Bands of brothers

When Israel's rugby sevens team returned two weeks ago from Bucharest, two of the players' outfits took other airplane passengers by surprise. One was grinning ear to ear while wearing a Superman outfit, while the other was dressed in a tight, white translucent outfit, reminiscent of a condom.

No, this was not a costume contest that got out of hand, but rather a national rugby team tradition to honor the player of the game and to make fun of the one who screwed up.

"It's a part of rugby culture," explains Julian Shapiro, the team manager. "Rugby goes above and beyond the game. There's a lot of camaraderie among teammates and with their rivals."

Shapiro, who played rugby from the age of six in South Africa before moving to Israel, says that as much as players slug it out on the pitch, they celebrate in the locker room with "drinking games, songs" and a "field trial" to determine the best and worst players.

The Israel sevens team travels this week to Cyprus, which is hosting the final leg of the qualifying rounds of the European Rugby Sevens Championship 2010 on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament will also determine the divisions for future group stage play.

During the first leg, held in Romania, Israel finished seventh out of a field of 10 - a respectable performance for the young team, which rarely plays the sevens format in Israel. The Israel Rugby Union is gunning for fifth or sixth place this weekend, which would garner the country a place in the European "B" division.

The sevens team is taken from members of the national team, which traditionally consists of 15 players. "The players who are selected are more varied," explains coach Alex Tkachenko, a former player for the national teams of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Israel. "It's important the sevens squad be quicker and more technical. This game is like a ballet, and the players need to be capable of maneuvering like fish, pulling off fake-outs and tricks."

Looking for future talent

In contrast to traditional rugby, which is played over two 40-minute halves, sevens games last just 14 minutes. The players have to move quickly and run a lot of team plays, utilizing different maneuvers on a full-size field.

"I think the game is more attractive for spectators," says Tkachenko, who is also a physical education teacher. "While the traditional game has more contact, here - instead of blobs of people - you see a lot more technique and movement away from the ball, and it's easier for someone who doesn't understand the game as much to follow."

Beyond aspiring to have a respectable finish, another goal is attracting interest - not just spectators, but also future talent and more funding. The International Olympic Committee in October voted to include rugby sevens in the greatest sporting competition on the planet, starting with the 2016 Games.

Members of the team are truly there for the love of the game, as they have to finance their own flights to tournaments abroad. Players and coaches from all over the country meet and practice at Wingate, then return to their lives as students, soldiers, high-tech employees and the like.

"Once you've caught the bug, it all seems natural," says Shapiro. "Personally, this job costs me NIS 2,000 a month."

The hard part for the players, which they hope Olympic recognition will address, is how the lack of funding affects the team's image as a professional unit.

"Sometimes our guys play on the same practice field as the Maccabi Netanya youth soccer team," says Shapiro, "and I'm embarrassed that they have complete, matching uniforms while we - the national squad - are dressed in whatever each guy brought from home.

"At the concluding ceremonies of international games, players from other squads show up in tailored suits and ties, which is common practice, and we wear jeans and white shirts," he adds. "I believe that with a subsidy from the Olympic committee and anyone else who can help, we have a real chance of finding our way into the list of teams qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games."