Pakistan Rugby Union

National rugby union
unionname = Rugby Football Union
nativename =

founded = 2000
IRB = 2003
region = ARFU
regionyear = 2000
country

url = www.pakistanrugby.com

The Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU) is the rugby union governing body in Pakistan. Among the Union's chief activities are conferences, organising international matches, and educating and training players and officials.

The national team is called Pakistan Rugby.

Rugby in Pakistan goes as far back as 1926 when the Karachi Rugby Football Union was formed.

The game though 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 playersThe three major clubs in Pakistan. Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi initiated an annual Pakistan 7’s Championship on a rotating basis.

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.

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

ee also

* Sports in Pakistan

External links

* [http://www.irb.com/en/Home/MemberUnionHomePage?UnionID=123 Pakistan] on IRB.com
* [http://rugbydata.com/pakistan Pakistan] on rugbydata.com
* [http://www.pakistanrugby.com/home/index.php Pakistan Rugby]