By Maurice O. Ndole and Domiano Mussau | Hotseatnews.com
Shujaa, Kenya’s rugby sevens team, came to Las Vegas, they saw, they played, they won two games but the brave warriors did not conquer. That is because out of 5 matches played, Shujaa lost three.
This poor performance calls for an urgent intervention, but it cannot be blamed on the players. They did just fine with what they were working with– drama at home, poor pay and well, fielding a substitute team.
Speaking to veteran sports reporter Eric Odanga, Shujaa’s coach Paul Murunga attributed the poor showing to the team’s inexperience.
“The young team came in as a default,” Murunga said alluding to the strike from experienced players that led to naming the young team to represent Kenya.
Murunga said his original plan was to mix young and inexperienced players with seasoned players to grow his bench and also build up the next generation Shujaa team but things did not work as planned.
“We thought maybe we’ll have a few senior players, 6 to 8 players that would be able to nurture these boys but, now, the senior guys are not available,” Murunga said. “We have struggled, we have really struggled. It has really taken us a lot of beating just to be able to get us to the middle of the table, [and] just getting from the bottom of the table and to avoid relegation.”
Currently ranked at 13 our of 16 in the HSBC Sevens series, Shujaa is in need of good news in the form of wins.
There is no doubt change is necessary — and fast for Shujaa to live up to the name that means brave warrior. First, they must resolve thorny issues between players and Kenya Rugby Union that have led to a strike from top players.
Loyal Kenyan fans in the US are concerned about Shujaa’s future and whether they will be back in Las Vegas in 2020.
The frustration has been building up since the poor showing in 2018 Rugby Sevens World Cup in San Francisco where in the match against Scotland, fans watched as Kenya squandered a 26-nil lead only to lose 31-26.
Isaac Itotia, a Kenyan fan who traveled from Portland, Ore to watch Shujaa blames the lackluster performance on internal politics and lack of technical investment to improve the team.
“They have been going down and down over the last ten years,” Itotia said. “Other teams are improving, but we are not.”
Itotia, a die-hard fan, who has attended at least the last 3 Rugby Sevens held in Las Vegas, recounted the team’s poor performance at the Sevens World Cup held in San Francisco as an sobering moment marking Shujaa’s decline.
“They need to remove the politics, how they do it. I don’t know,” he said.
Dennis Barasa, also from Portland, Or., said Kenya Rugby Union is failing the players. He pointed out the constant compensation issues as a sticking point that is dogging the team.
“I love Kenya and I love to support everything Kenya,” Barasa said. “We need to treat the team as professionals and pay them well so they can put food on the table.”
Just like his friend Itotia, Barasa sees politics as a major hurdle in the path of the team’s success.
“Kick out the politics, there is too much politics that the coach has been turned to a puppet,” Barasa said.
Kenyan rugby has undergone a lot of controversies over the last few months. In January several veteran players boycotted training over wage disputes after the Kenya Rugby Union slashed their salaries by almost half from $1,700 to $1,000 per month according to Rugby.com.
An article published Jan 18, in The Daily Nation, one of Kenya’s leading newspaper, questioned whether the Kenya Rugby Union was setting up the team and the coach Paul Murunga for failure.
The article blames corruption in KRU as the cause of all evils bedeviling the team right now.
Despite the politics and the hardship, the coach is not losing focus of the mission– representing Kenya.
“We carry our national flag and we’re here, we have to play,” Murunga said.
Editor’s note: This story is still developing. More updates will be added as we gather them.
Special thanks to Eric Odanga for providing https://www.hotseatnews.com with Coach Paul Murunga interview.
If you have questions about this story, please email maurice@ndolemedia.com