Film star-turned sports administrator Rahul Bose wears many hats, from being an award-winning actor to now, being the President of Rugby India.

Before the second edition of the Rugby Premier League (RPL), planned in Hyderabad next month, the 58-year-old discusses the present state of Rugby in India and the future of the sport, in an exclusive chat with Sportstar.

Q: How do you look at the second edition of the league? How different will it be from the first?

A: Yes, we were always wanting to have an RPL Women last year also. But because there was so much to look at, which was new to us, we decided to stay with RPL Men. But this year, the franchises have been very, very forthcoming.

We have dug into our pockets, and we have made sure that we have created the financial as well as operational space to run a women’s league at the same time as the men’s. So in effect, the same two weeks that we had last year, when the men’s league was running, the women’s league will run at the same time. Instead of two games a day, we’ll have four, sometimes five games a day.

It will build for a longer, more interesting evening for people who are coming to the stadium as well as those who are viewing it online. That’s one big difference. The second big difference is that our partners — Jio Hotstar and Star Sports have now partnered to have it on YouTube and TV.

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We were always certain that the venue would move from city to city. From Mumbai, it has come to Hyderabad and will move to other venues in future.

Q: How do you see Hyderabad as a venue?

A: It’s a city where the scale of the stadium is bigger than what we had in Mumbai. So we are very much looking forward to having experiences for fans and things in the stadium, along with the fact that it’s a longer evening. So we are very clear that we are setting our sights on creating not one but two world-class products.

The second season of Rugby Premier League will take place at the Gachibowli Stadium, which has also hosted football matches in the past. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

Q: What are the major challenges involved in getting franchises for the Women’s League?

A: I think almost everybody was ideologically very, very certain that they wanted to be part of it. But the economics had to work. And we are a league where we run a very tight ship. We are very, very collaborative and fair with our franchise owners.

At the same time, we cannot expect, should I say, generosity that’s unreasonable. So everybody was ideologically in line with us. So, what we did was we made a lot of attractive benefits for franchises, more attractive than they were last year, so that they would come to the women’s game this year. Thankfully, our franchises understood that.

We didn’t want to go for six or eight franchises because of the operational difficulties. So four is very solid, and we’ll have 48 players, 24 foreigners, 24 Indians. And yet, it will be operationally manageable.

Q: How is the pace of the sport across India?

A: India has 760 districts. Rugby is in 322 districts. 40 per cent of India plays rugby. So our grassroots are strong. For the last five years, we’ve had 320 districts. We had the option to either spread the districts or to deepen the involvement of the players in those districts. We’ve chosen the latter. We’ve chosen to deepen involvement in the 322 districts. We want those players to stay with the game.

Q: Any major initiatives to take the sport to the next level?

A: We are not taking it to more unexplored regions. We are (already) in 322 districts, which is a lot. It’s a captive population of 650 million people. But in terms of initiatives, we’ve had the Asmita Women’s League.

Players in action during an ASMITA Rugby State League Jammu and Kashmir at the Multipurpose Indoor Sports Stadium. | Photo Credit: Imran Nissar

The Government of India has given us solid support, and between 30 and 50 cities across India have had a women’s rugby league last year. We have over 30 national tournaments that happen.

I would say that this is probably the most played, least known game in India.

Q: What are the realistic goals?

A: One is to make sure that something like the RPL happens, which brings rugby to the eyes of people through mass media. The second is for our (national) teams to do well. The moment our teams begin to win, it will automatically begin to become popular.

So for the teams to do well, you have to put a lot of money into high performance. Right now, our women are sixth in Asia out of 36 nations.

Rahul Bose feels the Indian women’s national team has a quicker chance to make it to the Olympics because of its higher ranking in Asia. | Photo Credit: Nissar Ahmad

For perspective, if you get to the top two, you make the Olympics. We are hopeful of making the Olympics in 2032. And we will be the first team sport, after hockey, in 90 years to get to the Olympics.

Of course, cricket is in the Olympics, but it’s a very small pool. But, making it to the Olympics in rugby out of over 100, to be one of the 14-15 nations will be very prestigious. Our men’s team, 12th in Asia, has to wait for one more cycle to get there.

Q: A roadmap for the sport?

A: We’ve had the road map in place for five years, month by month. In fact, when we submitted the road map to the government or the Ministry of Sports, they said they had never seen anything like it in their lives.

We submitted this in 2020 on what was planned up to 2030. We’ll be following that. We are slightly ahead in some things, and we’re slightly behind in others. Anyone can track us month by month.

Students in a training session at Universal Engineering College at Vallivattom, in Thrissur, Kerala. | Photo Credit: K.K. Najeeb

The Government has always asked for accountability, and we never shy away from being transparent and accountable. In fact, we were awarded the best Federation in the country by the FICCI last year because of our transparency, our ethics and our processes.

Q: On areas of focus?

A: It’s not in the big cities but in the districts, a cluster of schools, PETs (Physical Education Teachers) through our State Associations that are doing very good work. So we don’t go to one school.

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You cannot think of this as a metro sport but as a hinterland sport instead. Most of our players come from the bottom of the social pyramid. We don’t do a caste census. But socio-economically, they are the poorest of the poor.

Q: How are the players supported in the Rubgy ecosystem?

A: We are one of the few federations that give a yearly purse to every state to spend on development, for national tournaments, on jerseys, on transport and on food. That is what they spend in their districts, and all the State Associations have to submit detailed reports on follow-up actions.

Q: Tell us the state of sponsorship in Rugby.

A: Normally, all our tournaments are funded by us. We have sponsors like Capgemini and DHL, who fund Indian Rugby. We’ve had some government states supporting us in the past.

Chennai Bull’s Vaafauese Apelu Maliko in action in the first season of Indian Rugby Premier League (RPL) final against Delhi Redz. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

We get money from the Central Government, World Rugby, and small amounts from the Capri Group and Jamuna Auto. So, we raise the money and spend it on national tournaments.

Q: What are the major changes you’re looking at from the Indian players’ perspective?

A: This is the Federation’s responsibility. It has to raise more money, work harder and build a 365-day-a-year ecosystem around our players. Right now, we can only afford to do it maybe 100 days a year.

We would like to build an ecosystem around our 30-40 best players from each team – Under-18 boys, under-18 girls, under-20 boys, under-20 girls, men and women.

Q: What are you looking for after the Rugby Premier League?

A: I think a real mark of success will be when the six franchises begin to do more work in developing an interest and creating infrastructure in the cities. We don’t have a (major) presence in the cities as a sport. So in these big six cities, we will start to have what we have never had before.

Published on May 02, 2026