Kenya Rugby Union officials are confident the governing body is on track to fulfil its ambitious plans for the female game following the Impala Women’s Sevens last month.
Impala took the spoils in Nairobi beating Homeboyz 12-7 in the tournament final, while Hidden Talent emerged victorious in the schools’ category.
However, the significance of the event stretched far beyond what happened on the playing surface. Alongside the on-pitch action, the 100-plus women and girls who competed at the Impala Sports Grounds were given access to a range of educational talks.
“Something that was good was that the Standard Chartered Impala Rugby Academy management and (the KRU) tried to look at a way to bring in talks based on life skills issues and how to cultivate the rugby values,” Nicholas Aballa, the union’s age grade and women’s coordinator, said.
“It was not per se a sports activity only. But also we’re trying to look at a different angle so that we see if that can also attract the girls to come and play.
“It was something that was quite interesting because it seems to be actually working.”
Growing Participation
Women’s rugby in Kenya faces a number of challenges, but chief among those is giving young girls access to the game at school and encouraging them to keep playing once they graduate.
Participation numbers are growing at high school level. Five teams took part in the round-robin under-19 competition at Impala last month, and according to Hilary Itela, KRU director of women’s rugby, around 600-700 school girls play the game each year.
Indeed, in the Nyanza region, the number of high schools offering girls rugby has risen from five to 42 in just two years thanks to a variety of programmes, including Get Into Rugby.
But Itela estimates that up to 85 per cent of these players are lost to the game once they graduate due to societal pressures and the fact that the majority of senior clubs are based in Nairobi.
He said: “Once these girls graduate from school, unless they find their way to Nairobi, to do college or to get a bit of work or anything of the sort, if they stay in the rural areas they actually quit playing rugby.”
“You find there are areas (of Kenya) who are more receptive to (women’s rugby) than other areas,” Aballa said. “It is based on how a woman is perceived and her role in society.
“So, you find the contact sport side of it is believed to be for men, and not for women.”
Nairobi-Centric
Funds are funnelled primarily to the men’s game in Kenya, meaning that the women’s game also lacks a consistent calendar placing more importance on events such as the Standard Chartered Impala Women’s Sevens.
Tournament director and Standard Chartered Impala women’s coach, Maria Otieno, is confident that the quality of young female players outside of the traditional rugby strongholds is high.
Her club does all it can to help women and girls who would not have access to competitive rugby attend training sessions and matches, offering fare for transport and meals.
“Nairobi is the hub where most clubs are playing,” she said. “Outside Nairobi, it’s difficult for the girls to play rugby.
“At the club where I coach, Impala, after every session we give them a meal and we give them the (bus) fare to go home. This is made possible through funds from Standard Chartered.
“Obviously not all clubs are able to do this so that is one thing that is hampering the growth of the game.”
Reigning Champions
Against this backdrop Kenya are the reigning Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens champions, and finished sixth at Commonwealth Games 2018, having beaten South Africa along the way.
Kenya’s only defeat to South Africa this year in three meetings came agonisingly in the semi-final of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019 qualifier in Hong Kong.
That 12-7 extra-time defeat, suffered with a player in the sin bin, while hard to take has given Itela confidence that the team will go at least one better in 2019.
“That was a testament that showed that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan,” he said.
“We want to get into a position where we’ll probably get into a semi-final and then not fall out as we did this year.
“We want to actually make it to the final and qualify as a core team, and be able to now start having a little bit more international exposure for these girls and once we’re actually there, just like the men who were given the chance to get in, we will not come out again.
“We intend to stick in and stay there.”
Providing an alternative
Much work remains to be done if that dream is to be realised. The KRU is attempting to get women’s rugby recognised by the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association – to help convince people that it is an “an acceptable sport to be played” by girls – while also trying to convince men’s clubs outside of Nairobi to open female sections.
Both of those steps are key to producing a centralised, and full, calendar for girls and women’s rugby, providing an alternative to athletics, football, hockey and volleyball.
On an international level, there is hope that the Kenya women’s 15s team can gain exposure to teams outside its immediate vicinity.
“We’re not only looking at trying to dominate the African scene, but also trying to see how well we can now start competing among the best,” Itela said.
“We are currently the African champions of the sevens code. We need to be champions of Africa in the 15s code (within 10 years).
“We need to be able to actually have a thriving league, nationally. We need to be able to actually have extra competitions at under-19s at sevens level, at 15s across Africa, so that they actually have the sort of programmes being run by Rugby Africa for the men.
“And we need to be able to at least ensure that we grow our base by a factor of 10.”
Itela, Aballa and Otieno will hope some of the young players who turned out at the Impala Sports Grounds last month will make that journey possible.
Original Story: https://www.world.