Build a rugby stadium
History will be made today when Kenya hosts a First Division match of South Africa’s domestic rugby union competition, the Currie Cup, at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi.
The match between Kenya Simbas and South African team North West Leopards is the first in the Currie Cup Division One to be played outside Southern Africa. It is one of two Currie Cup Division One matches involving Kenya Simbas, which will be played at the RFUEA Grounds. The second will see Kenya Simbas lock horns with another South African team, Eastern Province Elephants, on June 11 at the same venue. Kenya and Zimbabwe are competing as invited teams.
Both matches hold a lot of significance for Kenya because they will test the country’s capacity to host big rugby tours. The matches will put to test the country’s rugby facilities, specifically the RFUEA Grounds, which is not in particularly good condition despite having hosted major tournaments in the past six decades.
It’s not the first time Kenya is hosting high-profile matches. South Africa’s national team, the Springboks, toured Kenya in 1961, and the British and Irish Lions also toured the country twice; first in 1955, then in 1962 to play against a combined team from East Africa, attracting 6,000 fans at the sold-out venue.
Other teams that have toured Kenya are Wales (in 1964), the English Counties (2012), Portugal (2015) and Germany (2017).
It is disappointing that despite attracting top rugby teams from around the world, Kenya is yet to build a modern rugby stadium, yet it is clear that the game has outgrown the RFUEA Grounds. Instead of building a modern rugby stadium, we have been hosting rugby matches in football stadiums.
The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) moved the country’s premier sevens rugby tournament, the Safari Sevens, to Nyayo National Stadium in 2011, and later to the Moi International Sports Centre in 2013, before the tournament went back to RFUEA Grounds in 2018. In April, the KRU hosted the Africa Under-20 Cup (Barthes Trophy) at Nyayo National Stadium.
It’s high time Kenya built a modern rugby stadium both for the benefit of national teams, and to promote the growth of the game.
