Kenya Shujaa joy, crowds low at Safari 7s

The 21st edition of Safari Sevens went down last weekend at the Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani with Kenya’s Shujaa claiming a hat-trick of titles after dethroning Samurai International 38-21 in the final.

However, the performance on the pitch was met by mixed reaction as the tournament witnessed its lowest attendance in its 16-year-old history with many questioning whether Safari Sevens is fast lost its glint.

An estimated 6,000 fans attended this year’s tournament compared to last year’s edition that had 10,000 according to organisers.

The 2013 and 2014 editions, also at Kasarani, drew record crowds of between 47,000 and 35,000 respectively.

Inadequate marketing, publicity and the questionable composition of the local organising committee have been blamed for the poor turnout witnessed in the last two editions.

Perhaps that is where the focus should be instead of Kenya Rugby Union blaming the poor turnout on venue location among other things. The move by KRU to kill two birds with one stone by holding two tournaments - the Africa Rugby Cup Sevens and Safari Sevens - concurrently with a view of attracting crowds seems to have come a cropper.

But even though the fans might have been in the very lower thousands, Shujaa left them on the edges of their seats with a breathtaking show of sevens rugby that saw them gain revenge against Samurai, who had beaten them 20-19 in last year’s final.

Shujaa that was obviously the stronger side compared to the Kenya Sevens team that was knocked out in the semi-final stage of the Africa Cup to Uganda. Mighty Shujaa conceded a measly five tries, with three coming in the final against Samurai.

However, Shujaa will need to improve on their speed, recycling of the ball set-pieces.

The tournament though was a good build up ahead of the World Series starting December in Dubai. Competition for positions will be stiff with more senior players coming in after missing out last weekend to check out the challenge from the upstarts.

TANGA MVP

New talent was aplenty with the likes of Kabra Sugar’s skilful half-back Brian Tanga, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Tanga, whose only other outing was with Shujaa at Amsterdam Sevens in May, thrilled the crowd with his pace, tackles and technical astuteness. He certainly has made a call for the 2016/2017 World Rugby Sevens series.

“Tanga has been part of the development side that toured Amsterdam Sevens and I hope to see him play for the team in the coming season,” said Kenya coach Benjamin Ayimba.

“The standards this year are low and perhaps the organisers should do something about it. The tournament needs quality participation,” said captain Andrew Amonde.

Samurai captain Ignacio Martin, who was making his fifth appearance, had a different opinion saying the standards at Safari Sevens have always been on the rise. 

In the Africa Cup, Uganda stunned Kenya 17-12 on their way to stopping Namibia 39-19 to lift their maiden title and qualify for Dubai and Cape Town legs of the World Series.

Kenya Rugby Union chairman Richard Omwela said lack of funds made it impossible to hype the event after Safaricom withdrew as title sponsors in the last two editions. Omwela said they needed Sh54m to host a successful tournament but only received Sh40m from sponsors.

“We had to scale down on our expenditure so that we do not incur losses," said Omwela.

A source at the union blamed it on the LOC saying it had many people who dragged their feet when it came to making decisive decisions. 

“The event’s marketing was simply zero even with a firm handling it. Things like ticket prices and selection of ticket vendors took ages.”

Tournament director Godwin Karuga blamed spectator fatigue after attending the local series, the event’s location and lack of entertainment for the poor turnout.