Zimpapers Logo

The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) appealed to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to reverse a government decision to suspend sporting activities, including rugby, as the country battles to contain a third wave of Covid-19 infections.

On March 26, President Kenyatta announced the suspension as one of several measures designed to tackle the spread of the virus which has overwhelmed the nation’s health facilities and killed more than 2 200 people.

Following the presidential directive, the KRU indefinitely suspended the Kenya Cup, the union’s premier club league competition, just a month after the new season started after almost a year without action.

The KRU released a statement saying the directive had dealt “a big blow” to the sport and left it in an “awkward situation”.

“Rugby is a contact sport and the levels of strength and conditioning take time to attain.  After the long break, players had just started getting into shape.  With another possibly prolonged break, we will lose all the gains and ultimately be uncompetitive in the upcoming international assignments,” the statement said.

Some of the advances made by the KRU in the last year, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, include the signing of a five-year deal with a local media house to become its official broadcaster and more corporate sponsors coming on board to support the sport.

The KRU said it had taken every care to ensure that the sport complied with the health regulations governing the resumption of the sport locally and internationally.

“At the time of the league’s suspension on Friday 26 March 2021, we had conducted a total of 1 551 Covid-19 PCR tests, 44 of which returned positive results. This makes for a 2.8 percent prevalence rate.”

“We have subjected players and match officials in the Kenya Cup league to regular testing and have taken the necessary steps inclusive of contact tracing and re-testing in incidences where players test positive for Covid-19. We have gone as far as postponing fixtures in instances that we felt posed a greater health and safety risk.”

The union warned that the suspension will have far-reaching effects on other aspects of the lives athletes and other sports practitioners.

“Many young men and women are additionally making a living off sport and have been denied opportunities to engage in meaningful income generating activities. Furthermore, the cessation of sporting activities poses a serious threat to the mental health and overall wellbeing of athletes and other sports practitioners,” it added.

Furthermore, the KRU said, the much needed preparations for the national sevens teams ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and other events within the sport will be significantly disrupted.

“Going beyond the league, the opportunity to effectively prepare our national teams for a series of international competitions most notably the Tokyo Olympic Games, as well as the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup is being greatly compromised with each passing day. Kenya is also set to host the 2021 Rugby Africa Under-20 Barthes Trophy and preparations had indeed moved a notch higher with the formation of a Government backed Local Organising Committee (LOC).”

The KRU reiterated that it was up to the task of continuing to manage the rugby season despite the challenges arising from the pandemic.

“We have been prepared, and remain prepared to run the game during this trying time.”

KRU suspended the Kenya Cup last March due to Covid-19, and later declared there would be no league winners for the 2019/2020 season. – CGTN Africa