The UAE Rugby Federation (UAERF) hope they have taken another step towards making the sport in the country more sustainable after a trio of players became the first Emiratis to earn their coaching and refereeing stripes.
The International Rugby Board’s (IRB) recent ‘superweek’ in Dubai gave the UAERF an opportunity to put Yousef Shaker, Cyrus Homayoun and Jasim Al Suwaidi on the path towards a post-playing career.
Rugby’s governing body put on a wide spectrum of sessions – ranging from introductory courses to those aimed at the people who produce coaches – with Shaker and Homayoun achieving their IRB Level 1 coaching badge and Al Suwaidi attaining the same standard in refereeing.
UAERF Rugby Manager, Wayne Marsters, believes the game’s development in this country depends on Emiratis taking up positions off the field.
“Obviously we’ve had priorities in the past, and that has been players and getting our player pathway programme together,” he told Sport360°.
“But we’ve always known that to make that sustainable they need to take ownership of it and have referees and have coaches and strength and conditioning coaches. So the opportunity sort of fell into our lap a little bit with the superweek being on and us being able to make a big step in one week.”
Shaker and Homayoun are familiar faces on the UAE scene, having played for their country in both sevens and XVs, and had long been earmarked as potential coaches.
The same could not be said for Al Suwaidi, whose own rise from Xodus Wasps prop to qualified referee caught his peers a little more off-guard. Having attended an introductory session that included a section on officiating, the front-row forward, who works as a Sharjah policeman, decided to return the following day and enrol on the full course.
“It was both pleasing and surprising,” admitted Marsters. “He’s coming back from a knee reconstruction at the moment so wants to be involved and hasn’t been able to play this season. But he has already played in his own right at UAE Premiership level for Wasps and he’s maybe got a bit more experience of the laws than some of the others.”
Marsters is confident the three Emiratis can use their newfound knowledge to encourage more local talent to take up rugby. Ideally starting with the UAE’s new under- 19 and under-20 Emirati sides.
“The idea is to make use of [their qualifications] probably in the system we run with Emiratis,” he said. “There are more vehicles now for them to be involved with Emirati coaching and refereeing because of the development we are making at the under-19 and under-20 level.”
