DUBAI // If the Emirati girls representing the UAE in rugby for the first time on Wednesday feel daunted by the prospect, they might want to remind themselves: everyone has to start somewhere.
They would be advised to look farther down the road from Dubai Sports City to The Sevens, where Charlotte Caslick will be competing this weekend. She should provide ample inspiration.
This month, Caslick added the World Sevens Player of the Year title to the gold medal she won with Australia at the Rio Olympics during the summer.
Not bad for a 21 year old who only took up the full-contact version of the game three-and-a-half years ago, swapping from touch rugby with the specific aim of becoming an Olympian.
According to Scott Bowen, the manager of the Australia women’s team, three-quarters of the Australian Union’s 21 contracted female professionals played other sports first, before switching to rugby for similar reasons.
“These girls were playing touch, basketball, or other sports,” Bowen said.
“Then when the Olympic Games became a thing, back in 2009, all these girls tried to take it up. We then had to coach them to get to where they are now. They hadn’t played XVs before, hadn’t played contact sport before.”
See more on women’s Dubai Rugby Sevens:
• Players to watch: Australia's Charlotte Caslick, Sophie Shams and Niall Williams
• UAE Rugby 'incredibly proud to be fielding an all-Emirati girls team'
• Sophie Shams shrugs off cold to make long-awaited senior rugby debut — next up, the Dubai Sevens
Bowen said an Olympic final against their closest rivals – New Zealand – shown live at 8am on free-to-air television, was a box-office event that has had a transformative effect on the women’s game in Australia.
“Half the population might have been exposed to seeing, first, rugby sevens, and then secondly, girls doing it with the skill and athleticism that our girls have,” Bowen said.
“Some of the girls can walk down the street and be, maybe not exactly mobbed, but they will get noticed.
“That is completely different to what we were a week before Rio.
“Before Rio, we were just a national team going off to compete in the Olympics. We went off to Rio like that, then some of them came back as household names, and genuine rock stars. It is great for the sport.”
While Australia start the defence of their Dubai Rugby Sevens title on Pitch 1 against South Africa on Thursday, the UAE girls play their first match against Uzbekistan at 1.50pm, on Wednesday.
Deirdre O’Sullivan, the manager of the Women’s Sevens Series, says the new six-team Under 18 competition at Sports City is a notable boost to the game.
“Having the girls tournament here, involving UAE Rugby, is really important to us,” O’Sullivan said.
“It is the future Charlotte Caslicks coming through the ranks.
“This weekend serves to inspire those who are engaging with the sport, and gives them the platform to come and play.”
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