I should have settled for a far more subtle headline, but hey this one fits perfectly, trust me. Take it with the pinch of salt and bout of laughter that was intended.
This is to the true rugby fan, mzito wa ruji. Your love for this sport has never been in question. Your family consider rugby as your first family, your significant other, or any other person that you have hit on/ has hit on you, considers this sport your first love. You my friend, will have no problems with the sports calendar in Heaven.
We are a very fun bunch, I mean people endure a whole 80 minutes, sometimes a whole day, even two just to fit in with us. They just use the players as an excuse.
We are also a very passionate/emotional bunch, once it comes to issues that involve our sport. This especially if yours is a club that is based around the Railway club, or close to that lake that houses Flamingoes.
Moving on swiftly, this emotion/passion predictably hits a crescendo once we all gather to watch the national team in action. Especially the Nation’s darlings, the Kenya 7s.
See, we know what the lads in the national team have been through to get there, so when we watch them we are usually not too quick to judge. We will never be the first to criticise, well the sane ones amongst us, every market has its idiots.
The problem comes in when the rugby ‘funs’ start hurling criticism towards the team or even the sport, justified or not. We usually gang up and devour these poor beings, who were harmlessly airing their disappointment in a sport that continues to set a very high benchmark in this country.
“Shut up, you are not even a rugby fan, how many Kenya cup games have you watched?” I read this one somewhere this past week. I also read somewhere else, much earlier, that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than standing in a garage makes you an auto mobile.
It is not only during national team matches that we are this mean, the savages in us are triggered by anything really, an innocent but misplaced/mis informed question or statement. “Willy Ambaka and Oscar Ouma ran away from this team, they foresaw this disaster.” Or do we look for anything/one to vent our frustrations on?
It may seem like harmless banter, we laugh at these comments for days, but on the other end we seclude ourselves and most importantly our sport from any new fans.
In so many words, this is a call to all of us, including myself. Her name was @kenyacup, we were looking for a twitter handle for Kenya’s premier rugby competition. Her favourite cartoon character was Buttercup from the Powerpuff girls and she was Kenyan.
It was never going to end well, she ‘twicided’. I am still looking for her though, so if you know Ms. Kenya cup, point me towards her direction, the incoming tours are just around the corner.
As I was saying, this is a call to us the true Kenya rugby fans to be a little more accommodating to the sport’s new followers. In fact we should all ‘adopt a new rugby fan’, seriously, we have a few weeks to Kenya vs Portugal. What about we each pick one person, friend or not, who has never attended a rugby match and tag them along?
See if we continue hoarding this sport, like we are now, we will be suffocating it slowly. Guess what attracts those sponsors we cry out for, day in day out? Yap, fans, numbers. The more the merrier, so lets pull our weight together and give a big welcome to these newbies. Plus I need new guys to engage with in banter, you lot have become far too easy for my pickings.
And finally a note to the new fans, it wont hurt if you showed a bit of effort from your end even as you ‘criticise.’ Your solution to everything can not be Mike Friday, there is another guy called Benjamin Ayimba who achieved just as much as your ‘messiah’ did. In fact given the timings of the two regimes, Benja’s achievements far outweigh Friday’s, in my book.
So this weekend, just in case you need to, try saying “Bring Back Benja” you will look far more intelligent, trust me. And in case you need any pointers on rules, trends etc , we have got you covered. We have a series going on just for you here is the first episode, and this is the second. If ever in doubt throw a tweet our way (@osbke) we will be happy to assist.
Here are the local timings for the Kenya 7s matches at the London Sevens :
Saturday 16th May
Kenya v Scotland – 1:12 PM
Kenya v England – 4:40 PM
Kenya v Brazil – 7:24 PM
Let’s Cheer on the boys..shall we?
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!
