Al Ahli are the Arabian champions
Back on 27th February the 4th Arabian 7’s Challenge Cup took place at 7he Sevens Ground, Dubai. This is the world’s only all Arabic rugby competition and was part of the Arabian Gulf’s build up to their hosting of the Rugby 7’s World Cup.
This year saw the competition grow with eight teams competing including the United Arab Emirates national team, the Zenobians from Damascus, Syria, Beirut RFC from Lebanon, two teams from Saudi Arabia, and three teams from Dubai.
The Tournament Director, A.G.R.F.U. Development Officer Ghaith Jalajel was extremely pleased with this year’s turn out, “It shows just how popular rugby is in the region, not just within the expatriate community. The tournament has grown from just four teams in 2006 to double that this year; it is a record number of teams.”
Development is always at the forefront of Mr. Jalajel’s mind, as part of the tournament this year the A.G.R.F.U. carried out a refereeing seminar the day before the tournament and coaching courses for players and staff the day after. “It is a vital part of our programme to enable players and coaching staff to develop their clubs and players of all abilities. The principle behind this type of competition is to allow clubs of similar abilities to play against each other; the more game time these players get the better players they will become.”
On the day it was the first team from the Al Ahli Rugby Club who took the honours defeating Beirut 28-12 in the final; both teams having gone unbeaten in their three pool games.
In the 3/4th place play-off Zenobians from Syria defeated the Saudi 1 team 19-7 and the Saudi 2 team overcame the U.A.E. team 26-5 in the 5/6th place play-off.
The reporting on this tournament is somewhat belated, however this event is a very important stepping stone in the development of the game in the Gulf region with the impending split up of the A.G.R.F.U. into its constituent countries and therefore we have decided to adopt the policy of ‘better late than never.’
Images courtesy: Ghaith Jalajel
This article is also available in the following Country/s. Syria, Arabian Gulf
