By BS Mulavi
Highly hyped former England rugby sevens player Mike Friday has said he believes a national team should ideally be led by a citizen of that country.
The highly sought Englishman who spoke to Feverpitch accepted he was in the country to hold discussions with the Kenya Rugby Union on how he can lend assistance to the National Rugby Sevens team and return them to former glory after a torrid run in the IRB series.
Friday says even though he believes that the national team needs to be led by a Kenyan, sometimes, tough situations need tough decisions and since Kenya is experiencing a dip in form, it may be time for them to look for some external assistance.
Technical assistance
“I am currently in discussion with the Union on how I can help the team in terms of technical assistance and bringing all the associated parties to follow one vision, which is the consistent and improved performance of the Sevens team,” he said.
Even though Friday says he knows it’s going to be a gradual process to get the team back to former glory, he does not see himself as the long term solution of the team rather.
He said he was looking at a situation where he will be working with some local coaches to a point where he will leave all responsibilities to the right person.
“We have seen the team hitting some major heights but they are not consistent and that will be our number one goal, to get improvement and consistency.
Sevens circuit
“I know we might not have the same resources as we do in England but the aim will be to talk to all the stakeholders namely the employers and universities to help release players to train in the right way and be available for games,” he told FeverPitch.
Friday said if all discussions go well he will be willing to take the reins from August, which is when the team will be preparing for the new season of the IRB sevens circuit.
