Corruption and chaos: A new chapter in Kenyan rugby looks an awful lot like the old one

At the turn of the year Kenyan rugby was riding relatively high, in what looked to be a new chapter for Kenyan rugby. It had a blockbuster 120m Kenyan shilling sponsorship deal with betting firm Sportpesa (~£900,000, £1 = 133KES, but a tad over £2m when purchasing power parity is factored in), the Simbas (their XV senior side) had finished second in the African Gold Cup from two years running in 2016 & 2017, their best placings since 2013, leaving them in line for a Repechage spot in the 2018 edition, should they repeat their performances. In addition their 7s side was well on their way to achieve a strong 8th, and their record point haul in the world series (104, 19 points off 4th, 28 from 9th).

Since then however things have gone extremely pear shaped.

The first sign of trouble was on 2nd of January when Sportpesa announced that they were withdrawing all 600m of domestic sports sponsorship over the Government proposing to increase the rate of tax on the gross profits of gambling firms from 7.5% to 35%. Sportpesa was the main sponsor of both the Kenyan Rugby Union (KRU) and some local teams (such as the formerly Sportpesa Harlequins). There was some hope that one side would blink and that Sportpesa would reinstate their sponsorships, but when Sportpesa re-entered the sports sponsorship world they announced that it was purely football, and that they would not return to rugby. Immediately the KRU had to scramble for funds, and secured a shirt sponsorship deal with Brand Kenya (an arm of the Government) in late May for a 20m KS (£150,000) one-year deal. Although much less than they needed to run full operations, it was enough to tide the KRU over. Everything could return to normal now, right?

Wrong. For any eagle-eyed viewers watching the Paris 7s leg of the World Series you would have seen the Kenyan team were wearing a shirt with red duck tape over the 'Make It Kenya' logo (see the slightly lighter red box on Collins Injera, above). It has emerged that this was due to the KRU not paying the players their allowances for previous tournaments. Brand Kenya were furious about this and axed their deal with the KRU with immediate effect, and made a statement that indicated that they would not fund KRU again. To further complicate things Innocent Simiyu, Kenyan 7s coach, stormed the tribunal between Brand Kenya and the KRU and took responsibility for covering the sponsor, for the KRU was arguing that the players did not deserve any of the payments due to them (despite the KRU already receiving the payments from Brand Kenya). Consequently he was fired with immediate effect, even though the 7s World Cup in San Francisco was only a month away. In solidarity with Simiyu all the players are currently boycotting training, and have refused to play under the newly appointed Head Coach William Webster. The players also released a statement that said that it was a completely collective decision, and that no one person orchestrated it, in an attempt to get Simiyu reinstated.

In addition, the Simbas have just scraped a lucky away win vs Morocco (see footnote) 24-28 in the Gold Cup, and based on that performance may not end up as Africa's representative in the repechage (notably they looked significantly too weak in the pack). The KRU has also threatened to pull it's 7s team out of the 7s World Cup, and from the African Gold Cup, should they not find some more funding.

All is not completely lost however, the Kenyan Parliament MP in charge of Sports, Culture, & Tourism has offered to step in and mediate the dispute, with a view to making sure that Kenya can field their most competitive side in the 7s RWC. Immediate concerns over withdrawal from the Gold Cup have been allayed with Tusker Breweries taking over as main shirt sponsor of the XV side, in a deal worth 53mKS (~£400,000). In addition the players seem to be moving to form a union and to remove some allegedly massively corrupt members of the KRU, who have allegedly embezzled most of the previous sponsorship deals, from rugby governance. Should they do that, it'll be yet another 'new chapter' in Kenyan rugby.

I'll make sure to keep Beyond The Cartel updated with new information as it emerges, for this is quite a rapidly developing situation. To get updates as soon as I have them follow @BTCBlurandski on twitter.

Footnote: It has also emerged that the Moroccan Rugby Union is in trouble, with their Government refusing to validate the MRU's audit due to unpaid payments. It's not the only Moroccan sport in that position, but either way is not good news. Between this and the Rugby Europe debacle sometimes T2&3 rugby makes you want to cry.