Rugby union in Myanmar Rugby union in Myanmar Rugby was established in modern Burma in 2013, with the establishment of the Yangon Dragons club. The club was founded by Dave Smith, who had similarly popularized rugby in the Philippines with the Cebu Dragons club. During British rule in Burma (1824-1948), rugby was played by British colonists and soldiers in Burma. In the early 20th century, Kwasi Kwarteng notes that the Gymkhana Club played rugby against the military garrison, "their only opponents". The "Myanmar Times" notes that Herbert Thirkell White (lieutenant governor of Burma 1905-1910) had stated: “To think of hot-headed Burmans engaged in the
History of the Jews in Myanmar nationalist Burmese government. One synagogue survives in Yangon, the capital, and in the 21st century, it attracts an increasing number of tourists. The first recorded Jew in the country was Solomon Gabirol, who served as a commander in the army of King Alaungpaya in the 18th century. But it was in the mid-19th century, during the British colonial period, that Jewish merchants from Iraq and India began establishing sizable communities in Rangoon and Mandalay. The Baghdadi Jews had emigrated from Iraq to escape persecution and being subject to pogroms; they comprised most of the immigrants. Cochin Jews and the Bene