Rugby in India

Origin

In India, it is believed that the game of Yubi Lakpi served as the common ancestor of football and rugby , which is played in eastern India, especially in the state of Manipur . According to the writer Emma Levine, the residents of Manipur sincerely believe that it was their game that served as the basis for modern football and rugby ^[1] . In the modern form of rugby, cricket and football came to India with British colonization. In 1871, the crew of the ship "Galatea" stopped at the ports of Calcutta and Madras to take part in a rugby match. Until 1886, the gates installed in Calcutta by the British used the Calcutta cricket and football club for games,

On Christmas Day 1872, the first documented game between the England team and the combined team of Scotland, Ireland and Wales took place in Calcutta. Several similar matches took place that same week, and in 1873 the Calcutta rugby club (aka Rolls) of 137 people was formed, its form was red and white. Nevertheless, the indigenous people almost did not play rugby, and because of the terrible heat, matches could be played only either in the evening or in the early morning ^[2] .

Calcutta Cup

India made an important contribution to the development of rugby in the UK itself, when after the 1872 match in Calcutta, a football and rugby club appeared. He became a member of the Rugby Union of England in 1874, but because of the decline in the popularity of rugby in India, he was on the verge of bankruptcy: in the country it was possible to play tennis and polo, as a result of which the number of athletes in these sports increased, and there were few rugby players. In 1877, the honorary secretary and treasurer of the club, J.A.J. Rotney, decided to withdraw all the money from the club's account and perpetuate the memory of a team that was already on the verge of extinction - he decided to make a cup in India that could be played by the Rugby Union of England. The cup was melted from silver Indian rupees, which were collected after members of the club completely removed money from the bank account and closed it ^[2] .

The Indian work cup was 45 cm high; three royal cobras were depicted as pens. At the top of the cup was an elephant, on a wooden base was the inscription "CALCUTTA CUP". The cup was transferred to the Rugby Union of England in 1878, and it began to be played between England and Scotland annually ^[2] . The Calcutta Cup is currently one of the small trophies played in the Six Nations Cup in Europe. However, the historian Sean Smith, author of The Union Game: A Rugby History , a book based on which the BBC film was shot, believed that this fact not only glorified rugby as it betrayed it British class prejudices, since the trophy made by the hands of the Indians was played out by their masters from the metropolis ^[3] .

Another Calcutta Cup

In 1890, the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club created another Calcutta Cup, but Indian teams were entrusted to play it. Calcutta's rugby team was revived in 1884 ^[4] . In rugby, one of the owners of this cup was the Jungle Krause club, who won one of Calcutta's matches ^[5] .

Our days

The relative rise began only after the recognition of independence of India, although many former British colonies began to play much earlier after independence ^[6] . Management of Indian rugby was carried out by the Consulate of Ireland in the 1980s, the center was the building of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club ^[2] . By the beginning of the 1990s, India managed to increase the popularity of the game, and it is no coincidence that in 1986 at the IRB Congress on the occasion of the centenary of its formation there was a delegation from India ^[7] . According to estimates for 2016, there were 57 thousand rugby players in the country ^[8] . The center of Indian rugby is currently considered Calcutta ^[9] . In 2018, the Webb Ellis Cup ^[10] visited the country as part of an Asian tour.

The largest rugby tournament for Indian amateur clubs is the All-Indian and South Asian Rugby Tournament, which in fact is nothing more than the championship of India in . The tournament has been held since 1924, in 2016 in a draw of 12 teams the club “ Armie Red ” celebrated its victory ^[11] , in the same year a draw was held for the first time among women's teams ^[12] . As of 2017, the champion is the Delhi Hurricanes team ". The tournament is attended by such famous clubs as Bangalore "," Chennai Chitaz "," Bombay Gimkhan "," Odisha " and many others.

Team

The Indian rugby team is a participant in various Asian tournaments, including the Asian Championship trophies in various divisions. The team is in the second division. As of June 2013, she officially held 37 games, winning 11 and losing 25. The main players of the men's team, who not only play matches, but also participate in various activities to promote children's sports, are Munna Murmur and Raikishor Murmu. Among the women's team, the stars are Sumitra Nayak, Khupi Maji and Lisa Sardar. At the time, the famous actor Rahul Bose played in the national team ^[13] .

The Rugby 7 Team of India is a regular participant in Asian rugby 7 tournaments. In 2010, during the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi , the Indian national team played in the rugby 7 tournament, but lost all the matches of the group stage and were eliminated in the first match of the consolation stage.

• Sports in India
• McCanlis, Maurice - English cricketer and rugby player born in India
• Lawland, Ieyn - Scottish rugby player born in Mumbai (Bombay)
• Turner, Arthur Jervois - British Army foreman, cricketer and rugby player, native of India

• Richard Bath. Complete Book of Rugby. - Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997. - ISBN 1-86200-013-1 .
• Levine, Emma A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat ( ISBN 0233050418 )
• Richards, Huw A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union ( Mainstream Publishing , Edinburgh , 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-255-5 )
• Smith, Sean The Union Game: A Rugby History
• Starmer-Smith, Nigel (ed) Rugby - A Way of Life, An Illustrated History of Rugby (Lennard Books, 1986 ISBN 0-7126-2662-X )

• Indian Rugby Union Website
• World Rugby Profile
• Rugby in Asia. India
• Indian rugby has capacity to inspire