 It is the touch right here on Y254. Those have been the highlights of the national athletics trials that were happening at the Nyanya National Stadium. 32 athletes have already been selected so far to represent Kenya at the world championship. The other batch will be told after the ADAC, the Anti-Doping Commission, has already given us a go ahead to say that they are claimed to go and compete in September 27 in Doha, Qatar. But for now, it's all about us discussing the state of rugby in Kenya and I'm joined by the chairman of the Kenya Rugby Union, Mr. Odwar Gangla, here in studio with us today. Mr. Odwar, welcome to Y254. Sorry I'm used to KBC channel one, but it is Y254 today. How have you been? I've been very well and thank you for inviting me to the show. It's always a pleasure to be here chatting with you about what's happening in the rugby field. Big news that has been happening all the way, but we've got to start off with the 7th circuit that has just come to an end last week in Mombasa with the driftwood 7th and the Kenya commercial band KCB RFC taking the main title. How was it so far? What is the update from the circuit? First of all, I want to obviously congratulate KCB rugby for winning the men's circuit and also we also had the women's circuit which was won by Impala and I think if you look at the men's circuit in particular, it was a very competitive tournament. We've seen a lot of young players come through the ranks, but also we've seen the more experienced players who have been playing in the circuit for many years also put up their hand and give a very good account of themselves. The coaches have been working very hard. Even if you just go at the turns, you just find everyone with a laptop analysing game from game, strategising, and you see that the quality of the games have gone up. If you look at also because of the investment by Stan Bikbank as the lead sponsor, there's a lot of improvement in terms of the look and feel. If you just look at something like the presentation ceremony, it's now similar to what happens in the World Series, the way we've organised it. It just looks like a really good event to be to and to attend. They've been great after parties and you know rugby goes with the festival and people have all enjoyed themselves across the country. Mama of crowds, I'm told in some of the venues you've been having up to 6,000 people coming through the gates. So yeah, it's been a huge success. Which one was your best leg of the circuit? Must be driftwood. Must be driftwood. I think the climax of everything is something to watch. Dala was also very good. I think Dala is quite popular. And this year also did very well. I think the Nairobi crowds were a bit starved of rugby. They came out in large numbers and it was quite a successful tournament as well. In the game of rugby, which kind of players that really had an impact on you more? So the young players that you saw that these guys can actually get to the national team at one point in time? Now you're putting me on the spot. Okay, leave that man. Some of the young players were impressed. I saw the Kenyatta University of Black Blood, Desa, was one of the kwaesa. It's been played well. It's unfortunate he had some injuries. So he didn't play all the legs. I think he only played the last two. But he saw his impact when he came on. If you look at Nakuru Monatiakui, definitely a player to watch. He has a lot of positive attributes. If you go to Wamba in Zuga, the winger, if you go to KCB or Quach, a very interesting player, Asati. He was coming off the bench, but also he had a big impact on the games. Onyalla, outstanding. He just showed what one year being in the circuit can do for you. And you can go and look at Oilers. Oilers has a relatively new team. It's not the same team that was playing 2 years ago, with the likes of Ombasa and Ngethe. So the young players have come through. There's a lot to build on from here. And really it's for KRU now to nurture these players to be able to compete at the world stage. Big one for us there from the 7th Circuit. In your follow-up from what you were discussing earlier and we talk of how Stan Bikbak has come to help in the sponsorship of the game and how it's going so far. Yesterday you also signed another deal with the EABL, Kenya Brual is limited with TASKA to come and sponsor at 115 million. So actually one of your campaign promises you will try to bring back the sponsors on board. How is this sponsorship going to impact the game going forward? Thank you. I think this new partnership with TASKA is a watershed moment for the game. TASKA used to be a very big sponsor of Kenya Radbi. They scaled back the investment a bit. And so this time while they never really left I think this is the time now they've come in with a big investment. If you look the investment is being split into call it 4 parts. So there is the 37.5 million which is coming to Kenya Radbi Union which will go 20 million into Safari 7s. 10 million we will put TASKA on the Kenya 7s chart. Then there is 2.5 million they will also go on the Kenya lionesses chart. Sorry I meant short. There are short sponsors. So we will also put them on the lionesses chart. You know the lionesses have few assignments internationally so the sponsorship amounts can't be the same. And then also there will be around the test matches. You know when like Zimbabwe when they come here we have to host them. We also have to look after our team. So there is money for hosting the internationals going into next year as well. So that's one part. Now if you look at the 7 circuit they worked with the host clubs. So each host club did receive some cash money in terms of going to the organization. But also all these events have been sponsored by TASKA the after parties. So they've paid for the setup. You've seen the setup has been very good the entertainment. We've had very good artists predominantly local coming and entertaining the funds. And just that whole look and feel they've also been investing in the media. So every tournament has been advertised. And you see my estimate roughly at least 4 million, 4 to 5 million going per club in the 7 circuit. So that is part of the reason why we've seen very big numbers coming through. For safari 7s they're obviously going to have a very going to take it a notch higher from what we've seen in the circuit. Because now we are going to an international level. And I think at the right time you'll see us rolling out the build up campaign going into safari 7s which will be quite a big campaign. We're going to have the formal launch next week and at that point we'll be able to discuss everything else. The other thing which is very significant for TASCA is there is about some money which has been earmarked for universities. The universities league. The universities league. And they are working with the Kusa Kenya University Sports Association around this so that they'll also support the universities rugby. If you see universities rugby is quite big but it has never really been commercialized properly. And so TASCA have seen that that is one area which they could also come in. And you see all these players it's part of the pathway of getting to the national team. From actually high school university to the national circuit. Last year we had Shadon Munoko from Main Machine. He was the captain. And he played right up to Kenya 7s. He played in Vancouver and other tournaments. It just shows you that we cannot ignore universities. We had at least two players from Black Blood, Wahina and Levi Amonga who has been on the fringes. He is now going to KCB. I remember Wandaeto. So there are a lot of university players as well. So we want to widen that net and help have a very competitive universities league. Is that also your angle for development? Because university development is one of the key facts when it comes to rugby development in any country. It is a very critical part of our strategy for development because people go to university from call it between age 19 and maybe about 24, 25 and they must play. And continue playing and play well and be competitive. There's a time in Main Machine were the champions of Kenya. Yes, back in the 90s I think. In the 90s they were dominant and they produced a lot of national team players including Vice Chairman Tomas Opeo and many others even Hilary Tella came through the Main Machine system. So we must continue to invest in the university. They've been somewhat because of the funding challenges especially in the public institutions at times they have to compromise on the investment in sport which is hurting. And if you look at the game it's now headed semi-professional the clubs are getting a lot more investment and so this will go in terms of boosting the universities in terms of being able to remain very competitive. A big one for us there. Mr Chairman before we leave the question of sponsorship what other options are you exploring on sponsorship because I understand Bitcoin is your short sponsor on the back we have got also tasks coming in as a short sponsor what other options are you exploring so far? Okay, if you look at our flagship product which is Kenya Shuja at the moment really Bitcoin is at the back of the chart and now we've gotten a short sponsor we still have quite a number of slots on the playing kit the most prime being the front of short sponsor the shorts you can actually have two sponsors it's allowable and we are looking we are actually in discussions with other parties as well and at the right time we'll be able to announce and unveil once we conclude the discussions and also we've considered it's still not pretty common but if you look at other international leagues some companies maybe may not be able to put in the 10 or 20 million to get on to the short but they can decide to maybe sponsor a particular player or a particular short number so in Europe it's very common below the number of the team at the back of the chart they have a different sponsor for each player so you can then use that to even augment what we pay the players and that player can also become an ambassador of that particular sponsor so it's still very early stage but it's something which I'd like to see where individual players imagine if onyala had a sponsor as well and Rillindi had a sponsor and Tabu had a sponsor to make a big impact for them as well in terms of getting ready and building on their professional whatever because there's a limit to what care you can obviously afford to pay so you have to be creative how we maximize these assets we are still hanging out with the chairman of the Kenya rugby union here in Y25 for the touchline and we are discussing all matters rugby here on the set today a big game coming away next weekend the Nakulu Athletic Club the Victoria Cup Kenya vs Zimbabwe how are our preparations so far preparations are going on the team has been training we came back to the training camp last week putting together the paces I think it will be a blend of still using some of the young players who have come through the Chippu system and blending them with some of the more experienced players a test match is a test match that will be exciting I'm sure Nakulu crowds will come out in large numbers again we promise that we will take this game to the people that was actually going to be my next question and Nakulu everyone was going to Nakulu and it's right in the middle of the rugby playing hot spot so think of people from Eldorant Kitale people from Nairobi it's three hours drive from every except Mombasa so we are quite excited about being able to partner Nakulu Athletic Club Chairman Mwangi Mushemi and his team have been working very hard to ensure this comes to fruition and we'll continue with this gospel let's take the zimbabwe around next year we want to have a test match in Mombasa we were discussing this last week with the governor's team to see how the Mombasa County can come on board we really want a test in eastern province whether it's Meru or Machakus we hope one of them we can work on Nairobi we look again at the rift valley maybe Nakulu again if not maybe Eldorant all I'm saying we are open minded we have not closed the door on anyone Kisumu kaka mega where we will all go and be do we go back to Kisumu again do we go to Kaka mega because also Kaka mega is very keen exactly and if you look Kisi has also developed very good infrastructure Kisi's study was redone and it can host a test match so we are open this game is for all Kenyans we have discussed more on the zimbabwe and the 7th team and also going forward also the Olympic qualifiers for the ladies are coming around the corner our preparations on that front yes we continue to prepare for the both the Olympics qualification for the women we are playing in Tunisia we came before safari 7 I think it's 12th October springboks are also trading for that so it's going to be it's going to be tough we have obviously been working with the government in terms of our funding applications we still haven't received the money from government it's a bit frustrating at times because you want to be able to give the team the best possible chance and it's something which we very much like to see come through but the team is psyched up in the circumstances and I'm confident they'll be able to do a good job for the Kenyans they always do now the big question is actually now all over the world the rugby world cup is here on our side Kenyans actually did not make it to the rugby world cup but how do you see the world cup coming around which team will you be rooting for is it Africa or are you going outside I happen to be an all black supporter I've always loved the way they play the game the approach to the game in the last two world cups they've been out and out favourites not this time I think South Africa are very strong and if you look at also a team like England have been building nicely they have a very strong team right from the time the likes of Faril Wainanda 20 they are very competitive and now they are reaching the peak so I think between England New Zealand South Africa to my mind top three I think Wales and Ireland are also good but I'm not sure they are as good as those first three and then never right of Australia Australia can play poorly for four years but when they get into the world cup to another zone and we just saw the other day they hammered the old blocks which doesn't happen too often so there are six good teams with a chance the other guys who I'll be looking to see how they perform is Fiji because Fiji have developed their rugby a lot of their players if you look at how they use their sevens team they use their sevens team as a pathway as into professional rugby so the estimate is about four to five hundred Fijians playing rugby in Europe and many of them are playing for top clubs in England in the top 14 they are quite a number in the best clubs and now it's a question of in the run up to this world cup how will they come together it's unfortunate they don't get to play as many internationals as the other nations I think if they were playing 11-12 test matches a year they'd be competitive so don't write of Fiji they are a very tricky pool I think that's the pool that excites me the most because I think Fiji will come out with something special so thanks a lot Mr Chairman for coming here on Y254 The Toucher and your final word on matters rugby and going forward what we can be expecting for the Safari 7 rugby is in a good space now it's a very strong endorsement and support from all the stakeholders be it the clubs, be it government be it commercial sponsors and I just sense a good vibe about where the game is going and I'm looking for a very competitive Safari 7 this year but more importantly as we go forward to just have a united cohesive game which everyone is proud about we want to make Kenya proud about rugby and take it back to what we were a couple of years ago and hopefully have a very competitive world series I'm also keen to see us qualify for the Olympics both men and women and finally to get the women into the 7th circuit in the HSBC they now have 8 tournaments which is a lot and that will help us really professionalize the women game and then the Reaper Church it hasn't been announced but I think the bigger girls who play in the T5 or back in the gym getting ready for the Reaper Church and we see how it goes from there ok, thanks a lot Mr Chairman we really appreciate you coming on board to tell us everything that has been happening in the world of rugby as the season comes on end and as it picks up because I know many things are on your way that has been the touchline here on Y254 today we have a shift on our running order and everything that we do here on the touchline but we have come to the end of the show enjoy your afternoon I'm Robert Osoro, Maksyola Sika we'll be live from the Davis Cup in Nairobi Jim Kana to tell us at Nairobi Club actually to tell us and give us an update of the Davis Cup that is happening there from everybody on Y254 good afternoon enjoy the rest of your broadcast