Watchful Welshman David Thomas takes care to approach Ethiopians
who stumble across the spectacle to tell them that it is not a
fight. The men are playing rugby.
Still viewed with suspicion by many locals – and once moved on by
the police for causing a disturbance – the Addis Nyalas Rugby Club
have now attracted Dawit and other Ethiopians into their
ranks.
The ultimate ambition for Ethiopians – famous for their athletics
prowess – is international seven-a-side competition.
“Seven-a-side rugby is a form of rugby which is a lot more
accessible to smaller nations and nations which lack the necessary
mass of rugby players to play 15-a-side rugby,” said Thomas, a
25-year-old microfinance consultant and president of the
club.
Health insurance
The team are using membership fees from foreigners and money raised
from an exhibition tournament to water and seed the dilapidated Jan
Meda – a public amenity – and pay for health insurance for their
Ethiopian players in a country that is still desperately
poor.
The Sevens World Cup is taking place in Dubai from Thursday but
Thomas said international competition was years away for the
Ethiopians.
However, he believes, with more young people joining the team’s
ranks all the time, the Nyalas – the only rugby team in Ethiopia –
are paving the way.
“Realistically for Ethiopian rugby, especially considering the
speed and athleticism of some of our players, seven-a-side rugby is
a much more feasible form of rugby for us to try and work towards
and specialise in,” he said.
The club have now invited teams from Kenya and Ivory Coast to the
Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
An Orthodox Christian church stands in the middle of the playing
fields in the hills overlooking the city where, every Saturday, the
small band of men scrummaging, rucking and mauling are surrounded
by eight or nine soccer matches played by football-mad Ethiopians
in fake Premier League jerseys.
Street children – some of whom first arrived to beg from the
foreigners – spin rugby balls from their hands as Ethiopian
teenagers learn how to tackle.
Language barrier
The team that started as a hobby for the expatriate community of
aid staff and diplomats supplement their growing number of
Ethiopian members with players from rugby-loving countries such as
Britain, France, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
“Allez! Allez!” comes the cry from one side of the playing pitch as
attacking techniques are taught.
“C’mon! Tackle him!” is the shout from the other side of the
field, where defensive plays are practised. More languages ring out
as a game begins.
“There was a problem with language when we started,” said Daniel
Tegene, an 18-year-old student.
“But now we are learning the words involved with rugby and so
we’ve learned how to communicate with the foreigners and can learn
the game.”
The team played in the grounds of a private school for two years
and the decision to move to a public playing pitch was made to
recruit more Ethiopians.
“We’re turning ourselves into an Ethiopian rugby club and not an
expats’ rugby club,” said Thomas.
“So we’re aggressively recruiting Ethiopians from different
walks of life.”
Demes Mamo, a taxi driver, parks his cab at the side of the pitch
every week and pulls on one of the new jerseys the team imported
from Britain.
Each one has an Ethiopian flag on the arm and a crest featuring
Ethiopia’s nyala antelope.
“Other taxi drivers think I’m crazy to play rugby,” said Demes,
31.
“But I love this game. Maybe one day there will be an Ethiopian
team. That is my dream.”
