Rahul Bose on his ultimate vision for Indian rugby

The long-term plan is to make a sport as aggressive as rugby appealing to everyone and the federation’s efforts towards televising games and more competitions is one step towards that.

Point to prove: “The game and security for the players will go hand in hand,” says Rahul Bose. President of Rugby India. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV

Rahul Bose wears many hats. He is a critically acclaimed actor, a performer known for his offbeat choices in film and theatre. He has even taken up direction through the course of his career as an artist. However, the biggest ‘role’ of his life perhaps lies in his first love — Rugby.

A national team player for 11 years, Bose hung up his boots in 2009. However, he never stepped away from the sport, working to popularise it and induct young children into the game, especially from underprivileged communities. That effort got a new lease of life in 2021, when he was elected the president of Rugby India. Speaking at the  Sportstar National Sports Conclave in New Delhi, Bose shared his priorities as a player-turned-administrator.

“It’s not rocket science. The fundamental issues that any president of Indian rugby would face today are — first, nobody knows about the sport because we’re not on mass media. So how do we create a property that can actually be on television and have a strong online presence? We’ve been working on that for four years, quietly. Second, there’s no money in the sport. In the last 15 months, we have increased sponsorships coming in by about 120%. Third, what can we do for our teams to get better? We’ve instituted our 360 degree high performance system,” Bose explains.

Leading the charge: Maharastra and Odisha girls in action during the final of the National Senior Rugby 7s Championship in Bhubaneswar. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

While these are admin basics, Bose prides on Rugby India’s focus on nuanced efforts in areas like prevention of sexual harassment, safety and pay parity.

“We have a Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy, which is one of the most detailed policies in any federation in India. We have pay parity between men and women. All our facilities and all our nationals are played at the same time for men and women. We pride ourselves on being one of the most gender-sensitive federations, I would venture to say, in history. These are the things that are not so obvious, but are important in terms of the culture of what you’re building,” he adds.

These pins on his vision board come from long-term ambitions for the sport which he realises he might not even be a part of. “It’s a four-year term and after four years, even if someone comes in with, not necessarily, the finest of motives, they will not be able to disrupt the kind of structures we’ve put in place ethically as well as performance-wise,” he says.

Even these are a few steps ahead for the demographic that usually takes to rugby. For most, it boils down to the very basics — pay and physical security.

“The current player composition is socio-culturally and economically the poorest sections of society and from rural poor, not so much the urban poor. A major portion of the rural poor is tribal. The sport did not pay and is, by nature, dangerous. So we would have sportspersons who were not paid, but would have their shoulders or knees or faces smashed. That had to change,” the 55-year-old says.

“One of the best things to happen is, around 18 women, some State players, some national and some ex-national players from Odisha got permanent jobs with the State government — as physical education teachers or police persons. This will be an added incentive for people to take up the game but they also have to be that good to be top two or three in the country. So, the game and security for the players will go hand in hand,” Bose adds.

The long-term plan is to make a sport as aggressive as rugby appealing to everyone and the federation’s efforts towards televising games and more competitions is one step towards that. However, Bose insists that the top priority will be the conditions of players currently pursuing the sport.

Bose hails idea exchange as a key part of his job as president. At the National Sports Conclave, Bose was part of a panel on players returning to head sports federations in India alongside Adille Sumariwalla (Athletics Federation of India), Deepa Malik (Paralympic Committee of India) and Kalyan Chaubey (All India Football Federation).

“At events like this, you’re talking to people who understand the ecosystem. This is not an event where you say a few things and everybody starts to clap. It’s a tough audience because they know what sport is about. It’s their daily job. When you go and present something here, it better be good and if it isn’t good, you’ll get to know very quickly. I am on a panel with Kalyan Chaubey, Adille Sumariwalla and Deepa Malik. With all of them giving their inputs, I picked up at least three things today that I’m going to implement at our federation,” Bose concludes.