#Safaricom7s Participation Review... The #Safari7s needs to answer a very important question: What does it see itself as? Is it a warm up for the IRB 7s Series? Is it a host for the best international players? National teams? International select sides? The tournament must not get caught trying to shoot at all targets. Clarity produces fine products. This year, we had 4 national sides - Argentina, Spain, Germany and Uganda; 7 select sides - Samurai, Australia Iconz, Suzuki Wailers, Welsh Warriors, Kenya Morans, Kenya Shujaa and Simba Saba. Finally, we had 5 provincial sides: Auckland (NZ) and 4 South African ones - Western Province, Lions, Sharks and Borland. Whats the participation picture here, exactly? Only one full IRB 7s side participated - Argentina. Outside Kenya, through its select sides, no other team viewed it as an IRB 7s Series warm up. This troubles the Series leg hosting objective. Nearer home, only one full African side, Uganda, participated. The Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) wont look at the tournament as pushing its objectives. If #KenyaRugby is targeting the two Rugby governing bodies, for strategic reasons, with #Safari7s, the game plan needs ammending. The Union must then spend a great deal of time and resources - human and financial - to chase those aims. The assumption is that it is interested. Perhaps, it is not. Otherwise, the quality of play in the tournament was reasonably high. There was the Pacific Islander flair from the Fijian Samurais, the skilled European technical discipline of the Welsh Warriors and Germany. The passionate, yet x-filled intensity of the Argentinians. The unpredictability of Simba Saba. Even Uganda brought enough to the table. Their exciting style will need to be matched with exposure. The other key aspect of participation is officiating. There was a sense in which the match officials panel did not match the usual stature. There were withdrawals from Canada and Australia. The panel was therefore, Kenya-heavy. A balanced international face is critical for the tournament to continue receiving international acclaim. This tournament has given primary exposure to test referees like Stuart Berry and IRB 7s ones like Rasta Rashivenge. The centre officials were Jaco Kotze (South Africa), Inigo Ibaretta (Spain), Pablo Deluca (Argentina), Steve Piacun (New Zealand), Mattew Riley (England) and from Kenya - Constant Cap, Andrew Karani, Victor Oduor and Peris Mukoko. Most unfortunate was that there was no IRB level performance reviewer. The elite players and managers would find this unacceptable! In international tournaments, match officials are these days ruthlessly reviewed. This was a big ball to drop. Surprisingly, the Tournament Director, Godwin Karuga, is one of very few IRB Level III referees in Africa. Maybe the Organising Committee decided it is a financial matter. Technical provisions are beyond budgetary discussions. Either the tournament is international or it is not. The team managements need to be confident that they have a high level technical ear on their officiating issues. In all, gaining quality participation - teams, players, coaches and match officials, is a long view process. This may need full time involvement. Perhaps, as a whole, #Safaricom7s now needs full time staff or a (sports) management company to focus fully on the critical aspects of the tournament. In any case, once quality participants are on board their logistical demands are very high. More than once, some high level individuals complained about even the most basic things, this last weekend. Good rugbymen do not like to whine but the sport is professional now... ~Fred Ollows
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 12:18:56 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015