Why I think Rugby will never gain popularity in Pakistan - Featured
There are a number of reasons which have convinced me that a sport like Rugby can never find an audience in a country like Pakistan. The reasons are plenty but I will just touch a few, which I think are the most obvious ones.
First of all, Pakistan is already brutally victimised in the battlefield of terrorism, which has cost it far too many lives . In this war, we gained nothing but much complained about depression and gloominess across the country, where the frequent news of
death is not even considered news anymore.
In order to break the prevailing tension within the country, Pakistanis seek refuge in sports, which seems like the only vent to the otherwise uptight situation in the country. In our case, nothing works better than a Cricket series to divert the attention
from the gloomy picture of our country. Whereas, a sport like rugby league which itself is bloody in nature is the basic turn off for the sport because the people of Pakistan do not wish to bring in blood to the only thing that is left to enjoy in our country.
Then there is a lack of familiarity to the sport which is another reason why the sport will never be picked up by masses in a country like ours. On the other hand, Cricket is fondly followed by almost all because people have been exposed to it since their
childhood. Learning it from the scratch was never an option because cricket know-how to Pakistani comes by default.
Cricket on the other hand is liked and followed religiously over the years because there are appropriate sports facilities for it available at school, college and university levels. Apart from that there are so many clubs available which provide training,
which can be taken up professionally as well. Unlike Cricket, Rugby is completely devoid of the mentioned facilities. Even if there are a few people who like the sport and wish to take it up professionally, there are no arrangements on the professional and
the amateur level.
The lack of familiarity to the game can also be blamed on the fact that the sport hardly receives any media coverage. Meanwhile, those sports, such as Cricket and Tennis, are considerably more widely followed in a country like ours because they are shown
live on TV, which keeps everyone hooked to the game.
Also, it is the number of sporting events showcased by a certain sport that adds to its popularity. In this department too, Rugby fails badly because it is not even close to the number of events put up by Cricket, for instance.
Another reason why the people wish to follow a sport is the big prize money for the participating players and the brilliant performances in a particular series. Rugby, including both codes, fail in that area too, because money attached to the game is nominal.
This explains why Rugby has no big sponsors.
One of the biggest contributing factors towards Rugby’s paltry following in Pakistan is because it is full of complex rules and regulations which make it hard for a person who is willing to get himself acquainted to the sport.
Furthermore, to add to the complexity of situation, Rugby is subdivided into League and Union which makes it all the more confusing to understand. This seems to be more than enough to convince the people of Pakistan not to play rugby.
The opinions expressed in this article are of the writer and do not portray the editorial policy of Bettor.com
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