Qatar could use World Cup stadia to host URC games

New sponsorship deal could be first step to matches played in Doha

Tue, 06 Sep, 2022 - 00:05

Simon Lewis, Doha

Eight weeks out from a landmark FIFA World Cup in Qatar, United Rugby Championship boss Martin Anayi has signalled the strong possibility that the one-time Celtic League could be set to showcase its talents on the Arabian peninsula.

The prospect of Ireland’s four provinces and their rivals from South Africa, Scotland, Wales and Italy playing in the gas-rich nation state on the shores of the Persian Gulf took a considerable step forward on Sunday when URC chief executive Anayi announced a deal believed to be worth millions of dollars for Qatar Airways to become its official airline partner.

The announcement came two days after the URC added a new title sponsor for the Northern Hemisphere in Indian agricultural tyre company BKT with both deals notable for bringing new entries to the rugby sponsorship family from non-rugby territories.

And Anayi acknowledged the outward-looking approach could also extend to games being played far from traditional rugby heartlands.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker suggested as much when made a brief address to rubber stamp the new partnership, which will also see his company become official South African airline partner to Champions Cup organisers EPCR ahead of that country’s quartet of URC clubs joining the formerly European club competition this season.

“We hope to have games here one day,” Mr Al Baker said to an audience at Doha International Airport that also included EPCR CEO Anthony Lepage and South African Rugby Union president Mark Alexander.

On a summer day when temperatures in Doha reached 39C, Anayi suggested the first steps towards that happening may come in the guise of a new pre-season tournament for URC clubs in one of the air-conditioned stadiums set to be used in November and December for football’s global showcase. Airline officials suggested temperatures drop to the early to mid-20s during winter months and Anayi said: “It was explained to us that the stadiums that are being built for the FIFA World Cup, a few of them are being deconstructed and moved abroad and then three or four are being reduced in size, so still ‘indoors’ and air-conditioned but reduced in size to 20,000, 30,000,” the URC CEO said.

“So something myself and Mark Alexander talked about was could you do something pre-season, could you create a tournament, like they do in the US with pre-season tournaments?

“And one thing Mark was telling me was that, for instance, Jean de Villiers has done rehab here, so there’s a pretty serious medical facility here, training facility. So definitely warm-weather training, very warm-weather training, during the (Northern Hemisphere) winter months and I think with the guys actually travelling through Qatar, Doha, it’s a place they don’t mind being in and they get looked after very well.

“The games are something we’d need to build up to. You would probably start with a new competition, like I said, a new pre-season tournament, something like that, and if it goes well can we build something on top?

“I think we always have to be, and we always try to be outward looking so we’d never close anything off. At the same time we want players to play less competition but of a higher quality so we’ve got to balance that up with new territories. So I think pre-season, definitely we could see something.

“The World Sevens Series is reducing its fixtures so is there room for a club sevens competition? You could imagine with some slightly novel thinking, innovative thinking, something like that could work well.”

The most visible part of the three-year deal initially will be the Qatar Airways logo emblazoned across the chests of BKT URC referees when the new season kicks off in 10 days when Munster will be the first Irish team to begin their campaign with an away trip to Cardiff on Friday, September 16. Yet games in Qatar are very much front and centre in the airline’s thoughts as their vice president of sales for Africa Hendrik du Preez explained.

“It’s definitely something we’ve tabled, if there was an opportunity. There might be great opportunities post (FIFA) World Cup. We’ve got great stadiums that have been built here and used during the World Cup,” du Preez said.

“It’ll be a great opportunity if we can host something in Doha, whatever format we might do – whether teams play warm-up matches here, north-south derbies. That would be great to put something together like that. There is a big ex-pat community, supporting rugby in the Middle East… I think there would be a big demand for that. It would be great.”