The Decline and Fall of the Romanian (Rugby) Empire.

toomevara · 07-06-2009 8:11am #1

From this week's New Statesman Magazine. Fascinating Article. Don't Know about you but can't imagine a RWC without the big Hearted Romanians. It's alway been one of my favourite RWC pastimes, watching a Romanian pack composed of blokes so big they've got their own gravitational fields, duffing up a bunch of overpaid professional prima donnas...No doubt, the rugby world will be a lesser place without The Oaks.

Observations on Romanian Rugby

By Dominic Sullivan

It won’t warrant so much as a footnote on the back pages of Britain’s papers, but qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup has reached the halfway mark and Romania are in grave danger of missing out.

The Oaks, as they are affectionately known, have never failed to qualify before, but they require an unlikely series of wins if they are to make the next tournament in New Zealand.

It may seem surprising now, as they scrap with the likes of Georgia and Portugal for crumbs from rugby’s high table, but Romania were once a genuine force in the world game. Introduced to the country at the turn of the 20th century by students returning from Paris, rugby quickly developed a vibrant domestic scene. In 1919, the country took part in its first international.

As in other totalitarian states, sport assumed a symbolic significance in communist Romania as an expression of political and cultural prowess. Under Nicolae Ceausescu, the national side benefited from considerable resources. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Romania racked up wins over France, Wales and Scotland’s 1984 Grand Slam-winning side. In 1981, only two disallowed tries denied them victory over the All Blacks. But a number of players – including Florica Murariu, the captain of the national side – were killed during the uprisings of 1989. In the following years, funding dropped away.

The advent of professionalism in the mid-1990s is often blamed in part for the decline: impoverished Romanian clubs were unable to prevent their brightest talents from disappearing abroad. But player drain need not necessarily weaken a national side: at the 2007 World Cup, Argentina finished third with a squad based mostly in France. More significant are the dwindling player numbers at grass-roots level. Pre-revolution, Romania had more than 12,000 players of all ages. Now, there are just 4,000.

The challenge is to attract young Romanians back to rugby. Radu Constantin, former logistics manager for the Romanian Rugby Federation, is not optimistic. “Unfortunately, coaches don’t have much success bringing schoolkids into the game,” he said. “They prefer to play football or, even worse, stay all day long in front of a computer.”

But Romanian rugby still has its supporters. In 2001, John Broadfoot set up the charity SOS/iRB Kit Aid to collect unwanted rugby kit in the UK and send it to children in eastern Europe. To date, he has handed out £1.5m of kit in 14 countries. Broadfoot believes the push for rugby sevens – the game’s shortened form – to become an Olympic sport may help to revive its fortunes in Romania. “Olympic status would mean more state funding and would help get rugby back into schools.”

But, in the short term, the World Cup remains the goal. As the eyes of the rugby world turn to South Africa for the forthcoming Lions tour, the Oaks await a visit from the lowly Spanish team. The glory days seem a long way off.

Serenity Now! · 07-06-2009 8:26am

There is a nations cup being staged in Romania in two weeks time. Not a FIRA comp but an IRB comp.
Next year will see an 'A' comp being staged there annually with Romania, Georgia and even Uruguay playing.

Each top tier union has a list of other unions which they assist with equipment, training (coach, player and referee clinics) and Romania is on these lists (I believe the RFU deal with Romania mainly on top of IRB programme inclusion)

The article will be out of date by next year because there is actually something being done even if it takes a little time to take effect.

toomevara · 07-06-2009 9:26am

Serenity Now! wrote: »

The article will be out of date by next year because there is actually something being done even if it takes a little time to take effect.

Good to hear it, but you cant argue its not been a precipitous fall from almost supping at rugby's top table to the current state of affairs. Though I don't want to seem overly cynical and I really appreciate that there are alot of people working hard to develop rugby globally (and not simply paying the usual lip service to the notion) it appears the game is in serious and continuing decline in Romania...

Don't we have a contributor on here currently in Bucharest? Is it Sherifu? Maybe he could give us the inside track on the game there?