Hope that rugby can become top-five sport in the country: RI president Bose

FRANCHISE-BASED leagues have become a trend in India for the last few years or so. The latest to join the bandwagon is the Rugby Premier League (RPL), which will be held in rugby sevens format. The inaugural edition of the RPL, which will feature six franchises based out of Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Delhi, is set to kick-start on June 15 with the final set to be held on June 29.

- CHANDRA PRABHU @Bhubaneswar

Rahul Bose, president of Rugby India, in a chat with this daily, spoke about the league's vision, on sport's potential growth and more. Excerpts:

On RPL & its vision
If this sport becomes one of the top five sports in a child's imagination, in creating a career, if we can get that (top-five sports), that will be a phenomenal outcome. It won't happen in a year. It will happen in a few years. We have to be prepared to also create a pathway. If the child says, 'mum, dad, I want to play rugby,' we have to provide the facilities for, 'where do I go to play rugby?' If I'm in a village or I'm in the middle of Jaipur, we have to be prepared to give them that. And what the RPL will do is create the financial reason to make rugby a (full-time) career.

On India's prospects in Asiad & CWG 2026