Six years! 2,191 days is enough time for governments to topple, for careers to end and if that deadline is calculated from now, Vaibhav Suryavanshi will be able to legally drive that Tata Curvv he won as his reward in IPL for striking it hot at 206 in his debut season at the age of 14. It has been the amount of time taken for Rahul Bose, the Rugby India President, the whole federation and their partners in the form of the team owners to finally see the light of day, the inaugural Rugby Premier League which, after a long and restless wait, is taking off later this week in Mumbai.
So, how does a federation chief feel, a week out from the first scrum of rugby in India at an enormous level with the top broadcaster telecasting it live on its platforms? "I rarely get excited, I rarely get jitters, so I am ok, as long as things are under control, I am okay," said a relaxed Bose from the sidelines of the jersey launch for the Kalinga Black Tigers in Bhubaneswar, one of the six teams in the competition, exclusively to India TV. Bose was on his tenterhooks a little with a bit of weather around in Mumbai, but wasn't in doubt with respect to the preparations ahead of the league and his intentions behind it, to get the ball rolling in the first place.
Clear purpose and following the processes
"I think that the league has been created with a very clear purpose and that is to, in the next 3 to 5 years, have a young girl or a young boy, when they are thinking of a career in sport, we should be one of the 5 sports they should have in their mind," Bose added while elaborating as to what the league can and will be able to do and what the federation needs to do - to create the pathway for young children, possibly getting inspired after June 29 to be able to take up the sport in the future and make a living out of it.
Bose knows that it won't happen in the first year and hence, creating something meaningful is his main aim. How will that happen? "Culture," he says. Recalling a recent anecdote from the all-team meet, Bose continued, saying "We had a team meet where all six teams got together in a room. We all had dinner and then we had a chat and then we just had dessert. Everybody could sit anywhere they wanted.
"We put up the team logos in random, nothing. They went and sat next to their logo. Nobody told them.
"So the centre was completely empty. There were six teams sitting on the edges of this room near their logos. Nobody told them.
"That's how they've been trained. Wherever you see your team, you go and sit there. You are for the team.
"You are one for all and all for one. So this is extraordinary. And this is very, very rugby," a passionate and almost proud Bose spoke. You could sense the emotions spilling out from a usually very poker-faced Bose. Building a league which transcends the eye-test, becomes something a casual watcher would want to come back to and eventually find a long-lasting place in their memories, it's a colossal task, but Bose knew what they were up against and that's a challenge he was happy to take.
So, where does a franchise come into all of this? Karanpal Singh, the founder of Hunch Ventures, which has spread its wings across various businesses and markets, forays into his maiden sports venture with rugby and Odisha. Why rugby you ask and Singh was quick to mention, "Being a contact sport, being fast, I think it's going to do well. It's something that the younger generation is going to start enjoying, start playing."
Rugby 7s is probably the quickest format of the sport - 16 minutes, four quarters (two halves of seven minutes each otherwise) and the physical nature of it, just amps up the stakes by a hundred. "There is a score every 2 minutes, so you don't have to wait. There is action and in between those scores, there is somebody getting smashed, somebody making a break, there is an event every 10 seconds," Rahul further added.
What role does a team owner play in building a sport and a tournament from the ground up?
The excitement and the entertainment value are one thing, but what really fueled the desire to get associated with something like this? For Singh, it was to become a means for someone who had never sat in a flight to be able to bridge that gap.
"I remember Rahul had to call some of the parents to request them to let the girls go they didn't even have passports they have never been out of the country I am thinking a lot of them didn't get out of their district or Odisha and then went straight to Tashkent, Dublin so you know these things matter and I think thats what drives me and drove me into getting into this sport," Singh, the Kalinga Black Tigers owner added.
The Indian women's rugby team winning Silver in consecutive editions in 2023 and 2024 at the Asia Rugby Sevens and the Hong Kong Sevens, a pioneer in popularising the format among the masses, played a huge part in RPL starting to form as a saleable product. If the broadcaster didn't find it difficult to understand what will be a new sport for thousands of viewers across the country, it shouldn't take much time for it to fly, and that's Bose's main aim, to become one of the first five sporting choices for aspiring kids, who want to get into sports and make a living out of it.
"What a good league does... It drives and makes things develop at a faster rate internally and it drives and makes things develop at a faster rate externally. If "Karanpal Singh and five other team owners, on 29th of June, when this competition gets over, would want to win the next one."
"To have a young girl or a young boy when they are thinking of a career in sport, we should be one of the 5 sports they should have in their mind, today if it's hockey, if it's cricket, if it's football, whatever it is, rugby should be one of those 5 sports, for that not only do you have to make it known across the country," a pragmatic Rahul Bose added, keeping a window of 3-5 years for that change to come. While Singh had the passion of letting the young girls and boys from humble backgrounds fulfill their dreams, for Rahul Bose, it is love.
"Love is what keeps you awake," said Bose, who, despite being at the centre of planning, building and executing the RPL, was still starring in films across languages and TV shows, while also running a couple of NGOs and still being able to do justice to all of them. "There is no juggling. You don't juggle your children.
"If you have three small children, you don't juggle them and say... Today you eat, tomorrow... Today you don't eat. Today I will take you to bed. Today I will not... You work with all three children all the time. You never ever find yourself short of energy because you love all three," the multitasker Bose, as he has been all his life, added.
In April, at the launch of the competition, Bose chose his words very carefully that he wanted to stay away from creating something glamorous to gain attention. He wanted to create something meaningful, that does something and gives something to everyone from the owners, the fans, the broadcasters, the players at grassroots and the ones finding their feet and also the ones, who will get a platform to showcase what they have got in front of hundreds of fans and multiple thousands watching at home.
"What a good league does... It drives and makes things develop at a faster rate internally (creating a network of facilities for practising, playing, for recovering, getting the best coaches and conditions to train in) and it drives and makes things develop at a faster rate externally (sponsorship and viewership). If "Karanpal Singh and five other team owners, on 29th of June, when this competition gets over, would want to win the next one," the RPL would have done its job and that's where the real work will begin for Bose and Co.
Delhi Redz, Bengaluru Bravehearts, Chennai Bulls, Hyderabad Heroes, Kalinga Black Tigers and Mumbai Dreamers - six teams, featuring some of the best players in the world, with a format which is always on pins and needles, packed inside 15 days in Andheri - Rugby India might have a golden goose on its hands.