The Quins are one of Abu Dhabi's longest running sporting clubs — a grass roots, not-for-profit club run by volunteers since 1970.
600+
Members
50+
Trophies
100+
Events/Year
56+
Years Strong
IIIOur story
One of Abu Dhabi's longest running clubs
Volunteer-led, multicultural, and proud to call Zayed Sports City home.
“We used to play under the lights, and so we called ourselves the Bats.”
Founded in 1970 by Mike Daly, the Abu Dhabi Bats played on sand near the airport before the club ever had a pitch. It is still volunteer-run, still a home for expats, and now based at Zayed Sports City — men, women, and juniors from the age of six.
Mike Daly founds the club. No pitch yet — sand near the airport, under the lights.
1990s
A ground, then a women's team
Borrowed pitches, then Al Wahda. A women's side is in place by the mid-1990s.
Today
Zayed Sports City
600+ members. Men, women, and juniors from the age of six.
Left: rugby on the sand, before the club had pitches. Right: the 1991/92 women's team. Gulf News.
Our Mission
Building Champions,Building Community
We exist to promote and develop the sport of rugby union in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE. Our mission is to provide a welcoming, inclusive environment where players of all ages and abilities can enjoy the game we love.
From our youngest Minis to our senior squads, every member is valued. We believe rugby teaches life lessons that extend far beyond the pitch — teamwork, respect, discipline, and resilience.
“Rugby is not just about what happens on the pitch. It's about the friendships, the values, and the community we build together.”
AR
Aubrey Roberts
Club President
Our journey
From the Bats to the Harlequins
The club began in 1970 with a handful of expats and no ground of its own. It is still volunteer-run, and it is still where people in Abu Dhabi find a team.
Left: before the club had pitches, rugby was played on the sand. Right: the 1991/92 women's team. Published with the Gulf News feature, 27 October 2026.
Sand, lights, and a name
Irish expat Mike Daly founded the club in 1970. There was no opening day and no permanent pitch. The first sides trained on sand near the airport, at night, under the lights. The minutes of that first meeting are still around.
“We used to play under the lights, and so we called ourselves the Bats.”
Davies remembers a group of expats who simply started playing every day. That is still the shape of the place. People arrive looking for a home away from home and find it on the pitch, then at the brunches, parties, and award nights that hold the club together after the game.
“When you play rugby here, you blend with so many different kinds of people, who are also expats.”
The club never had a home ground
Andy Cole has been in the club since 1991. He grew up playing sport in the United Kingdom, moved to the UAE, and later captained the side. When he joined, Mike Daly gave him those 1970 minutes.
There was still no fixed training pitch, and they played wherever a space turned up: a car park, a clubhouse, the sand along the Corniche, a pitch next to the Ritz-Carlton. When nothing turned up, they made their own. The squad was small and already had a reputation against sides from Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. The club was a founding member of the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union, now UAE Rugby.
As captain, Cole went looking for sponsors to pay for games and to rent proper pitches, including one near Al Wahda Stadium. The club grew from there. A women's team was formally established by the mid-1990s. The 1991/92 women's side was already together before that. By 2016 the club counted more than 800 players, four men's teams, and three women's teams. Home now is Zayed Sports City. In 2008 the Bats took the Harlequins name, in affiliation with London Harlequins.
Cole remembers the first Garland dinners, the end-of-season night when everyone still fitted in a single room to hand out the trophies. One night is not enough anymore. The dinners are in hotels, backed by sponsors, with separate ceremonies for the men, the women, and the coaches, managers, and medics.
The city changed. The habit did not. You contest the game, then you celebrate with the same people. Respect for the referee sits under all of it.
“The referee is the last word. You don't fight him, and that's the rule of rugby that everyone follows.”
The game will beat you down, and you still rise
The same welcome is now being handed to the next age group.
Seven years ago Mylinda and Eric Recker moved to the UAE with their three daughters. They were looking for something that would build confidence for their middle daughter, Emilie. A co-worker pointed them to the Harlequins. Emilie was the only girl in those contact sessions, and it was not full tackle yet.
Eric had barely played rugby. He picked it up quickly and was soon coaching the girls. Their eldest became captain of the ball crew. The youngest joined the Under 6s. Mylinda manages the Under 16s. The family is at the club five days a week, sometimes six.
What they describe in the girls is grit, leadership, and confidence in their own bodies. On a rugby pitch everyone has a job. Eric has watched his daughters hesitate, get knocked back, and go again.
“The game will beat you down. It is extremely competitive, but it's also about what you do when you're knocked down. It's about coming back up.”
His match-day routine stays short. Four or five minutes to warm up, then a pep talk, then the players do what works for them — talk it through, or put music on. The coaches are not the ones walking out.
“We're not the ones who are going into the arena, they are.”
The season starts when the weather cools. From there it is tournaments and festivals from Al Ain to the Dubai 7s, plus standalone fixtures. Some matches run about 40 minutes. The more serious ones go to about 80. The one Eric keeps is his first year as head coach, when the Under 14s reached a final. They lost. He could see how much they had grown.
Rugby will make you use every part of your brain
Chrissy Ferrara was already an athlete — soccer and softball — before she tried rugby at university and found she was good at it. She played for seven years in Florida, moved to the UAE, and joined the Harlequins. She trains five days a week around a full-time job with the Wildlife Rescue Team at the Research and Rescue Center at SeaWorld Yas Island.
“Rugby is my stress buster. It makes you utilise every part of your brain and body.”
Injuries come with it, the same as any contact sport. She plays, she falls, and she gets back up, sometimes laughing. What she wants next is simple: keep the girls' teams growing, and bring more young players into the game.
The family you make while tackling
Ask Chrissy or Mylinda why people stay and they talk about the friendships. Spend five days a week with the same group and the bonds turn up on their own. There is a welcome brunch, and a lot of other socials around it. The locker room fills with music. Sometimes someone is braiding hair. They have been to each other's weddings, watched each other's children grow up, and stood together at the afterparties.
“The friendship that we have all built is so beautiful to watch.”
The floodlit sand is gone. The Bats are the Harlequins. The game a few expats started in 1970 is still being played, by the people who came after them, and by their children. Today that is more than 600 members, with teams for men, women, and children from the age of six, at Zayed Sports City.
Read the Gulf News featureInterviews with Nick Davies, Andy Cole, Mylinda and Eric Recker, and Chrissy Ferrara. Lakshana N Palat, Gulf News, 27 October 2026.
Leadership
The Committee 2026/2027
Dedicated volunteers who keep our club running and growing stronger every season.
Our club is based at the prestigious Zayed Sports City complex in Abu Dhabi. With world-class facilities including floodlit pitches, a clubhouse, gym, and pool access, it's the perfect home for rugby in the UAE.
