MALAYSIA'S first Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) exco member Hisham Abd Rahman is on a mission to double the number of rugby playing schools in the country in five years.
Hisham, who won one of five seats contested by 10 council members at the ARFU Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Laos last month, said he was looking to leverage on the technical expertise and financial assistance from the Asian governing body.
"At the moment, we already have 409 rugby playing schools in the country but I want to double that figure in five years with technical and financial help from ARFU to spur the development of the sport in the country," said Hisham, who is also the Malaysian Rugby Union (MRU) honorary vice-president.
"Other ARFU members such as the Japanese Rugby Football Union (JRFU) are also keen on helping develop rugby in the region.
"I have spoken with their president (Yoshiro Mori) and we already have an understanding with them (JFRU) which will see them sharing their expertise in coaching and refereeing with us."
Hisham added that he was also looking to aid the development of other Asian countries at grassroots level by sharing the model that has been in use in Malaysia.
"After tabling the statistics of rugby development programmes at the grassroots in the country (at the AGM), many were surprised that Malaysia has a good model."
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