Women in Lodhran find a new hobby — rugby

The sport has gained popularity in the city with the formation of 10 new clubs in the last year

KARACHI: The women in Lodhran have a new favourite sport and 19-year-old Shazia Shabbir, coaching with the  world famous ‘Get Into Rugby ‘ (GIR) Programme for Pakistan, feels her sole purpose is to motivate the girls from Lodhran and adjoining villages to get into the sport.

The Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU) began the GIR Programme in schools from different cities and Shazia also found her love for rugby as part of the programme in college, where she’s studying for her higher secondary school certificate.

“Rugby is everything! I even know all the Bollywood movies in which there are scenes of people playing rugby,” the spirited Shazia told The Express Tribune. “I’ve been playing rugby since 2014 when the PRU coaches came to our college, and although I used to play taekwondo, hockey and volleyball before this, I fell in love with this sport.”

Shazia was one of the first women to participate in the programme from Pakistan and after working tirelessly for almost a year with PRU coach Hassan Mukhtar Shah, she has successfully impacted the rugby scene in Lodhran with the opening of 10 new women clubs in the city.

Shazia’s interest in rugby and her becoming the captain of Pakistan’s national team impressed her friends and family so much that now at least 13 other women from her family have started training in Lodhran.

“I’m a player and a coach, and when our coach gathered all the interested players from Lodhran, I was very surprised that my own cousins and friends showed up at the camp. My khalas [maternal aunts] are playing too,” said Shazia. “As for coaching, I’m working with coach Shah at schools and have four teams in Lodhran alone, with 12 girls in each team.”

She added that even though she is lucky to have a family who supports the sport, other girls are not so fortunate as the parents in the city and adjoining villages feel that cultural barriers make it difficult for girls to take part in sports, especially rugby, where brutal strength is required constantly.

Coach Shah backed Shazia and believes that the programme has been a huge success, adding Pakistan’s first women’s team was formed in Lodhran and the women competed at a British High Commission event last year.

Meanwhile, national coach Shakeel Ahmed, who is conducting the GIR Programme in Lahore, believes that women’s rugby, and the sport among children, has been gaining popularity over the years.

“We’re going to different schools and colleges and I’m happy to see that the teachers and the students have a basic know-how of rugby and are more than willing to participate in the sport,” said Shah. “The participation is on the rise and that’s what makes it so interesting.”

 

 

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