Player revolt, disjointed KRU board at the heart of Kenya Sevens woes

Is Kenya Sevens on its death bed? That is the question most rugby fans have been asking in the last few weeks as Kenya Sevens rugby team, popularly known as ‘Shujaa’, continues to post poor results in the World Ruby Sevens Series.

Shujaa has had a season to forget, the Canada Sevens in Vancouver being their worst ever outing in the 2018/2019 World Rugby Sevens Series.

From the six legs played so far, Kenya Sevens are now placed 14th in the World Rugby Sevens Series, just one place from relegation, with a paltry 18 points. Even more worrying is the fact that Kenya Sevens have not reached the Main Cup quarter-finals this season.

In fact, the team did not win a single match in the pool stages in four of the legs of the series in Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney and Canada.

Kenya’s best run this season has been reaching the Challenge Trophy final in Hamilton, where the team lost to England.

Sitting just a place above relegation, things looks perilous for Shujaa, who tie on points in 14th place with former World champions Wales. Any further slip-up would spell doom for the team in the Series.

'RELEGATION A POSSIBILITY'

Shujaa are sure to be relegated should Japan, who are placed 15th, summon courage and reach the Main Cup quarter-finals in some of the remaining four legs of the series in Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and London.

This season marks the first time Kenya Sevens have failed to win a match in the pool stage of the series since the 2014/2015 season when the team lost all its matches in Dubai, South Africa and Hong Kong Sevens.

It is also Shujaa’s worst performance since the Paris Sevens leg of the 2016/2017 World Rugby Sevens Series, where Kenya collected just a point after losing in their semi-final match for 13th place.

Whereas the team has been on a decline since winning the Singapore Sevens in 2016, things took a turn for worse this season when 16 senior players opted to stay away from Kenya Sevens training camp in protest when a cash-strapped Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) reduced their salaries.

The senior players, who used to earn between Sh170,000 and Sh145,000 last season, wanted the union to uphold the same payment structure for the current 2018/2019 season. The stalemate saw the senior members of the team miss the Sydney, Las Vegas and Vancouver legs of the series, as coach Paul Murunga fielded mainly newcomers in the series. The stand-off is far from over.

Last week, the union reached an agreement with the senior players. KRU adopted a lower salary structure in which senior players will now earn Sh100,000 and below owing to lack of sponsorship.

SPONSORSHIP WOES

In actual sense, woes bedevilling Kenyan rugby started when sponsors SportPesa, who had set aside Sh600 million for local rugby in 2016, withdrew after the government increase tax in the gaming industry to 35 per cent.

The stalemate between KRU and the senior players is far from over because former Kenya Sevens skipper Andrew Amonde, William “Lomu” Ambaka, Samuel Oliech, Nelson Oyoo and Collins Injera have continued to stay away from the team.

Kenya Sevens skipper Eden Agero, Dennis Ombachi and Jeff Oluoch, who were part of the team that played in Dubai and Cape Town Sevens, also joined in the boycott even after accepting the new pay structure.

Billy Odhiambo trained with the team briefly but later opted to stay out altogether as did former Kenya Sevens skippers Oscar Ayodi and Oscar Ouma. Others who have stayed away from the team are Augustine Lugonzo, Brian Tanga, Dan Sikuta and Leonard Mugaisi.

Murunga, who replaced Innocent Simiyu as Kenya Sevens head coach, has been forced to field mainly newcomers and some players who were not regular members of the team in the previous seasons, among them Cyprian Kuto, Charles Omondi and skipper Jacob Ojee.

Former KRU chairman Richard Omwela, who has now been replaced by the Union’s secretary-general Oduor Gangla, had warned that troublesome senior players risk being frozen out of the Kenya Sevens set-up for good.

Oduor was elected the new chairman on Wednesday, beating his opponents Sasha Mutai and Owiro Asiko during KRU’s annual general meeting at the Rugby Football Union of East Africa grounds in Nairobi.

Omwela had expressed his frustration over a "cartel of senior players", warning that the union would not be held at ransom by the players.

A debate is on as to whether the senior players should be allowed back to the team whether or not KRU’s financial health improves. A counter-argument has been what will become of the young and promising players who have stood with KRU at the difficult times. But there is consensus among stakeholders on the fact that one of the worst moments for a coach is when one does not have the best players to select from.

In fact, two days before KRU elections, the senior players had agreed to resume training on new terms ‘to help Kenya avoid relegation.’

KRU Chief Executive Officer, Sylvia Kamau disclosed that the Union had come to an agreement with the players to resume training, and play in the final four legs of the 2018/2019 World Sevens Series.

It remains to be seen whether the truce will hold after the players, who trained once on Tuesday with the rest of the team, threatened not to continue training until they are given their appointment letters.

'WORK CUT OUT'

Gangla has his work clearly cut out as he takes over at a time Kenya rugby is facing administrative and financial problems, which have stifled the development of the game. Upon his election on Wednesday, Gangla said he will convene an executive committee meeting in a week’s time to reorganise all dockets with the aim of “ending persistent wrangles” in KRU board.

Gangla also said he will concurrently engage both the 15s and sevens national teams and the teams’ management so as to bring sanity.

“I want to move first and fast to end the division between senior Kenya sevens players and the KRU Board and this will happen through my good and focused leadership,” said Gangla, who also promised to engage the senior players.

“We really want them back for the last four legs,” said Gangla.

Top on Gangla’s agenda should be creation of a good working environment in KRU’s ranks. He must fix KRU’s disjointed board, which has affected the union’s operations.

The union is also facing financial challenges, which have seen it fail to fund national teams, leading to a revolt by players over non-payment of dues.

Sadly, it is not the first time senior players have rebelled against KRU over salaries and allowances.

TREND

Former Kenya Sevens coach Paul Treu from South Africa, who had taken over from Mike Friday, was forced to use second-string players at the start of the 2013/2014 season after senior players boycotted training over delayed pay. At the time, the team failed to win a single match at the pool stage in Dubai and South Africa.

All was well when Benjamin Ayimba returned as Kenya Sevens head coach, and guided the team to Kenya’s maiden Series victory in Singapore in 2016. The team paid a courtesy call on President Uhuru Kenyatta in State House, Nairobi, and the players received cash reward from the President which was wired direct to their accounts instead of sending it through KRU. This was in line with advice from the team’s technical bench which feared that the players would be short-changed.

That marked the start of bad blood between top KRU officials and Ayimba, marked by allegations of corruption in the team’s technical bench. There were claims to the effect that players were being asked to pay for places in the team for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

That, coupled by poor performance in the Olympics, saw Ayimba leave the scene, to be succeeded by Simiyu. Like his predecessor, the former Kenya Sevens skipper didn’t have it smooth as Kenya Sevens coach at the start especially after Kenya Airways had stopped sponsoring the team owing to financial challenges.

Simiyu took over in October 2016. That year, Kenya Sevens players went on strike and boycotted the kit launch by new sponsors SportPesa. In the 2016/2017 season, Kenya struggled to finish 12th in the Series with 63 points.

But while Namcos side would improve in 2017/2018 season to reach Main Cup final in Canada and Hong Kong, although the team performed poorly in the last legs of the Series in London and Paris.

Kenya Sevens played two of their three group matches in Paris Sevens with the branding of their shirt sponsor, Brand Kenya, concealed in protest against non-payment of Sh4 million to the players. Simiyu shouldered the blame for the debacle, and that cost him his job, with KRU failing to renew his contract.

Simiyu did not re-apply for the job either.

As Gangla takes over office, there is need for a long-term solution to the boycotts and strikes.

KRU needs a strategic plan that will develop a large base of players for selection to national teams. Most of the players currently on strike have less than two years to play for Kenya, and there is need for academies similar to those in South Africa and Namibia that are thriving in rugby.

This season, Samoa, Fiji, Argentina and South Africa have been rebuilding but what has worked for them are their player development programmes.