Rugby considers its spot under the Arabian sun, and new, wealthy markets

News broke earlier this week of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates preparing a joint bid to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup.

A decade or so ago that would have had you scratching your head, but such has been the unrestrained self-aggrandisement of those territories that there is the deepening belief the Middle East is actually the centre of the sporting universe.

Having pockets as deep as their oil wells would have helped grease that belief further afield. Golf, Formula 1, tennis and others have all found their spot under the Arabian sun.

Rugby, however, has almost always had an awkward, if not prickly relationship with money. Though its ruling body was deeply entrenched in amateurism, the sport's top practitioners furtively engaged in under-the-table transactions that helped turn the wheels before 1996.

It is, of course, moot whether the sport subsequently embraced professionalism at the speed it should have. Thirty years on, much cash has flowed into the sport but balancing the books remains a challenge.

World Rugby, the game's custodians, will argue they need more cash to help fund their programmes. Their member unions might also contend that they are facing financial hardship and that traditional revenue streams are running dry. Indeed, the club game is under increasing strain as broadcasters drive a harder bargain.

As the game's biggest cash cow, the World Cup, is there for the milking and the game's governing body hasn't been averse to bending the rules in deciding where it should be staged. They don't give a dime if they have to abandon their own rules for the fist with the most dollars.

That the sport's moral compass needs recalibration was all too apparent in November 2017 when the rule book, or perhaps the bid book, went out the window in deciding who should host the 2023 World Cup. South African rugby fans are unlikely to forget how France nefariously outmanoeuvred SA Rugby to snatch the hosting rights at the eleventh hour.

South Africa had spent millions of rand on compiling what they believed was a bullet proof bid book and missing out in the way they did perhaps helped dull their appetite to submit a subsequent bid.

Upgrading 2010 Fifa World Cup stadiums and general infrastructure which would have to be bankrolled by government is too big an ask when the rules of engagement in the bidding race are opaque.

Many, including some of the country's fiercest rivals, will argue South Africa, who last hosted the event in 1995, are due another chance to host the World Cup.

The financial burdens attached to the event however are considerable. For that reason desirable tourist destinations such as Italy and Argentina are also unlikely to crack the nod any time soon.

The United States were given hosting rights for the 2031 event, ostensibly for its large untapped rugby market. It however boasts a strong historic link to the sport.

As for the countries hoping to submit a joint bid for 2035, only the UAE has an established bond with the sport through the Dubai Sevens. It is apparently the longest-running sports event in the Middle East.

Outside commercial activity, however, the UAE in a rugby sense remains on the periphery of the sport. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are in even wider orbit.

The alacrity with which the countries in the region are prepared to attach their name to major events, has given rise to the term 'sports washing'. Regimes bankrolling events to improve their status or deflect attention from the negative aspects of their society, is of course in itself not a new practice.

On World Rugby's men's ranking list the UAE are ranked 49th, Qatar 87th, while Saudi Arabia does not feature among the 113 countries listed.

Unsurprisingly none of those aspirant World Cup hosts feature on World Rugby's women rankings.

Apart from a promised pot of gold, rugby's traditional base might ask what those territories have done for the sport?

The alacrity with which the countries in the region are prepared to attach their name to major events, has given rise to the term 'sports washing'. Regimes bankrolling events to improve their status or deflect attention from the negative aspects of their society, is of course in itself not a new practice.

The currency that sheikhs (sic) to buy legitimacy has continued to soar. Saudi Arabia has golf in its bag, while the Dakar Rally by now may as well consider a name change.

Their approach to human rights have seen Saudi Arabia cop bad press. Dissenting voices can be drowned by torrents of cash, but in the case of Jamal Khashoggi the regime took things to a deeply sinister, depraved level.

Rugby has always prided itself on its values and ethos but it also knows it cannot be overly virtuous in the current climate.

However, when other sports are gathering at the wells of black gold, rugby will do well to buck the trend.