The Elgon Cup has been contested officially for close to a decade between Kenya and Uganda. The competition that started in 2004, has seen Kenya win seven out of nine with Uganda on two wins.
The women’s edition started in 2006, this one has been a bit more competitive, Uganda picking up the title 3 times, with the Lionesses bagging it four times.
The history between these two rivals in the men’s game stretches for generations, to the 1920s when the first match was played. And while we must respect tradition, it this writer’s feeling that it’s about time we bid farewell to the competition. Kind of like the way a kid outgrows their toys, Kenya has outgrown this competition.
Currently, Kenya, the defending African Champions, are ranked 34th in the World, with Uganda a further 16 places below in 50th. The Lions are in the thick of preparations for the world cup qualifiers in June, where they will face Namibia (22), Zimbabwe (31) and Madagascar (36).
The Cranes fell off from contention last year after the Lions decimated them 51-11 in Antananarivo, this was followed by a 48-32 defeat at the hands of Madagascar. Since then Uganda rugby has been in a state of limbo, not sure whether to expand their Uganda Cup league or not, then scrambling up their version of the Super Series.
Meanwhile the Lions have just completed a two month training camp in South Africa, which saw them play at the Vodacom Cup, South Africa’s second tier 15’s competition. In short these two ‘rivals’ are not on the same level any more, we are just not aiming at the same target.
As a fast rising rugby nation, the one thing we should preserve with all our might, is our ranking. The only way to get better is to play top quality opposition, and the only way to get this opposition is to keep that ranking as high as possible. The Cranes are not that high quality opposition any more, I doubt they ever were.
Playing the Cranes in an international fixture puts that ranking on the line, and while we stand little chance of losing it, it makes no sense playing them year in year out. We need to start looking down south, and further into Europe, Asia and South America, now and even after the World cup qualifiers, no matter how those go. This will obviously require a lot of funding, nothing good comes cheap..
Unconfirmed reports suggest that we have already started taking steps towards the right direction, having suspended this year’s Elgon cup. In it’s place, we are set to play the Western Province and Portugal who are currently ranked 24th.
This should now be the case in the coming years, and should extend to club level where we usually play against our neighbours in the annual Super Series. Since their inclusion into the competition in 2009, no Ugandan franchise has ever won the competition, the closest they have come is two finals over the last two editions.
The quality of a national side is determined by the strength in the clubs, in all honesty we get more competition at the Kenya Cup than we do at the Super Series. We should start thinking of reverting to the original 4 franchise competition, and make the Super Series just that, Super.
We live in a diplomatic world, and there’s a fat chance that these steps will be taken, so where is the middle ground? Well a Kenya select side can play Uganda annually, that way we preserve our rankings and still provide formidable opposition to our neighbours. They will definitely not go for this, so we should start looking at incorporating other teams into the Elgon Cup. Kind of like what the Victoria cup was, this way it’s a win win..
Whichever way we decide to go, let us not go back to playing the Elgon Cup as the way it has been, no matter what happens in the forthcoming world cup qualifiers. The Ugandans had that opportunity a few years back, in 2008 if I am not mistaken, when they were playing in CAR’s division 1A while we were still struggling in division 1B. Let us not make the same mistake..
The same can be said about the Women’s competition, though more competitive, we need to start looking to South Africa, Tunisia. Incorporate them into the competition, it’s all about expanding our horizons.
KWISHA….Nimeruka Nje!!
