For Fitzegerald there are only two seasons, cricket and rugby

NEW DELHI - The International Cricket Council (ICC) communication officer James Fitzgerald claims to be a man of only two seasons: cricket and rugby.

The Irishman managed to surprise quite a few with his presence at the press meet of HSBC Asian Five Nations rugby tournament of which he has been appointed the match referee.

Quiz him about his dual involvement and Fitzgerald is ready with a quip: “People say there are four seasons in a year. But for me there have always been two, cricket and rugby. When cricket gets me down, I turn to rugby and when rugby starts getting to me, I am devoted to cricket.”

“As a kid, the summers would be spent playing cricket and winters rugby.”

An avid rugby player at Athy Rugby Football Club at Ireland, an injury when he was 29 forced him to think on his decision to continue playing the sport.

“Also, I was getting beaten often,” he laughs. “That was in 2003. At that time I was asked to officiate an under-16 club side. I wanted to be associated with the game in some way and I took it up, even though it was one heck of a job!”

When Fitzgerald took up the job at ICC in 2006, he thought his association with rugby is over. But the fate had something else in store.

In Dubai, he got in touch with Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union which is the governing body for Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with associate members in Cairo, Beirut and Jordan.

“I was surprised to see that rugby was so big in Gulf. The Arabian Gulf RFU put me through IRB Asia and that’s how I happen to be a referee here,” he said.

Fitzgerald feels Asia has a huge potential to excel at rugby and believes it is just a matter of time the sport will catch up in a cricket mad nation like India.

“It all boils down to how well you perform. There was a huge fillip in the following of cricket post 1983 World Cup win. Similarly, pre-2007 India was quite sceptical of the Twenty20 cricket but once they won the Twenty World Cup, we can’t say the same now. That is what success can do,” he said.

“Same is the case with rugby. We now have Kenya, Portugal, Hong Kong and China where rugby is coming up rapidly. We now have a shorter version rugby sevens which is akin to Twenty20. And the fact that rugby sevens have been included in the Olympics, should boost the popularity of the game in various countries.”