Kabul (AFP)
They are about thirty teenagers eager to make a "touch rugby" on a dusty ground of Kabul. Introduced in favor of the international presence, rugby, unknown only 10 years ago, still attracts an Afghan youth eager for new sports.
Some of the players are shirtless, others wear football shirts. None are wearing crampons but all sweat profusely, in an overwhelming heat. The level of general motivation is striking.
Like cricket, which has experienced a boom, the national team that took part in the World Cup in England in June, rugby is a recent practice in Afghanistan, a country that like many others venerates the ball.
16-year-old Lutfullah Kazemi says he has done it because it is "a new sport". "In rugby, I like tackles and passes," said the high school student, a former football fan, who already dreams of an international career.
But in a country at war for nearly forty years, bodybuilding and combat sports are generally kings. Like the MMA, especially taekwondo, which allowed Afghanistan to glean its first Olympic medals.
The practice of rugby, initiated by civilian or military enthusiasts, is slowly structuring. Stephen Brooking, a Briton who advises the Afghan Rugby Federation (ARF), is convinced that "Afghans have all the characteristics" to shine, including "physical fitness and strength."
"At the moment, we are focusing on rugby sevens, to build skills on a level easier to understand than rugby XV, but there are very strong Afghans who will be adapted for the XV", explains after the training of the high school team, north of Kabul.
The training conditions are still very precarious. Everywhere synthetic turf plates are torn off. With each acceleration or support, players' shoes skid on the sand.
Plaquering is not an option and only "rugby touch" is allowed "otherwise the boys may be injured," regrets Abdul Habib, the coach of this team named "Qahramanan" ("champions" in Dari, the main Afghan language). ).
But the sport is growing. Today, 18 teams have been trained in the schools and universities of the Afghan capital and six others in other provinces of the country, says Aref Wardak, spokesman for the ARF.
Three young and senior leagues will start in the fall and a women's team has been set up in Kabul, with the hope that others will follow, he continues.
- "Where is the goal?" -
Afghanistan is not yet a member of the international rugby forum, World Rugby. But the Afghan federation has received support from the Asian confederation, which helps it train referees and coaches.
The national rugby sevens team also participated in the Asian Games last summer. It narrowly failed to qualify for the quarter-finals with a team that had taken part of Afghan expatriates.
But to build a future, the federation must focus on its youth, starting with schools.
"We first need to convince the teachers of the interest of rugby, the values of the gentleman's sport with a deep respect for the rules and the adversary, and that the children find it amusing," said Aref Wardak.
The spokesman of the federation recalls his first contacts with college students. "They asked" where is the goal + "," why do we have to go backwards? " and thought "a scrum was a start of a fight," smiled Aref Wardak.
"At first, it was very difficult," Abdul Habib also admits, four years after introducing the oval ball to the "Qahramanan". "It took me about two months to explain what rugby was," he recalls.
"What is missing most (to develop rugby) are" lands "that constitute" a valuable asset in Kabul ", a city in staggering population growth, says Stephen Brooking.
A plot of 10,000 m2 will soon be allocated to the only practice of rugby, according to the ARF. Then will remain to find funds to build the facilities and a lawn worthy of the name.
© 2019 AFP