Arabian Gulf rugby

[beige]

You think Australia's rugby politics are confusing! I was looking over the fixtures for the upcoming Asian 5 Nations series (I haven't posted them because, for some reason, they haven't been officially released yet) and I found something really curious...

Arabian Gulf has a home game in Doha, Qatar, on the 9th of May. This isn't odd in itself, however there is also a Qatar team competing in one of the lower-division regional tournaments. So why is Qatar represented twice? It turns out that they have decided to carry on as a separate union but the Doha Rugby Club, while being in Qatar, is still affiliated with the Arabian Gulf! I haven't quite figured out the politics of that one...

(As a note, the teams in the regional tournaments are not IRB members, so are not eligible for promotion to the higher divisions.)

[gustafsl]

I think it's because of Rugby's huge draw in Qatar. Interestingly I heard that they may put a Bledisloe cup match there in two years time.

[GIGS20]

Rugby apparently also has a huge follwing in Outer Fumbucker West.....stay tuned for Bledisloe cup news!

[jargan83]

The whole world will get a Bledisloe cup fixture before Perth

[AndyS]

Well, in fairness, Canberra is probably even more screwed than us...

[jargan83]

Very true Andy

but sydney is just a 6 hour drive away from Canberra

[AndyS]

That's true - maybe they'll take the same view and say Singapore is only a 5 hour flight from Perth. Wouldn't surprise me.

[pruc]

That's true - maybe they'll take the same view and say Singapore is only a 5 hour flight from Perth. Wouldn't surprise me.

closer then sydney

[jargan83]

Sydneys only 3 and a half/4 hours away by plane, its comming back that takes 4/5 hours.