The Arabian Gulf rugby union team was a combined team of players that represented the countries of the
Gulf Cooperation Council
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ar, مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, interg ...
in international
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
competitions. The team competed in international matches between 1993 and 2010,
and was governed by the
Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union
The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) was the governing body for rugby union that represented the Gulf Cooperation Council states until the end of 2010. As well as organising local and regional competitions in United Arab Emirates, UAE, B ...
(AGRFU). Associate members were
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
and
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
.
The Arabian Gulf participated in the highest tier of the inaugural 2008
Asian Five Nations
The Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, is an annual rugby union competition held amongst national rugby sides within the Asia Rugby region. The competition was originally known as the Asian Rugby Football Tournament when founded in 1969, and was call ...
alongside
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. After losing all four of their matches and subsequently finishing last, the team was relegated to Division One for the 2009 tournament. The team proceeded to win
Division One in 2009, securing promotion to the Asian Five Nations for 2010.
However, on 16 January 2009, the sport's international governing body, the
International Rugby Board
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...
(IRB), announced that the AGRFU – and the combined Arabian Gulf team – would be split into separate national entities and cease to exist by the end of 2010. The first new union to be formed was that of the UAE, which became a full IRB member in November 2012.
The team's final tournament before the breakup was the
2010 Asian Five Nations, which doubled as the final stage of
Asian qualification for the
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...
. The Arabian Gulf team won two of their four matches, including a 21–19 win in their final match in history at
The Sevens in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
against
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
.
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)
* 2011 - Did not qualify. (See
2011 Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification)
The team did not take part in the 2015 tournament qualifying as it had been broken up by then.
Women's rugby
Although Arabian Gulf's women never played test match rugby, they were at the time one of the most active
international sevens rugby teams, taking part in the first ever women's tournament in 1997,
playing over 70 internationals between 1997 and 2010.
Successor teams
Former associate members of the AGRFU,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
played each other on 14 May 2010, the first match for both national teams.
The
UAE Rugby Federation,
and the respective federations of Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, all subsequently joined
Asia Rugby
Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of World Rugby.
Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 36 member unions in countries across Asia, ...
in their own right.
See also
*
Rugby union in the Arabian Peninsula
Rugby union in the Arabian Peninsula is a minor, but growing sport. The game is played in six out of seven countries on the peninsula, specifically the Gulf Cooperation states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emi ...
*
Arabian Gulf Cup
The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nat ...
*
Arabian Gulf Futsal Cup
*
GCC Games
The GCC Games is a regional multi-sport event which involves participants from the Gulf Cooperation Council region. The GCC Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event, was established by the union and first held in 2011 GCC Games, 2011. There are nume ...
*
Gulf Cooperation Council Athletics Championships The Gulf Cooperation Council Athletics Championship (also known as the GCC Athletics Championships) is a biennial international athletics competition between athletes from nations within the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. It wa ...
*
Gulf Cooperation Council Youth Athletics Championships
References
{{Gulf Cooperation Council
Gulf Cooperation Council
Asian national rugby union teams
Multinational rugby union teams
Rugby union in the Arabian Peninsula