What’s to become of US$100m? World Rugby’s Brett Gosper meets China officials but no word on Alisports investment
The programme to develop the sport in the mainland over 10 years was put on hold because of governance changes in China
The future of Alisports’ US$100 million investment in Chinese rugby is still unclear, with the world governing body only saying it would continue to support development on the mainland after a visit to Beijing last week.
World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper met officials of the Chinese Rugby Football Association and the mainland’s Multi Ball Sports Administration at the Beijing Sports University.
After the meeting, Gosper tweeted: “Recent governance change for rugby in China was discussed today with Chinese Rugby Football Association and the Multi Ball Sports Administration. @WorldRugby will give full support to ensure continued growth of rugby in the world’s most populous nation.”
When asked about the Alisport investment, World Rugby said it was unable to comment at this stage.
The programme was launched in Hong Kong in April 2016 with Alisports – the sports division of Alibaba, which is the parent company of South China Morning Post – planning to introduce rugby to 10,000 schools and universities in a bid to produce one million new players over 10 years.
China’s rugby governing body was one of the associations affected by sports minister Gou Zhongwen’s decision to introduce changes in governance, which meant World Rugby would have to deal with new officials.