Fate of cancelled seasoned to be known in a week following appeal

Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) Appeal Council now has one week to decide on an appeal by clubs to overturn a decision by the union to cancel the 2019/20 season.

Kenya Cup and Championship clubs officially lodged their appeal on Wednesday after KRU failed to listen to their plea to rescind its decision to cancel the entire rugby season.

The league was initially suspended on March 13 as to meet government directives on social gathering in the war against coronavirus pandemic.

KRU cancelled all league and cup competitions this season on April 9 meaning that there will be no promotion or relegation in any of the competition, with all teams remaining in their current division for next season.

The results from the 2019/20 Kenya Cup, KRU Championship and Nationwide Leagues have been rendered invalid alongside the Enterprise and Mwamba Cup.

As expected, that club vehemently protested the decision and gave the union a deadline of April 14 to rescind their decision or face an appeal.

Kenya Cup clubs chairman Xavier Makuba disclosed that they hope to get the ruling by the end of next week, having lodged the appeal through their lawyer, George Mbaye, who is also the Mwamba Rugby Club chairman.

All the appeals go through KRU secretariat before the Appeal Council that consists of Edward Rombo, Andrew Musangi, Waiyaki Hinga and Eddie Omondi.

Rombo said on Thursday that KRU secretariat has not forwarded any case to the council yet.

“What I know is that the union was looking at the petition but in case of anything then we should get the nod before the end of this week,” said Rombo.

Rombo said cases can be decided depending on the nature of appeal.

“We can make a ruling just on documentation or after listening to both parties if it’s a must,” said Rombo adding that a virtual conference will be put in place if need be.

The KRU Board met to cancel the leagues on April 9.

PLAY-OFFS

Both Kenya Cup and KRU Championship were due for play-offs on March 14 with the semi-finals due March 21.

The finals had been planned for April 4.

The Enterprise Cup semi-finals were due on March 28 with the final scheduled for April 18.

Kabras Sugar had topped the regular Kenya Cup with 74 points followed by defending champions Kenya Commercial Bank on 71.

Homeboyz were to meet Menengai Oilers in the semi-final play-offs with the winners facing KCB in the semi-finals while Kabras Sugar were drawn to clash with the semi-final play-off winners between Impala Saracens and Mwamba.

Strathmore Leos had topped the KRU Championship unbeaten on 76 points and well on course to return to top flight rugby after a two-year hiatus.

Masinde Muliro University were lying second with 67 points.

The Leos were to face the winner between Northern Suburbs and United States International University in one of the semi-final.

Masinde Muliro would have met the winner between Mean Machine from the University of Nairobi and Egerton Wasps.