Newly Named West Asia Super Rugby 2024-2025 Season To Be Broadcast For Free

The United Arab Emirates Rugby Federation’s (UAERF) newly named top-flight Union Men’s league, the West Asia Super Rugby, will have some matches streamed for free after signing with the Sportainment app.

UAERF said online, “The newly named West Asia Super Rugby will be streaming live and FREE around the world!  Starting from October 4th, you can catch 18 thrilling matches of the season on the Sportainment app.”

This only applies to some of the fixtures across the first season, with 18 of the scheduled 47 matches due to be streamed for free. The Sportainment app is available for free download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Jeff O’Brien, co-founder of Sportainment said that the broadcast will consist of 8 high-quality cameras and production would include TMO reviews as well as having and mic’d up referees. Additional player and coach interviews are also planned and each broadcast will have a host as well as knowledgeable commentators.

The app is non-geo-restricted and should raise the profile of UAE-based players as Sportainment will also offer player profiles, analytics and match stats.

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Growing Rugby In The Gulf

O’Brien also said that despite the great work in growing the game in the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, “The missing piece to make the game fully sustainable has been the top-down approach which is a professional rugby (union) league across the borders from UAE to Doha and Bahrain.”

He adds that although the league is amateur, the exposure will help grow the fan base “which then feeds revenue into the ecosystem of rugby in the region through the federation and clubs.”

Who Competes In The West Asia Super Rugby?

The rugby union tournament was formerly known as the West Asia Premiership and the newly named West Asia Super Rugby (hardly original) is considered the top tier of UAE Rugby Federation’s Gulf-region Men’s XV’s rugby union.

Faisal Al Zarooni, UAE Rugby Federation board member and President’s advisor told Yalla Rugby, “Rugby in the UAE and regionally has grown significantly over the past 5 years, and our national teams now compete in the top 3 in Asia and are vying for qualification for the Rugby World Cup 2028.” (There is no Rugby World Cup in 2028 but we assume he means Australia RWC 2027).

The season gets underway on October 4 2024 with all the sides playing matches home and away. The format will see the top two teams (1st and 2nd ranked) play in the final on April 19 2025 to be crowned the inaugural West Asia Super Rugby Champions.

In the 2024-2025 edition, there will be 7 regional rugby clubs involved:

1. Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2. Bahrain RFC
3. Doha RFC
4. Dubai Exiles
5. Dubai Hurricanes
6. Dubai Sharks
7. Jebel Ali Dragons

The first broadcast match will be aired on Saturday 5th October 2024 between Abu Dhabi Harlequins and Jebel Ali Dragons who play at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi.

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