Stamp out these fires for rugby to avoid the grubby road

Sean cardovillis } SATURDAY DIGEST

On the week that the world’s second most successful rugby sevens coach in history, Paul Treu, started his contract with the Kenya national team, the Kenya Rugby Union endured its most turbulent days under chairman Mwangi Muthee.

Wednesday was the day the bubbling pressure cooker exploded, with a KRU Special General Meeting (SGM) that almost ended in farce at Harlequins.

The day had started with the news that Phillip Jalang’o, who’d been fired in May from his post of Director of National Squads & Elite Performance, had been granted a court injunction to continue his duties as director of the KRU.

In the meeting, the rugby representatives from clubs around the country were stunned when Muthee announced that it was him, and not under-fire Secretary and CEO Jack Okoth, who ordered the last minute cancellation of the Driftwood Sevens over a sponsorship clash between East African Breweries and SAB Miller.

He also attempted to diffuse the tension between certain clubs and Okoth, by claiming that, at a board meeting on Monday, it was unanimously agreed that Okoth had tendered his resignation and was endorsed to continue as CEO, which then prompted Nondies to withdraw their motion to pass a vote of no confidence in Okoth’s abilities as CEO.

However, in a stunning move moments later, Okoth stormed in front of Muthee, claiming he never resigned as secretary, and added that it was the will of the people that voted him in as secretary, and it is them that would have to decide his destiny.

As the meeting threatened to descend into a farce, Muthee had little choice but to close the meeting.

As if that was not enough, Kakamega RFC called for another SGM within 21 days to dissolve the board, referring to Muthee and his representatives in unflattering terms, accusing them for having failed to arrest one crisis after another over the course of the year.

As one rugby delegate put it, rugby is not football, and they need to rise above the current issues for the sake of the game.

The Paul Treu factor will undoubtedly bring in bucket-loads of sponsorship cash into the sport, but if Muthee doesn’t stamp out the fires being lit around him at present, then sadly the sport will go down the same grubby road as cricket.

RALLY SABOTAGE?

With the final Kenya National Rally Championship round taking place at the Coast today, a strange and disturbing story has been unearthed in Tanzania.

Top Kenyan driver Quentin Mitchell was competing at the Guru Nanak Rally of Arusha a fortnight ago, when his engine blew a piston and caught fire in the second section when he was leading the rally.

Upon closer inspection back at his residence in Limuru, it was discovered that his fuel had apparently been tampered with.

Rally cars typically consume aviation grade fuel, and as is apparent from the photo supplied by Mitchell, one container seems to have a foreign substance in it and nearly blew his spare engine that he was preparing for the rally.

Mitchell has sent the contaminated sample to his sponsor Oil Libya for analysis, and, in the meantime, he has to order another engine from the UK for his Subaru Impreza N16, which will set him back in the region of 15,000 British Pounds.

So how did the fuel get contaminated? Is rallying getting that competitive that sabotage is infiltrating what is generally a gentleman’s sport with a close-knit motorsport community? Stay tuned to this article for a follow up once Mitchell receives the test results.

WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK

Apart from the rally, the other main event this weekend is the start of the Kenya Rugby Union’s premier fifteens competition, the Kenya Cup, along with the Nationwide League and Eric Shirley Shield.

The expanded 14-team Kenya Cup will also feature promotion and relegation, with the bottom two sides being relegated to the Nationwide League.

Finally congratulations to 15-year-old Danielle Awori, who’s rapidly asserting herself as a future international-standard swimmer for Kenya, after setting 13 records at the coast last weekend. The records were set in the 14-15 years age group, Junior, Open, and All-Comers categories.

Danielle is the daughter of former national swimmer and banker Jeremy Awori, and her mother Jennifer travels with her, both in Kenya and abroad, as she looks to follow in the footsteps of the Dunford brothers. Keep it up Danielle!

 

— The writer is a sport journalist and runs a consulting firm.

—[email protected]