Doha – When Akbar Al Baker, Group CEO of Qatar Airways, speaks, people tend to pay attention.
Sunday at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, the Qatar Airways CEO made a big appearance for the partnership announcement with the United Rugby Championship, Champions and Challenge Cups.
Initially, he had a few private conversations with the rugby’s most powerful figures, including SA Rugby president Mark Alexander, URC chief executive Martin Anayi, and European Professional Club Rugby executive Anthony Lepage.
Then, Al Baker approached some of the URC players and Qatar Airways employees, including Bulls flyhalf Johan Goosen and Glasgow Warriors scrumhalf Ali Price, for a brief conversation and some laughter.
However, the chief executive then stated that he would want to see rugby matches held in Doha one day… Qatar is unquestionably straining its muscles to become a big role in the global athletic landscape.
In addition to hosting the FIFA World Cup in November, the country has hosted Formula 1, MotoGP, and other sporting events.
Now, they have struck a three-year agreement to become the official South African airline partner of the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) and the official airline partner of the United Rugby Club (URC).
Alexander stated in a press conference on Sunday that it was a major relief for SA Rugby, as travel accounted for a significant portion of their expenses.
However, the next stage is to actually play matches in Qatar, and Anayi must be the one to initiate that dialogue.
“Stadiums are being created for the Fifa World Cup, while some of them are being dismantled and relocated abroad. And then three or four are being shrunk in size while remaining indoors with air conditioning… the size might be between 20,000 and 30,000. Could you use the term preseason and create preseason tournaments?” asked Anayi.
“The games are something we need to build up to, and we should probably begin with a new competition, a new preseason tournament, or something similar.
“And if it’s successful, can we build on that? We don’t want to restrict anything, but we do want players to participate in fewer competitions. Therefore, we must compensate with new territory.”
Anayi noted that rugby organizations “have been functioning in silos for too long… someone believes that someone else is performing better than them. The reality is that the game is still very young in terms of professionalisation, and what you are seeing today is a major union and two competitions merging, and that the effects of Covid-19 on the rugby landscape have forced the sport to look for other avenues and bring in new funds – which is what the Qatar Airways deal is all about.
Anayi concurred that the participation of South African teams in the URC has been a tremendous success. “We began with performance. Add this depth to the tournament if the game was better and more competitive… Only Irish teams have won championships. Surely more viewers would tune in,” he stated.
“South African teams had a difficult start to the previous season, but they rallied and the Stormers won. Did that surprise anyone? I don’t believe so. I am aware of how seriously the Irish teams took them, as they were the most ardent supporters of bringing them in.
“However, this (the Qatar Airways acquisition) was not the initial objective. We believed that if we made the game better, everything else would fall into place.”