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.

Weekend preview: Africa Gold Cup, Asia Rugby D1, Rwandan Genocide Memorial 7s, MLR Regular Season concludes

Africa Gold Cup

Recap: More than pride is at stake here, first place at the end of the round-robin passes go, collects 4 years of WR funding straight to Japan, while second place enters the repechage. Last week Namibia beat Uganda, while Morocco tied with Zimbabwe, hence the table looks like this:

This week: Tunisia kicks off their Gold Cup campaign this weekend in Namibia, while Morocco hosts Kenya. Both games are on Saturday (23/6), both games kickoff at 15:00 (UTC), there should be a stream, which I'll share on twitter (@BTCBlurandski). Namibia is a heavy favourite, while Kenya should win, but given Morocco's strong away performance last week it could be close. Even more so when you consider that the Simbas (Kenya) have names five uncapped players in the touring squad, two starting, and three on the bench.

Asia Rugby Championship Division 1

Division 1 is the second tier of rugby in Asia, with he Asia Rugby Championship consisting of Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, with a promotion/relegation challenge against the winner of D1 (bar this year, where Japan was replaced by Malaysia for the purposes of Rugby World Cup 2019 Qualifying. This year Division 1 consists of just the Philippines and Singapore, due to Malaysia moving up, and Sri Lanka dropping out, so they're playing a two-legged playoff on the 23/06 and the 26/06 (both matches kick off at 15:00 UTC). Singapore are newly promoted to Division 1, having yo-yo'd back from been relegated in 2016. The last two matches between the sides were in 2015 and 2016. Singapore lost the former 20-17, and won the latter 28-24. It looks like it could potentially be another close series this time. 

Rwandan Genocide Memorial Sevens

This is the 6th edition of the Memorial Sevens, and it is taking place in the 30,000 seater Amahoro National Stadium, which functioned as a UN protected site in the genocide. It takes place on Saturday, and 12 teams are participating, and increase of four from last year. There are 10 local teams and two guest teams (Mbarara University, Uganda and Okapi Goma, DR Congo). Last year's champions Thousand Hills are returning, and so are the losing finalists Mbarara University. Last year the event was preceded by a 'walk to remember' from the convention centre to the stadium.

June Internationals

Georgia plays Japan in Toyota, the stadium where they'll take Wales next year. They lost to 2019 pool rivals Fiji 37-15 last week (having kept it close up until half time). Given that Fiji v Georgia will very likely be the automatic qualification decider for 2023 next year (third place in the pool gets automatic RWC qualification), Georgia should be looking to make a statement this week. While you may be expecting a brutal Georgian pack grinding out a win against Japan you'd be mistaken. The Georgian pack, which is traditionally one of the best in the world looked pretty weak against Fiji, and there's been some doubt raised over the capability of their forwards coach. Meanwhile the Georgian U20s have been producing some wonderful backs over the past few years (as seen at the U20 Championship in France), and while up until the past few years Georgia has struggled to get any backs into a full-time environment, now quality Georgian backs (Tamaz Mchedlidze, 25, Agen; Vasil Lobzhanidze, 21, Brive (already with 34 NT Caps!); Merab Sharikadze, 25, Aurillac) are being scouted by the Top 14, while the rest of the players play in the professional Didi 10 in Georgia (and potentially soon Kontinental Rugby). As a result Georgian back play can be a thing of beauty. Given the level of skills in the Japanese team this match has the potential to be one of the most entertaining matches of the international break, it's my personal match of the week. Georgia has won one out of five matches versus Japan, with an average net point differential of 5.2 points. When a stream is available I'll post it on my twitter. Kicks off at 13:45 (UTC) on Saturday.

Fiji v Tonga is the final islander match of the summer. Fiji are the definite favourites given that they beat Georgia, who narrowly beat Tonga, but any islander match is great fun to watch. The match should be streamed on World Rugby's website. The two teams have met 90 times, with Fiji winning 61 times to Tonga's 26 (3 draws)

Major League Rugby

It's the final regular season round of Major League Rugby this week, Utah take on Houston at home, while San Diego Legion host Glendale Raptors. The first tie-breaker is PD, however it's hard to see past Utah beating Houston, and no-one bar locked in number two seed Seattle has come close to them set far, and they've looked much the same team without their Eagles.

That's all that's happening this week across Tier 2 & 3, if there's anything I've missed, or you'd like me to write about, please contact me on twitter @BTCBlurandski.

6th edition of Rwanda Genocide National 7s to start on Saturday

This will be the 6th edition of the Memorial Sevens, and it is taking place in the 30,000 seater Amahoro National Stadium, which functioned as a UN protected site in the genocide. It takes place on Saturday, and 12 teams are participating, and increase of four from last year. There are 10 local teams and two guest teams (Mbarara University, Uganda and Okapi Goma, DR Congo). Last year's champions Thousand Hills are returning, and so are the losing finalists Mbarara University. Last year the event was preceded by a 'walk to remember' from the convention centre to the stadium.

Further Reading:

Press Release

TheNewTimes.rw

Rugby heals Rwanda after genocide