A start-up rugby club in Dubai has made a statement of its lofty ambitions by striking up an affiliation with French giants Stade Francais.
Dubai Knights has been an official entity for less than a year, and is planning entry to the second division of UAE competition next season.
The club was started by an Emirati physician who only happened on rugby by chance when he was channel surfing between football matches.
Dr Abdulrehman Kazim quickly became obsessed with the sport. The team he started with three mates in his backyard has grown to one with 47 playing members, with several Emiratis at its core.
Despite its embryonic status, the club has already formed an association with one France’s biggest sides.
The deal will see an exchange of players and coaches between the Dubai and Paris clubs, as well as “an exchange of information and experience”.
“It's given us a professional affiliation with a big club,” Dr Kazim said. “It gives a pathway for the players in the country to go from playing locally here to potentially playing one of rugby's big stages.”
The concept of player and coaching exchanges with established clubs abroad is not unusual in domestic rugby.
For example, clubs in the UAE have benefited from associations with Harlequins, Wasps and Saracens in London, plus the Hurricanes in Wellington, in the past.
Rarely has a club at such a fledgling stage of its development announced such a bold link-up, though.
When starting his community rugby club last year, Dr Kazim said they had a 10-year plan to establish themselves in the top flight of club rugby in West Asia.
He has been working on the link-up with Stade over the course of the year, which has included four trips to Paris.
“Our ambitions are very, very big,” Dr Kazim said. “Our ambitions are not just locally. We want to be known internationally as well.
“We want to grow the sport of rugby; that's the main aim. By doing so, we have to give players that platform to take it to the next level, and give coaches that platform to take it to the next level.”
Stade are 14-time champions of France, and have twice been finalists in Europe’s top club competition.
As well as their on-field achievements, Dr Kazim said other things about the Paris club appeal to newcomers to rugby, which is the audience he hopes to bring to the Knights.
“We found a club that is not only big, but at the same time, it's attractive,” he said.
“Stade Francais’ whole commercial aspect is very attractive. The kits are good, the identity is cool.
“It opens doors to potential players and fans who don't know much about rugby. When they see Stade Francais, they feel this is exciting.”
The Knights’ founder said the trips he and the club's players and coaches have made to Stade have opened their eyes to how a club should be.
“Stade Francais opened their doors to us and showed us everything,” Dr Kazim said.
“When we came back from that first trip, the standards of our club had increased five times, because now I know this is what a real rugby club looks like in its best state.
“That's where we need to be. Our ambitions are not to be a small grassroots rugby club. Of course, we have to start as a small grassroots rugby club.
“When we came back [from Paris], we said to ourselves, Well, let's not just take it up a notch, let’s take it up three notches. This is the standard; now we have to reach it.”
Despite his newness to the sport, Dr Kazim had quickly been taken with rugby’s traditions, including some of its quirkiest rituals.
The Knights’ first international tour was for a short-format tournament in Bangkok, which saw them face sides from Japan, India and Thailand.
While on tour they borrowed the British & Irish Lions tradition which sees the youngest player on tour take responsibility for looking after the team mascot.
Rather than a Lion, the Knights had a cuddly toy elephant, which Luyando Dominique, their Zambian fullback, was accountable for.
Dr Kazim said the maiden tour helped entrench team spirit within the players.
“That was the whole purpose of this,” Dr Kazim said. “The boys really feel like this is their club. They don't want to imagine going a week without playing for Dubai Knights.”
