Ex-Dubai Wasps chairman Gibson says tumultuous summer of 2015 was catalyst for club's demise

Matt Jones - Editor 21:04 15/08/2017
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  • Dubai Wasps v Abu Dhabi Saracens in the 2014/15 season

    Former Dubai Wasps chairman Craig Gibson is saddened by his old club’s demise and feels their 2015 relegation from the UAE Premiership might well have been the beginning of the end of one of the region’s most popular teams.

    After a tumultuous summer, Wasps took the tough decision to bring an end to their seven-year existence earlier this month – citing a lack of investment and depleted player pool as the two main reasons.

    That tough call might well have been coming as long as two summers ago when the UAE Rugby Federation re-structured the league pyramid system, resulting in a relegation Wasps ultimately never recovered from – with financial woe ensuing.

    “My reaction is that it is a sad time for UAE rugby as a whole, and perhaps indicative of a need to evaluate the structure of rugby in the UAE,” said 32-year-old Gibson, also a former Wasps hooker.

    “With hindsight perhaps Wasps’ relegation in 2015 was a tipping point for the club.

    “Operating at a financial loss, as senior men’s amateur playing squads often do, losing players to other clubs and having to attract a new type of playing squad to rebuild the club, the challenge was grand.

    “In the summer of 2015 the UAE RF reformatted the UAE league structure and relegated Wasps who finished bottom of the Premiership table that season.

    “The relegation cost us our main sponsorship late in the off-season, leaving little time to secure a new primary sponsor, and the lost opportunity for further sponsorship was compounded by a slow regional economy.”

    Gibson stepped down as chairman that fateful summer, with the club having been run for the last two years jointly by co-chairmen Laurence Parker and Ben Rothwell.

    And the Scot praised the duo for dragging Wasps through the really dark times which included finishing 10th of 11 teams in last season’s UAE Conference – which in turn yielded a last-place finish in the season-ending Bottom 5 competition.

    Wasps' former chairman Craig Gibson

    Wasps’ former chairman Craig Gibson

    “No longer being a Premiership club and losing our major sponsorship deal required us to review our clubs’ objectives (in the summer of 2015), I was no longer best placed to help Dubai Wasps navigate the changing landscape of UAE rugby and deferred to Laurence and Ben to take the reins,” added Gibson.

    “I think they have both done an excellent job in running the Dubai Wasps as an aspirational and social rugby club, but the prohibitive costs of independent senior rugby in the UAE and a country saturated with rugby clubs competing for a relatively small number of senior players has unfortunately caused them to fold the club.

    “The saddest thing about Wasps folding is the number of players who no longer have a club to play for, although I hope many of the players find another club to continue playing the sport.”

    Although the curtain has been brought down on a club formed in 2010, Rothwell admitted Wasps do still hope to enter teams at the popular Dubai Sevens, Eden Park and Sharjah 10s tournaments this season.

    Gibson is happy with that and also reflected on happier times for the club.

    “I was lucky to be involved as player and chairman of Wasps previously when we competed in the Premiership, won the Gulf Conference and had a major sponsorship deal which briefly shone an international spotlight on rugby in the UAE,” he added.

    “I was also fortunate to help our senior ladies section expand, with many matching their male counterparts in winning international caps for the UAE, being selected for UAE north representative rugby, reaching Dubai Sevens Cup final and winning the Budapest 7s tournament in 2015.

    “I’m also delighted to hear the club plans to reconvene at local and international sevens and 10s rugby competitions each year.”

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