Only National Dialogue will lift our poor show in sports

As you read this piece, it is exactly nine days since the Kenya 15s rugby team dashed our hopes of starring in the World Cup. The team fell to, of all nations, Robert Mugabe’s boys, who flattened them 27-10.

Before the match, all indications were clear that Kenya, who were top of the table of the Confederation of African Rugby 1A competition, would qualify for the World Cup since all they needed was a point.

But trust our boys, they did what they love doing when they have raised our hopes heaven high; disappoint.

“Kenya never really competed in the scrum-downs, and in stark contrast to their game against Madagascar, they were very poor in their line-outs,” a sport analysts wrote.

A lot has happened in the last nine days for you to remember the loss of the 15s rugby team, which squandered Kenya’s golden opportunity in years.

But that loss is the eye opener we needed as a country if we are to get things right in future. For the Love of the Game thinks it is time we hold National Dialogue on issues affecting our sports.

You will agree with me that things are not going right in many of our sports. From football to athletics, crickets and safari rally, fortunes in the sports have been dwindling, year in, year out.

Top on the list is football. While the five African teams went to the World Cup to square it out with their peers like men, the best our Harambee Stars could pull out was get a holiday trip to Brazil as tourists.

Poorly motivated

Pictures doing rounds on social media show that our national duty boys have enjoyed every moment in Brazilian hotels, beaches and stadiums.

While reaching the World Cup may be a daunting task for our ill-equipped, poorly motivated Stars, why the team has failed to reach Africa Cup of Nations should form part of the agenda of the national conversation.

At one time, cricket was a sport Kenya was proud of as our national team made minced meat out of its opponents, including in World Cup.

That now is all gone, and the curse has spread to the sevens rugby team, where memories when Kenya would beat the likes of Fiji and England are fading.

Hope is high in athletics, but claims of doping have seen many athletes suspended for the offense and the world now looks at us with suspicion as our athletes run to the finishing lines.

Corruption and poor payment of athletes are among other problems bedeviling our sports, a reason why time is ripe for us to hold a National Dialogue on sports.