The UAE Rugby Federation (UAERF) will organise all cross-border rugby played in the Gulf region from next season, but secretary general Qais Al Dhalai does not foresee domestic and regional competitions merging.
Under plans discussed by Al Dhalai and Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) president Trevor Gregory in Dubai earlier this week, the UAERF will assume control of the Gulf Top Six, Gulf Conference and Gulf Premiership from ARFU West Asia Ltd.
The current organisers have been responsible for cross-border competition since the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) was disbanded at the end of 2010.
However they have faced ongoing difficulties. ARFU West Asia Ltd is already in the process of closing its Dubai office with April 4’s West Asia Champion Club (WACC) final at Zayed Sports City, between Abu Dhabi Harlequins and Jebel Ali Dragons, to be the last game organised under its banner.
“There will be a new structure in west Asia,” Al Dhalai confirmed to Sport360°. “It will be handed over to the UAERF to run ARFU cross-border competitions. They will fall under our umbrella, under our competition regulations, under our referees and judicial procedure. So everything will be run by us.”
A new ARFU West Asia steering committee will be set up to oversee the handover. The committee so far consists of Gregory, Al Dhalai and George Hore from the Qatar Rugby Federation but those three men have the power to invite other representatives onto the panel.
The UAERF are due to meet with UAE clubs on May 4, where they will be asked whether they are happy with the current structure of competitions before the steering committee consults the Gulf region’s other teams.
Al Dhalai is confident domestic clubs will be happy to continue in the current structure, which sees the UAE Premiership played from September to November and then Gulf Top Six and Conference from January until April.
However he concedes non-UAE sides may look for an increase in the amount of rugby they are able to play before the turn of the year, but thinks cost of travel is just one stumbling blocks in the way of including them in domestic competition.
“If they say they need to play more rugby then we need to think how we can accommodate them because currently the schedule is very tight,” he added.
“There are some challenges with this proposal. The first, main problem is financial planning. It will have a financial burden on ARFU because currently what has allowed the cross-border competition to carry on for the last three years is Dubai Sevens money.
“Out of that money there is a small portion which is allocated to running the cross-border competition, for the teams to travel to other countries and so on.
The obstacle would be that this fund would not be sufficient to allow them to be part of the UAE league.
“It would be very difficult because they would have to fly more and more. In the current structure the cross-border competition (involving the UAE) only starts after Christmas, so if we involve them with the UAE Conference or Premiership then they are going to start from September.”
