PRU: Pakistan's Rugby Union

Rugby in Pakistan dates back to over eighty years of history to it. It began as far back as 1926 when the Karachi Rugby Football Union was formed. The game remained exclusively an expatriate sport, with KRFU being  active on  the All-India circuit up till the late fifties. The sixties saw a decrease in the expatriate population and travel to India becoming more regulated, therefore the club became more reliant on playing fixtures with visiting British Navy Ships, at a time when Karachi had become a regular port of call for R&R and supplies. In 1968/1969 fortunately a handful of local players were introduced into the club: this would prove to be the saving grace for the game in the country. By the mid seventies the British Navy reduced its presence in the Indian Ocean and port visits became infrequent, and by the early eighties Rugby had become almost non-existent. The Karachi Rugby Football Union  continued to play, yet due to limited funds it was unable to travel abroad for matches and suffered from lack of opposing teams to play within the country. The interest in Rugby was rejuvenated in the nineties by a combination of  passion and commitment of the locals who had been introduced to the game in the seventies and resurgence in the expatriate presence. Whilst some experienced local players established clubs in Lahore and Karachi, staff from foreign embassies, commissions and banks, consisting of Frenchmen, British, and some Americans, established a club in Islamabad. 1992 onwards has seen regular fixtures between teams from these cities. By the mid-nineties an Islamabad club consisting mainly of local players had also been established in addition to the side made up of expatriates; the latter passes through phases of dormancy subject to postings and availability of players The three major clubs in Pakistan. Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi initiated an annual Pakistan 7’s Championship on a rotating basis, Sixteen such tournaments have been held so far. The Pakistan Rugby Union was formally established in 2000 and gained membership with the Asian Rugby Football Union in 2000. In 2003, Pakistan fielded a national team for the first time, participating in the Provincial Tournament in Sri Lanka and there played the Indian National side as well.  Pakistan Rugby Union then became an associate member of the IRB (International Rugby Board) in November 2003. In Nov of 2004, it  participated in the 19th Asian championship in Hong Kong and in December 2005 it   hosted the Asian under -19 Championship at Lahore with eleven countries participating , this was also the IRB Asian qualifying round for the Under-19 world cup held later in 2006 at Dubai. Lahore also became the venue for the Asian Rugby Football Union’s council meeting in December 2005. Rugby has  now been introduced at the Provincial and District level by the Pakistan Rugby Union. Schools have also been targeted for Rugby to be introduced at the grass root level. PRU started working with schools in the last few years and that in turn helped in forming The Pakistan under-19 team which participated in the under-19 championship at Lahore.                                                                         A National Rugby Sevens Tournament was held in December 2006  with 12 teams participating , its is noteworthy that Pakistan Army, Wapda,  Pakistan Police , LUMS in addition to provincial teams from Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP all fielding  teams in the Championship for the first time. A schools under-14 and under 17 event was organized by the Punjab Rugby Association ( an affiliate of the Pakistan Rugby Union and the representative body of the Sport in the province of Punjab ) ,  it was heartening to  see over 300 boys from 17 school participating actively in the championship. The sport is still in  its infancy stage in Pakistan but we expect to see big things in the coming years. We further believe that the physical litmus and the talent required for the sport is present in the country.