Full House

Kolkata-based Jungle Crows Foundation is deploying the power of sport – in this case, rugby – to empower youth from disadvantaged communities and see to it that the kids are all right

- Sandip Roy

The monsoon clouds are threatening rain, but the young men in brightly coloured tees are unfazed as they hoot and holler across the lush green field. They skid through the mud, tackle each other, grabbing at an egg-shaped ball. These are the Jungle Crows, and this little patch of the Maidan in Kolkata, a football-mad city, is dedicated to rugby.

Team founder Paul Walsh – “Paul Sir” to the players – sits in a folding chair in his Sunday best, a pair of lemon-patterned, midnight blue shorts. “Rugby balls are made in Jalandhar, but only for export,” he says, not taking his eye off this match between the Crows and the Bengal U-18 team (which includes several Crows). “So you won’t get any at the sports shops here. Luckily, we know who to call.”

Kolkata has a rugby history. The Calcutta Cup, the famous trophy vied for by England and Scotland, dates back to 1872. There’s still a small but passionate rugby scene in the city’s old clubs. But the Jungle Crows are different. They come from hard-scrabble neighbourhoods, and many of their parents work as drivers, cooks, domestic help. For them, rugby is not just a game; it’s the way to a better future.

Walsh, who’s connecting sports and youth development through the Jungle Crows Foundation, had no grand plans to set up an NGO in India. Raised in Wales, where rugby is the national sport, he’s always been a bit of a “rugby nerd”. When he was posted in Kolkata as a diplomat at the British High Commission in 2002, he wanted to start a rugby club “just for fun”.