A Kolkata Afghan’s gift of rugby to his homeland

“My first visit in 2010 was really bad,and after encountering the Talib I was scared of even opening the door while staying with relatives. So this time I had decided I would not move out of Kabul. But I found I could venture out,and really enjoyed meeting young boys who showed enthusiasm for rugby,” Zaffar said.

Zaffar who played for India against Pakistan and Malaysia in 2008,took to the game as a teenager after his dreams of playing competitive cricket were dashed by a back injury. In 2004,Zaffar,who would often hang around watching the Kolkata rugby side Jungle Crows muck about with the egg-shaped ball at the Esplanade Maidan,was invited by Paul Walsh,the Crows’ British coach,to join in.

Zaffar accepted the invite,and is today a regular with the Crows. His family was very supportive,he said,and he soon discovered he had a flair for the hardy sport.

In November last year,Zaffar was contacted by Abdul Khalil,Afghan rugby’s liaison man,who offered him the Rugby Union assignment. He decided to give it a go,and travelled to Afghanistan in mid-June.

“We’re doing well in cricket back in Afghanistan,but those boys have a natural talent for contact sport. There’s wrestling and Thai boxing clubs sprouting everywhere,and I realized in just 15 days that I could go well beyond basics,and get them started on tackles. Rugby is tailor-made for our love for physical sport,” he said.

In Kabul,Zaffar experienced first-hand what makes the Afghans naturally resilient ruggers.

“We were practising at Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium. I was moving around a little gingerly because of all the horrid things like stoning and killing that have happened there in the past. At one point,as I was bending to tie my shoe-laces,I heard a very loud explosion. As I looked up startled,the boys told me to relax: ‘Ustaad,kuchh nahin,roz ka dhamaka hai’. That’s when I knew that rugby tackles could bring no fear to these boys.”

There were the lighter moments too,Zaffar recalled — like when he was told by his guffawing wards that his attempts at speaking Dari made him sound like a shy young girl. “Imagine a big,tough rugby player being told he sounds like a girl!” laughed Zaffar.

Enthusiastic as he might be taking his sport to his homeland,Kolkata — and India — runs in his blood,said Zaffar. “To tell you the truth,I was never good at studies. It is in Kolkata that I found rugby,and the sport has given me an identity in India,and now in Afghanistan… The coaching that I will impart there will bear the ‘Made in India’ stamp.”