Arabian Gulf rugby union team
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| Union | Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union | |
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| Nickname(s) | Arugby, Soundos | |
| Coach(es) | Matt Trail | |
| Captain(s) | David Clark | |
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| First international | ||
Arabian Gulf RFU 20 - 64 Namibia  (1993-06-03) |
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| Largest win | ||
Arabian Gulf RFU 97 - 3 India  (2001-04-27) |
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| Worst defeat | ||
 Japan 114 - 6 Arabian Gulf RFU(2008-05-03) |
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The Arabian Gulf rugby union team are a combined team of players from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and represent the Arabian Peninsula area in international rugby union competitions. Associate members to the region are Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
As early as 2007, rumours of a break-up of the Arabian Gulf RFU side surfaced, with Qatar participating in the 2007 Asia Rugby Cup in Sri Lanka. These rumours were apparently quashed with the Arabian Gulf RFU team recently expanding to add the three associate nations. However, the eventual breakup has now been confirmed; on 16 January 2009, the sport's international governing body, the International Rugby Board, announced that the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union, which organises the national team, will be split into separate national unions and will cease to exist by the end of 2010. The first new union to be formed is expected to be that of the UAE.[1]
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[edit] Asian Five Nations
The Arabian Gulf RFU participated in the highest tier of the inaugural 2008 Asian Five Nations alongside Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan.[2] After losing all four of their matches and subsequently finishing last, the team was relegated to Division One for the 2009 tournament.[3] The team proceeded to win Division One in 2009, securing promotion to the Asian Five Nations for 2010.
[edit] Name
Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf [1], the Gulf is sometimes controversially referred to as the "Arabian Gulf" by Arab countries, although this designation is not commonly used outside of the Arab world, nor is it recognized by the United Nations[4][5][6][7] and other international organizations. In the instance of the rugby team, all the teams come from Arabian countries, and that Iran (formerly known as Persia) has its own separate team- Iran national rugby union team, so that the team does not actually involve all the teams surrounding the Persian Gulf. The team's official name is thus "Arabian Gulf". While this is in itself controversial, the dispute will become moot in the context of rugby with the upcoming breakup of the AGRFU into separate national unions.
[edit] World Cup record
- 1987 - Not invited
- 1991 - Did not qualify
- 1995 - Did not qualify
- 1999 - Did not qualify
- 2003 - Did not qualify
- 2007 - Did not qualify. (See 2007 Rugby World Cup - Asia qualification)
[edit] References
- ^ International Rugby Board (2009-01-16). "Major boost for West Asia". Press release. http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2028501.html#major+boost+west+asia. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2022343.html
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Asian_Five_Nations
- ^ http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/docs/escwa.pdf
- ^ http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iran.pdf
- ^ http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/westasia.pdf
- ^ United Nations Experts on Geographical Names, Working Paper No. 61
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