Rugby in Ras Al Khaimah is growing. So much so, the city’s club feel they have outgrown the sand pitch they called home during their opening campaign in the UAE Community League after just one season.
Their ground next to the sea at the Bin Majid Beach Resort did so much to give RAK Rugby its identity, but the club are moving forward at pace.
There have been many changes between their end of their first season in domestic competition and the start of their second.
Their name has changed from Goats to Rocks to, simply, Rugby. They are relocating to grass premises.
They have a recent UAE international, long-term RAK resident and former Dubai Hurricanes prop Craig Chapman, conducting coaching sessions. They have their own club room at Tower Links Golf Club, near the city’s centre, from which they will be able to recoup a share of the takings.
And now they even have selection problems based on having too many players, rather than too few.
There were 24 at Wednesday’s training, which takes place on the hitting zone of the driving range at Tower Links. More are still to return following their summer holidays.
All of which marks quite a contrast to days gone by.
“Last year, if we got 15 players to training we were jumping for joy,” Simon Williams, the club chairman, said.
“Sometimes we only had eight, or even just six. Now we have changed the name to RAK Rugby to make it really obvious who we are and what we do, and hopefully made it more inclusive.
“I’d like to think we can be 40 strong before the start of the season. There are some who haven’t played rugby at all, but there is also a good crowd there that pretty much covers every single nation that plays rugby – and obviously a few that don’t.”
Among the squad are Syrians, Egyptians, Lebanese – and a giant former wrestler from Brazil.
Hossam Sakr, a fitness instructor from Egypt who doubles up playing with overseeing strength and conditioning duties for the team, says he fell in love with rugby after joining RAK three years ago.
“It is everything you want from a game,” said Sakr, who has been resident in the emirate since 2004.
“It is the kind of game you just fall in love with. I was always worried because I had started late, because the game is not that familiar in Arab countries.
“I played soccer before, and never even knew we had rugby in Egypt. My friend introduced me to rugby in Ras Al Khaimah, and I found myself in the game.”
The biggest change from last term will unquestionably be the fact home games are no longer to be played on sand.
Ironically, RAK lost the four matches they played at Bin Majid last season. Their only wins came on the road – and on grass.
That is not the only reason they have sought green pastures this time around. Players found it tough playing and training on sand regularly - the players’ washing machines presumably felt the pain, too - while the club also felt it inhibited the growth of their embryonic junior set up.
“We may still go back there and use it, and it was a great thing in terms of giving us a place in Ras Al Khaimah,” Simon Williams, RAK’s player-chairman, said of the sand playing field.
“But we have two minis teams now, and the sand pitch was a challenge to get interest for new players. Some were OK with it and stuck with it, the same with some of the senior players.
“When you say you are trying to make it more structured and slightly more professional, then grass needs to be the surface of choice, and we are working on options for this now.
“Other teams love it for that one off experience, then in the sea afterwards, because it is great fun. When you are training on it day in and day out then it's a different experience."
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Salem Rashid, Mohammed Al Attas, Alhassan Saleh
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Yahya Nader, Ahmed Barman, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
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