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Passant Rabie from 'Egypt Today' investigates the story behind her country's first national rugby team. Learn about how the team was formed, the stigma associated with their participation and how they fared in their first tournament.

Watching a game of rugby is like watching a Wild West bar-room brawl without the flying chairs. The sport epitomises ‘full contact’ in ways that few other sports do, with each and every player called upon to run, throw, catch, kick, tackle, push, pull and, at times, be propelled vertically into the air by teammates. And once you learn the game’s terminology, you can’t help wonder what compels people to sign up for a sport that involves rucks, mauls and scrums.

In a culture with deeply ingrained views on gender, you don’t expect to see women in the middle of the scrum here in Egypt. However, 10 women have put on their boots and stepped onto the pitch to prove that the softer sex isn’t always so soft, forming the nation’s first-ever Women’s National Rugby Team — beating the men, who do not yet have a national rugby team, to the punch.

Expats lead way

Rugby was introduced to Egypt by British troops during the occupation. After the last of the soldiers left in the 1950s, the sport was mostly played by expatriates in search of a little touch of home. The Cairo Rugby Club (CRC) was formed in 1980 as a sports and social club, and now fields men’s, women’s and youth teams. Alexandria’s expatriate community founded its own rugby club and men’s team in 2003, adding a women’s team this year and letting them train with the men.

Both clubs regularly participate in overseas tournaments, including the Dubai Sevens, Syrian Sevens and Beirut Tens (referring to the number of players fielded in shortened versions of the 15-man game).

The rugby clubs have always been open to all comers, but they had been popular mainly with foreigners. Over the years, however, Egyptian men and women have taken a liking to the sport, turning to the private clubs for their chance on the pitch. The men have had their choice of three separate teams: Cairo Rugby, Alexandria Caesars and Alexandria Gladiators — the latter two both part of Alexandria Rugby Club (ARC).

While CRC and ARC have women’s teams, there are far fewer female players, most of them foreigners who transfer out of the country after a few years. More options opened for women rugby players last year when the American University in Cairo (AUC) formed its own student-run women’s rugby team.

In October 2008, members of CRC founded the Egyptian Rugby Football Union (ERFU) to promote the sport locally. Their first order of business: Form a women’s national rugby team. The first-ever women’s rugby tournament in North Africa was being held in June, and Egypt had been invited to participate.

Trials brings in talent

Elizabeth Uprichard and Laura Cook, both from the United Kingdom and currently working as teachers at Maadi British International school and Al-Alson school respectively, had been playing with Cairo Rugby for the past three years when EFRU approached them about starting a women’s national team.

“They had struggled to get a women’s team for a while,” says Cook, explaining that there were only a few women showing up for practice at CRC. However, after learning about the women’s teams at AUC and Alexandria, EFRU announced that they were holding tryouts in May.

Around 30–40 women showed up for tryouts; three players from Cairo and seven from Alexandria were selected.

“We put the team together very quickly,” says Uprichard, “more quickly than I would’ve wanted.”

By the time tryouts were over, the Egyptian team had only three weeks to train for the North West Africa Women’s Rugby Sevens, held June 6-7 in Ghana. With players scattered across Cairo and Alexandria, scheduling practices was a challenge.

The women ended up practicing as a team only three times prior to the tournament.

“We didn’t have time to train. We were trying to figure out the positions and the different skills they all had but we didn’t even have time to get them into shape,” says Uprichard, admitting that the players’ fitness and stamina wasn’t very good to begin with.

“It was really tough for them to go into the tournament and play against teams that have been playing for years,” the coach continues. “These were experienced teams, so Egypt’s team did really well considering the circumstances. It was a great opportunity for the players to experience playing in a tournament, and to watch other women’s teams.”

The tournament, won by Tunisia, included women’s teams from Morocco, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Egypt and the hosts, Ghana. Egypt came in last.

“The tournament was successful in many ways. In terms of points and games, then we didn’t win any games, but it was successful in terms of experience,” says Uprichard. “Being able to play full-contact rugby, to experience playing with women from all across the region, it’s a valuable opportunity.”

“It was terrifying!” says Sherin Wafaai, a member of the national team and the coach of AUC’s women’s rugby team. “I was nervous because it was our first match ever but it was still exciting at the same time.”

The Egyptians played Togo in their first tournament match. Wafaai recalls that the other players were in better condition and had been practicing for a much longer time than they had.

“We were going in to have a good time, but at the same time learn from the experience.”

Ragia Mostafa, another player on the team, says the first match of the tournament was a reality check. “We were very excited at first,” Mostafa says, “and then we discovered that we had a long way to go in terms of the game and developing our skills — seeing as how we lost miserably.”

Despite their losses, team coach Cook still believes that the team learned and grew from their experience. “In every game they played in Ghana, they showed signs of improvement,” she says. “They got to know each other as a team, and they gained more confidence as the tournament went on.”

Tackling Stereotypes

Perhaps more challenging than their first international tournament was the reaction at home. Mostafa recalls that when she first took up rugby, she faced a lot of criticism for choosing a rough, masculine sport. “People would call me crazy for playing rugby, but I never cared what they said,” she says.

“I fell in love with the game because you get all your frustrations and emotions out, and I love tackling.”

“It is not perceived as a very feminine sport or a sport that many women actually take part in in a country like Egypt,” says Uprichard, “but I think that’s something that can be changed.”

“Just because it’s an aggressive sport, doesn’t make it unfeminine,” says Wafaai, noting that women generally play a game of sevens rugby, which involves more running and less tackling. Still, she adds, “I like that it’s a contact sport, it’s more like boxing and football put together.”

“Most people think that women shouldn’t play rugby, especially in the culture we’re in,” Cook says, “so it’s really great to break that boundary.”

Aside from the misconceptions about the sport, the team also faced issues when it came to getting permission for the women to travel without their families.

“There were a lot of girls at the tryouts but our selection [pool] got smaller and smaller because of the family restrictions,” says Uprichard. “Some families wouldn’t let their girls travel because of the swine flu, while others wouldn’t let them travel because they’d be traveling without a chaperone.”

Despite the obstacles, both coaches say all the girls they met at tryouts were dedicated to the sport, which gives them hope for the future of the game in Egypt.

“It’s a great team sport to play,” says Cook. “In Cairo, you’re quite restricted with the amount of sports you can play so it’s nice to go outside, work on your fitness and develop a lot of different skills.”

Since the tournament in June, the women have not been training due to the summer break and Ramadan. After Eid the club teams will resume their training in Cairo, Alexandria and at AUC.

The next goal, Cook says, is “to better establish the three separate [club] teams so they can compete against each other in Egypt.”

The club teams will be the best feeders for the national women’s team, which will be holding more tryouts to build up the roster and start training together for future tournaments.

Sponsors needed

The women are willing to compete, but there is also the question of whether they are financially able. There is another tournament in Tunisia in November, but if the national team doesn’t find sponsors and funding, they may never get off the practice field.

“[For] the last tournament, we had to chip in ourselves, but we can’t keep doing that each tournament,” says Uprichard. The EFRU obtained part of the funds to get to Ghana from the International Rugby Board (IRB), the sport’s international governing body.

Although the national team has had no formal discussions with Egypt’s Ministry of Sport, it falls under the ERFU and the IRB, both of which are recognized bodies within the ministry.

“We think that if we speak to the right people, then we will find that there are a lot of people in Egypt that are interested in seeing things improving, whether it is in the field of sports or education,” says Cook.