Weekly Ramble

My favorite part of the season is over and maybe I also need to take a break. I firmly believe that the foundation of all rugby is the fifteen a side code and all else is supplementary. You can play fifteen a side rugby all year round and it is truly the game where people of all shapes and sizes can play. A key identity of the game of rugby. Come sevens and already the fields are emptying out. Even just the fact that only fifteen people at a time can use the pitch makes that piece of real estate very costly and underutilised. That said and done, we still have a duty to our audience and will try to update on the sevens circuit that kicks off this week. Personally it is too hectic a circuit for me and my pocket so I'll do a lot of armchair posting but I do hope some of my colleagues can post after watching some games. That the circuit is hectic for me, a mere spectator says loads of what it is doing for the players!

There has been a flurry of activity on the sponsorship front in the last few weeks and I have been quite silent. A commentator to this blog beat me to a comment I wanted to make but I will ramble on as usual.

For me for any sponsorship to make sense it must affect the game globally, and especially the people concerned in the game. I have spoken before about the procurement gravy train and these massive sponsorships go on to propagate this, not mitigate it. One sponsorship I am glad of is the Safaricom sponsorship as with their involvement of the Safaricom Foundation, they have gone one step further than Tusker did. I think there will be some trickle down effect of that sponsorship and we will see improvements to the grounds, improvements to the facilities, and some improvement in player welfare. I have always found it difficult to see how Ksh. 25 Million is consumed in goods and services and the players get a token amount (word has it that it is Ksh. 5,000 each for the main team). Apparently, everyone makes money during Safari(com) Sevens but the players. The security guys are paid, the water vendor is paid, even the face painter and the DJ in the village are paid, but the players who everybody comes to see gets some pocket change! I trust this will change sometime in the near future. The other good point about his sponsorship is that we all know Michael Joseph will not hesitate to pull the plug on the deal should he smell anything fishy... However, the last laugh may still be Tusker's as I don't see what else people will drink at the event! I don't believe any other drinks vendor has the capacity to service such a crowd effectively.

On Kenya Airways it is gratifying to note as well that they have jumped on the bandwagon, because that is what they have done. I do not think they have a clue as to what they are getting into as they are way in over their heads. Anybody who has flown to Dubai, Doha, Johannesburg, Cairo, London, Paris, Rome or Amsterdam will know what a large airline is. And with KQ's forte being the regional routes they serve, being seen in eight cities round the world where they do not even fly to is more of a gimmick than a serious marketing venture. Even the advert they produced to market the George 7's shows how out of touch they are with the whole thing! However, we are thankful for the money as it will keep us where we are used to and take us even further. I'm sure the structures that Virgin put in place ensuring player welfare was adequately taken care of will remain in place and possibly improve and that is a plus. The only point I see here is the free tickets and the waste we will see with directors and other union staff utilising those to fly all over in the name of hawking t-shirts and lapel pins without serious thought as to how they can be used to improve, for instance, the world rankings of the fifteens team! Some teams ranked above us only retain that ranking because we do not get a chance to play against them!

And lastly the National Sevens circuit. Western Union have also injected a massive amount into this year's circuit. Also a surety, is that a massive amount of this will be spent on "administrative issues" and a meagre amount allocated tot he clubs who actually run the tournaments and to the players who actually play in the tournament. With the touted figure of Ksh. 10 million in sponsorship, methinks not less than 25% of this amount should go to prize money. With the winner of the circuit no longer taking part in the Safari(com) Sevens, another worthy prize should be given to the winner of the circuit. But as usual, that is just me!

Do have a good week and to keep on following Rugby in Kenya for your "other" rugby stories.