The past, present and future of rugby in Belgium, according to Stuart Dowsett

Stuart Dowsett is a British expat who has been living in Belgium for nearly 40 years. Over that time him and his family have been heavily involved in the Belgian rugby scene. His son, Craig, now plays for the national team.

In fact whilst his son and his teammates were waiting in the changing room to face Romania, I had a chat with Dowsett Senior over a beer to find out more about the past, present and future (not necessarily in that order) of rugby in Belgium. At that point in time, the Belgian team was going through the European championships but had lost two home games and one away. They were bottom in the rankings when I first pointed my dictaphone at Stuart.

I think it’s fair to say that Belgium have struggled through this championship. How much is that due to the fact that rugby can be considered a minority sport in Belgium?

Yeah it’s very difficult to get awareness. Even when Belgium is doing well it’s difficult to get coverage in the press. I don’t know how that happens really, or how to get over the problem. Because none of the TV stations are broadcasting the games. In fact there was once a case where Belgium Rugby had to pay to get the game televised, which is incredible when you’re playing at a national level.

So does that lack of coverage lead to players thinking “What’s the point?”?

Well even when we have the Rugby World Cup the Belgian TV stations don’t cover it. You have to watch it on the Netherlands and French TV. And  I guess as rugby is a much bigger sport in France, the Walloons just look to the French TV stations.

How long has rugby been an accessible sport in Belgium?

Well I think it was founded just before the Second World War, in the 1930s. British army sites played it and it started from there. I came here in 1981. I joined Brussels British Rugby Club, which was formed in 1968. But at that time, the beginning of the 80s, they didn’t play it much in Belgium as the standard wasn’t high enough. it was played in Germany and Holland but then the Dutch went into league so that stopped.

Although we’d won the Belgian Cup twice in the 70s, they made us start in the bottom league to work our way up. That took three years and when the second team got into the first league in 1982 we probably won the league then.

But since then Belgian Rugby has gotten higher and higher but as an expat club we’ve just gone down and down. We’ve merged with the other expat club: Brussels Celtic and DBRFC. We’re in the third division.

I think the big change was when rugby clubs started organising sports on a Wednesday afternoon. They don’t really organise sports in schools here, but kids get Wednesday afternoon off.

Since about 25 years ago it’s really spread through. The level at clubs such as Boitsfort, ASUB, ROC and so has really increased. All those clubs really benefit.

Now the problem is a lack of finance. Because unless you start getting on TV how do you get sponsorship.

From my point of view it’s a national thing. There’s the ligue francophone and the vlaams rugby board. They always say that in Ireland when they were killing each other between Ireland and Northern Ireland, there was still one rugby team. You’d hope rugby could get above that. But federation does seem to have a lot of politics.

So what’s the answer? I think you need a major sponsor to come in. It is a chicken and egg situation, but I guess once you professionally get awareness then TV will come along. If Belgium get into the World Cup, probably in 2023, then interest will be much higher.

So does the future of rugby in the UK look like?

Oh I think it’s OK. It will stay at this level and then only increase. In the short term I think it’s best that the players play in France. Also they need to be able to pay to keep the guys together for a weeks camp. That’s where the finance needs to come in from the national team.

And finally what are your predictions for today’s game?

It would be nice to think there could be an upset. I think it’s possible because Spain beat Romania, and Belgium came close with Russia. We’ll probably see the same thing. Hopefully we’ll pick up a bonus point but we might just lose. But that’s my head speaking. My heart wants us to win.

 

You can find my report on that match here.