The ground near the boys’ hostel of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru, on a Sunday evening, is occupied by players of three different ball games. On one end, the players use a tiny rubber ball -- inescapable on most Indian grounds, gullies and maidans -- and bats and makeshift wickets made of stones. The ones at the other end play with a bloated, round one -- the protagonist of The Beautiful Game -- with makeshift goalposts made of saucer cone running markers. The players in the middle, 12 of them, use a ball -- an elongated, ellipsoidal one, used for rugby -- which, one assumes, is not part of the country’s public imagination.
One of the 12 players discredits the assumption. “Do you know that India has the third largest fan following for rugby worldwide?” he asks. The numbers support his claim. According to a survey published by Nielsen Sports in 2018, India has 25 million fans of the sport.
The man, Puneeth Krishnamurthy, knows because he has played rugby for India. He is also Rugby India’s (the national rugby body) development officer for Karnataka and the CEO of Rugby Karnataka. He still plays for his first team -- Bengaluru Rugby Football Club (BRFC) -- which he joined in 1999.
Game of expats
According to Rugby India, the sport made its first appearance in the country in 1871. A scratch match or two were played in Calcutta and Madras. Following this, rugby established itself in various parts of the country even as it lost its primacy to other sports before long.
While the sport lingered in a few places, it was largely dormant for a long time. For instance, when Chennai hosted its first match in the 19th century, rugby picked up in Bengaluru only in 1996, when a handful of expats started what is now BRFC at Mount Carmel Grounds in the city.
“When I joined BRFC, there were mostly expats playing the game,” says Puneeth, “Now, there are just a handful of expats.”
The two important reasons for the reduction of expats, according to him, are: Bengaluru’s rapid infrastructural growth and BRFC’s lack of a training base.
As the city grew, its traffic swelled and it was hard for the expats to travel to the constantly changing training grounds, which were sometimes far from their homes.
“After Mount Carmel, we used to play at Fraser Town, several army centres and Holy Ghost Church Ground… There has never been one place. So, it was a little difficult for them, I guess,” says Puneeth.
Gradually, the locals outnumbered the expats. BRFC, currently, has over 200 members with hardly any foreigners.
Local interest
Sanjith Shetty, the president of Rugby Karnataka, wants the sport to percolate into other parts of the State. The talents of the successful rugby states of the country, he explains, hail from the smaller districts.
“A few years ago if you had said Patna can produce rugby players, people would have laughed at you but now they’re doing great,” he says. Bihar women’s team finished fourth in the 2018 All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament, the country’s primary league for rugby. Bengaluru didn’t even have a women’s team in the league’s top division. The men’s team, featuring Puneeth, finished ninth in the 10-team event.
Puneeth’s friend and former India player Tarun Appanna says despite the lack of funds and a training ground, Bengaluru is capable of finishing in the top-four. He is hopeful of the next generation of players.
One of them, Yellamma Jyothi, 18, plays with him at the University of Agricultural Sciences ground. She has attended the camp for the Indian team probables. Asked of her future plans, she replies instantly, “I want to play for India.”
According to Sanjith, who has played the sport for Duke University, the focus should be on the grass roots. “Puneeth and I are very sure about this,” he says, “We have already approached schools and colleges to send teams for school- and college-level tournaments that we are planning to start within this year. Once a tournament gets going, more and more people would join.”
Funds have been irregular and, often, scarce for the developers of rugby in Karnataka. Sanjith and Puneeth -- both businessmen -- say they pay out of their own pockets but receive assistance from Rugby India.
Sanjith says, “We have a long way to go. But we are confident of the journey.”
