Ladies' league | Rugby Premier League

In just its second year, Rugby India has pulled off a feat that too the BCCI over a decade and still eludes the Kabaddi Federation: It has kick started a women’s league. “I have always dreamt of this moment when India's best will be playing with the world's best, but I never gave it a gender,” says Rahul Bose, actor, former player and currently president of the Indian Rugby Football Union. With the Indian women’s team ranked higher (sixth) than the men’s in Asia (12th), it seems fair that they get the spotlight.

If it were up to Bose, he’d have had the women’s edition from the inception, for gender parity is central to Rugby India’s functioning. The organisation pays its women’s and men’s team players the same and provides them the same infrastructure and facilities. Bose is very confident of the impact. “I know that the moment the first Indian woman, one from the heart of India’s tribal belt, tackles somebody from one of the top rugby-playing nations of the world, something transformative is going to happen,” he says.

Within the four women’s teams, there are countless inspiring tales. Rima Oroan from West Bengal’s Saraswatipur is the daughter of tea garden labourers, while Vaishnavi’s father, an auto rickshaw driver, once against her playing is now her biggest supporter. “Girls who come on to the rugby field are fighting to prove something off the field,” notes Bose. The league itself will also be a great training ground for the national team for the upcoming Asian Games.