The first edition of the Rugby Premier League in Mumbai was a glimpse into rugby's strong potential as a spectator sport with swift, high-octane action of top sevens players displaying their craft.
Apart from the rugby action, a striking visual from the field of play throughout was referee Palak Poddar keeping pace with these players. In what looks like a hyper-masculine sport with scrums and tackles, the sight of a woman officiating the match stood out. In Indian sport, where female representation is often lacking, a female referee in the thick of things is a heartening change. This wasn't meant to be symbolic, but an organic extension of Poddar's path-breaking career as a rugby referee.
The 29-year-old represented the West Bengal rugby team in the Nationals and is a certified match official, all while doing her day job as a marketing professional. She is the first Indian female match official to referee an international test match and has officiated a number of Asia-level matches.
This sports career choice was something that happened to Poddar almost by chance and her love for sport, and then for rugby where she was a late bloomer, shaped her distinctive path. It all started with a desire to run on of Kolkata's best grounds.
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Palak Poddar becomes the first Indian female match official to referee an International test match! ����#IPlayRefree �� pic.twitter.com/kKuTgXzbrM
- Rugby India (@RugbyIndia) July 4, 2022
"I started playing rugby when I was 19, at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, which is one of the oldest rugby and football clubs in India. They started a women's team and someone asked me to join. I really wanted to go there because the club had a huge playground, and I loved running. I used to run in school, I also played badminton at university so I thought why not give rugby a shot. There has been no looking back," she tells ESPN India on the sidelines of the GMR Rugby Premier League.
About three years later in 2018, her enthusiasm for exploring the unknown got her to the other side of the game. "I did a match officiating course and one of the educators there told me to come to Hyderabad for a sub junior national and I agreed spontaneously. There was a lack of female officials then so I think they wanted to me to try."
From a spontaneous decision, sprung a career journey that took her from nationals to international courses and then matches across Asia where by 2022, she was officiating international men's matches.
"It was quite intimidating initially because there are too many rules here and it's quite challenging to remember everything. As a player I also know how much I can harass a referee. But at the same time, it provided me an opportunity to challenge myself and prove to myself that I can do it," she says of her experience.
How does it feel to be the only woman standing in a field full of male athletes, in charge of the game they are playing?
"I feel great, I feel powerful because I've got the opportunity to referee men's matches. You're refereeing 30 men on the field who are probably twice your size, but you're in control. You know that you have the power, [but] you have the responsibility and accountability at the same time. So, you work it through, have the knowledge."
Poddar doesn't shy away from the fact this job is still a side hustle and not a viable full-time career option unlike in other, more prominent sports. But it's one she loves doing.
"I'm working, in marketing at Zomato. So that's also a side that I need to continue right, because rugby still not will be probably a full-time opportunity for me... [but] it gives me peace, it gives me happiness. I like being a part of this ecosystem because it's very unlike other sports. Everyone respects everyone, whatever role you're in in this game will be respected for that," she adds.
She also thinks things are changing for the better slowly as Rugby India becomes a fully professional structure with players being remunerated for attending camps. One major thing she has noticed is the social acceptance of women in sport.
"There has been so much more acceptance, not just from sporting federations, but in terms of how people view women in sports in general. I feel like families and parents are more supportive of their children getting into sport, irrespective of their gender. Also, schools are starting sports education from the base level and are pushing their students to take it up more professionally. Those two things are the major pushes that I see which are affecting and helping women get into sport just more easily."
Her own family was initially skeptical about her choosing a contact sport and taking up refereeing, but she has always been supported fully. She now hopes that seeing her up there in top tier rugby can open up pathways for other women in rugby as well.