What’s common between art and rugby? Nothing really, one might say. And then, you meet Mubarak al-Malik.
Al-Malik is the captain of the Qatar national sevens team that will vie for glory in the two-day Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy (ARST) starting tomorrow at Aspire Warm-up Track and Rugby Stadium.
The 29-year-old is also an artist, who has taken a particular liking to graffiti in recent years.
“I have not been able to focus on one thing,” he tells Gulf Times. “I try to choose one over the other but after a while I drift into the other. At the end of the day, I realise that I love both — rugby and art.”
Al-Malik is one of three Qatari nationals, who will represent the home country in the 11-nation tournament, and in the group stages, the hosts have the Philippines and Nepal for company. The other two are wingers Rakan al-Mutawaa and Abdul Kareem al-Muhannadi.
The tournament is a high stakes event given that the winner has a shot at making it to the Asia Rugby Sevens Series.
While art has been a childhood love for al-Malik, rugby entered late into his life.
“I have always been fascinated with art. I used to go to a lot of art centres, workshops and seminars around the town. I started doing sculptures, Arabic calligraphy,” he says.
“Rugby, well that happened because one of my friends took me along to some rugby training almost seven-eight years ago. I participated and I really liked it. You use your hands, your legs, your body strength and also your brains. Then there is running, speed, kicking, it has it all. I found it very interesting,” says al-Malik, who plays forward for the team that is coached by Fijian Usaia Biumaiwai.
In 2011, al-Malik was part of the team that won the Asian 5 Nations Division 4 tournament in Dubai.
Roughly a year later, “I was in the US and in Europe, and very often I would come across a wall with some amazing graffiti. I was instantly hooked on to the point that I wondered why we didn’t have it in Qatar. I mean, we could easily have our own style of graffiti which showcased our culture. So now, I do exactly that.”
Since then, al-Malik has had many exhibitions, including, at Katara. One of his popular works is that of Arab women clad in burqa and batula.
“I have often been told, ‘Oh, you are an artist’ and in their heads they automatically assume the romance around what I do, and they also assume that I am emotional. But it’s very different when I add rugby to the equation,” he says with a smile.
Al-Malik studied sports science at Qatar University and now works as a sports teacher to grades 7 and 8 at Al Yarmuk School.
“In Qatar, football is very famous. Now with the new federation, they have been doing a lot to lift the profile of the game within the community. This tournament is also a good opportunity for us to showcase our rugby talents against some of the bigger teams in Asia,” he says.
On the field, Biumaiwai has put his faith on his powerful forward line, which includes al-Malik, to do wonders in the tournament. “We have a few big forwards and that is our advantage, and style. Idea is to run straight at them, use offloads and break the opposition’s defence line,” the Fijian had told Gulf Times earlier this week.
Physicality and roughness are an inescapable truth about his position in the team.
“It’s been seven years since I started playing rugby and even today my parents question my choice of sport. They are happy when I am part of a winning team, but nonetheless, they do ask me. I understand where they are coming from but I guess this is what I love playing,” he says.
He adds: “Come to think of it, there is something that is common between graffiti and rugby. Rugby is very hard and physical, while world over there is something rebellious about graffiti.”
About that, has he ever been in trouble for his graffiti exploits?
“I have been very careful not to work on somebody else’s wall, or a new wall. My sole aim is to beautify some thing that has been broken down. So I have not faced any problems so far. But now people have started knowing me. They know I try and make something run down into something beautiful,” he says.