Midway into the ‘90s, the Armenian College witnessed a wildlife wonder: When a raging lion shed its mane and altered its genus to turn into a tempered cheetah with thinking spots. That, a ferocious sport like rugby should have brought about this domestication, is ironical. But then, Emil Vartazarian has made his peace with many a paradox.

Absurdities for India’s influential full-back have ranged from a soccer career cut short because his club refused to pay him for the full season, to the times when he was denied a visa to travel with the Indian rugby team, because of an Iranian passport.

Now on the cusp of gaining Indian citizenship and settling down in Chennai—with no last-minute heart-breaking travel-cancellations to shrug off, Vartazarian believes the first lessons in restraint were learnt on the Armenian grounds. Rugby was central to anger management.

Like many of his ilk, he arrived in Kolkata from Iran when he was 10. “The first six months were impossible. Then I got used to it. Going home just once a year then became less painful,” he recalls of his 11-year-old stay at the college, starting 1987.

Riding roughshod like most tackling newbies would, Vartazarian was a school-star alright, but the passing years and exposure to older opponents and closer defeats chiseled his game. “Rugby was a good outlet to frustration for children who come from where I came. I was immature and used power to get through when I first played for my club in 1993. But now I read the game better,” he explains of the metamorphosis which has seen him add speed and stealth to his game—and unwittingly led to Chennai Cheetahs, the team he helped build down south—also the reigning All India champions, acquiring their own character. Seen practising kicking for hours on end much after his teams have done the group drills, sipped beer and left for home, Vartazarian owes his collected approach amidst chaos to the game’s two inspirational figures of the last decade: England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson and Scottish full-back Gavin Hastings. “I always picture them and feel very calm when kicking. I’m in a 100 per cent comfort zone. I’m never nervous. Pressure works for me,” says the 31-year-old.

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