly. Same goes for Sonny Bill Williams and Rugby(and he is not even a national of one of the possible targeted states, but might have some or the other branch of their religion. There is no such thing as "Islam" in real life same as there is no such thing as Christianity - for me i.e. most Evangelical Christians are dangerous wackos and extremists. In the Islamic world Shiite and Sunnites basically fight each other all the time).

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

Sunni Bill Williams

[ficcp Profile]

Would he bring more Rugbiers to the Islam or more muslims to Rugby?

[RugbyLiebe Profile]

Would he bring more Rugbiers to the Islam or more muslims to Rugby?

Neither. Maybe he is a role model for some Muslims playing rugby, but I doubt that Muslims start playing rugby because of SBW or anybody converts because of him.

[victorsra Profile Website]

Who can be role models are local players for local people. For exemple, France has some muslims in their national team that can have a positive impact on young French muslims.

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

Who can be role models are local players for local people. For exemple, France has some muslims in their national team that can have a positive impact on young French muslims.

Yes, France has quite a few Muslim professional rugby players. I don't know if England has any. The RFU has failed to reach out to Muslim communities. I think there is an opportunity there for the RFU to bring communities together. But that would require a lot of work. It's much easy to put up a big "Rugby Against Racism" banner and consider it job done.

[Armchair Fan Profile]

Who can be role models are local players for local people. For exemple, France has some muslims in their national team that can have a positive impact on young French muslims.

I'd say that more than religion, what would be important is their background. For example Jordan Joseph and Demba Bamba come from the outskirts of Paris, which aren't exactly rugby hotbeds.

[RugbyLiebe Profile]

Who can be role models are local players for local people. For exemple, France has some muslims in their national team that can have a positive impact on young French muslims.

Yes, France has quite a few Muslim professional rugby players. I don't know if England has any. The RFU has failed to reach out to Muslim communities. I think there is an opportunity there for the RFU to bring communities together. But that would require a lot of work. It's much easy to put up a big "Rugby Against Racism" banner and consider it job done.

That's the big problem of not only the RFU, but rugby seen overall (there are off course exceptions like Wales, France, NZ, PI). Rugby doesn't outreach to anybody outside of the classic uper-middle-class communities.

[vino_93 Profile]

Who can be role models are local players for local people. For exemple, France has some muslims in their national team that can have a positive impact on young French muslims.

I'd say that more than religion, what would be important is their background. For example Jordan Joseph and Demba Bamba come from the outskirts of Paris, which aren't exactly rugby hotbeds.

Yes, there's a great job done by a few clubs in Paris suburbs.
You have the clubs from Sarcelles (Slimani, Cancoriet, Macalou, Diallo, Joseph), Saint-Denis (Bamba), Gennevilliers (Rattez). Terre de France (in Tremblay) is very important in women rugby too. Even big clubs play their part, for example MHR (Montpellier) find Mohamed Haouas, which was a delinquent from poor Montpellier neighborhoods.

Rugby really has (had ?) a great image in France. The few I played, in an not traditionnal place, there were people from various backgrounds. Rich, poor, rural, urban, big, small, from various communities ... in the 00's, the FFR succeeded well to spread it. Now that's paying, with a great national team.