WHAT IS AILING KENYAN RUGBY?

WHAT IS AILING OUR RUGBY?

From the changing room I have watched with disappointment as ego,club, country and player conflict has been unfolding, I have wished away this story but we have to face the low moments apparently facing our national squad. To the disappointment of a many there is absolutely no good in fighting at such a time when the tempo of Kenya rugby is steadily rising but we cannot wish away unresolved issues and wish to succeed.

Today I meet one ardent supporter with an insight that I had to share in the changing room one  Gerald Chege. A true fan bothered and not whining but coming up with awesome logical deductions that I would rather 'copy paste' without fear and let you meet Gerald's mind..

@hesmatt

Gerald Chege

"I have continued to read with dismay, the escalation of matters within the Kenya 7s camp. All our Rugby aspirations as a Nation continue to hinge upon the National 7s team. We even have a scenario where players individually have contracts with KRU that gives the Union undue influence over the players, whereby in the event of conflict between the Union and club, the former shall prevail.

If Kenyans made a rational decision to withdraw from the IRB 7s circuit to concentrate on development of a fully professional Rugby 15s league, where 2nd only to South Africa, the best African talent would come to play and hundreds of Kenyan youngsters would be assured of a good livelihood.

Is it even fathomable that Rugby aficionados would even consider such a radical move? Didn't Argentina (if am not wrong) do the same in the lead-up to Mar del Plata?

All indicators from global analysts indicate that Africa looks set to launch economically, meaning that in some years we will be in a position to sustain such leagues. It is a process and the baby steps should commence right now. The Kenyan Premier League is such a venture who are set to make a quantum leap in several years.

What are the big clubs doing? Harlequins, Nondies, Mwamba, Impala, Nakuru, Strathmore and KCB seem intent on engaging the union on all the wrong reasons. For instance, who should be negotiating for the title rights and Broadcast rights to the Kenya Cup? Shouldn't that money go directly to clubs to enable them to professionalize? Shouldn't we be seeing the end of amateurism in the elite league and the National teams 17 years after the game went Pro? Shouldn't each team have fully fledged academies from juniors to teens?

Why is the union looking to title rights and broadcast rights money to manage Union activities? I have heard many snide remarks about FKF Supremo Sam Nyamweya, who has however managed to convince treasury to give him KES. 200m to fund Federation activities for the year. Coupled with the money from EABL for the National team and FIFA funds, he does not need to bother with KPL title rights of 55m and broadcast rights of upwards 150m per annum.

If Kenya Cup teams are waiting for the dole (transport subsidy) from the KRU, what hope does a club in the Chairman's league have?

No other sport in Kenya has, per capita, more University graduates within its club management, playing unit and Union ranks than Rugby. It is important to remove the tag of 'educated fools' in the way it (the sport) handles its business.

The Big 5 clubs in England (Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham) together with the FA led to a breakaway from the Football League in 1991, sold rights to BskyB and the rest, as they say, is history. They took, to quote Robert Frost -The road less traveled, 20 years later they can say, 'it has made all the difference'.

KRU has nothing to fear by allowing the clubs to go PRO, and the clubs need to reflect deeply on where they want to go. What does it say, that guys we played with all those years ago are now in charge of clubs and Union doing the exact same thing their predecessors did?

That is why I submit, let us withdraw from the IRB 7s circuit at the end of this season and focus our energies in creating a professional 15s league, creating continental competition for league champions and having our own version of the 6 Nations competitions. The 7s will be a natural progression from this."