SportsKenya: Impala Club

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Friday, 7 October 2011

Zuku making in-roads in Kenyan Rugby: Title Sponsors for Impala Floodlights 2011

Yesterday's unveiling of official sponsor Zuku , continues the local (or it is regional yet?)multi-media's company (Wananchi Group) in-roads in local sport. Starting with a suprise package last year of sponsoring the Kenya v/s Zimbabwe Victoria Cup tie and even securing screening rights, the media company has sought to change the sporting scene and is slowly making its mark especially in rugby. (...coincidentally in both cases, the sponsorship has been for the magical figure of KSh. 2 million each...)

ZUKU - logo courtesy of www.zuku.co.ke

Rugby purists have not been entirely amused by these entreaties made to the Kenya Rugby Union since an earlier arrangement with SuperSport was seeing the Kenyan game getting more coverage and the sports media powerhouse was in the process of making substantial investment in the local game and production only for this to be dropped. Up until the writing of this post, it is not known who will screen Kenya's premiere rugby event the Safari Sevens though title sponsors Safaricom have already confirmed their willingness to continue supporting the event.
Kenya Rugby officials need be informed that while it is good to have companies coming on board with the much-needed financial support, it is also fair to review and where possible NOT ANTAGONISE existing corporate sponsors. Our sources tell us there has been some tension among top officials due to this gung-ho way of conducting rugby business. It will be fair to evaluate existing support and negotiate for better terms with these firms rather than going behind their backs to find new partners.
This was part of the reason the move of the Safari 7s to Nyayo stadium has not augured well with the staunchest of supporters in rugby and by extension traditional rugby powerhouses (without naming any for now).

All the same, we applaud Wananchi Group through ZUKU for making their case with the 30th edition of the Impala Floodlights. We shall be watching your move as you engage in local sport and pray that your worthy support can continue to other sporting disciplines as well. You can also explore developing cutting-edge programming in sports for your local audience and clientele which is still deficient of any comprehensive sports magazines.

See y'all at the Impala Grounds for the next 4 weekends!

Friday, 15 April 2011

Impala Floodlit Finals - KCB v/s Strathmore

The last 2 weekends have seen some rugby action at the Impala Grounds - home to one of Kenya's top rugby side Impala RFC. The action has been slightly tempered given that the main rugby 2010-11 season is coming to a wrap ( save for the Bamburi Super Series).
Last weekend semi-finals for the main tournament saw some upsets with Strathmore roping Mwamba in overtime while KCB made easy meal of hosts Impala. This represents a great outing for both finalists given their continued rise in the Kenyan rugby scene. For the former Strathmore with the exception of winning in the 7s circuit last season, this is a major upset and will stamp their presence. A triumph for them would be true icing for the college sides who operate under very tight schedules given the University calendar which comes first for most players.
KCB on the other hand is out to avenge for the near misses in the Enterprise and if the intent shown in the semi-final is anything to go by they start as favourites for the exciting action under floodlights. Tomorrow is a date and we shall keep you posted. You can follow us on Twitter @sportskenya OR check the following for updates @maikwambo @kenyarugby247 and check for the hash-tag #ImpalaFloodies OR #ImpalaFloodlit

Monday, 21 February 2011

Rugby: Kenya Cup - Gulf between clubs, food for thought KRU....

Rugby has easily become a favourite sport for most Kenyans thanks to the exploits of the national 7s team. For the more ardent fan though there is the 15-a-side clubs circuit in the name of Kenya Cup. We also have the Super Series which has 5 ( or 8 franchises depending on whether the 2 from Uganda; 1 from Tanzania do participate) - in fact this year's Series comes in the next 2 months as the rugby calendar changes to accomodate the Safari Sevens which shall be played in November ( hoping to attract top seeds from the IRB circuit).

Kenya Harlequins 2011 Winners - Captain Victor Sudi all smiles with Kenya Cup Image courtesy of www.bcnn5.com

Back to the club game though, a causally look at the Kenya Cup standings shows some rift between the clubs. This is the case that the winners Kenya Harlequins won the Cup with 2 games to spare. The 2nd and 3rd placed KCB and Impala clubs had looked like they would challenge Quins for 'Okombe' but the steam ran out by early January with both teams losing fixtures they would have won to take the chase to the wire. It was interesting that last weekend the bottom 2 teams were fighting for survival as one of the teams drops to the Eric Shirley Shield for 2nd tier teams of the national rugby circuit.
Doesn't this show some big gulf between the top and bottom teams? It is true that the level of investment and corporate sponsorship attracted by some of the clubs puts them at a slightly better advantage than others. It is also fair to say that some clubs have been raided by the more 'affluent' ones thus losing their best to these teams.
This ought to be some food for thought for Kenya Rugby Union as they hope to give the Kenya Cup some better form of competitiveness. There is no use for teams to graduate to the upper levels but are ill-prepared more established ones. It is only fair if there is some form of equitable spread of investment. The clubs also need to show more inclusive managerial and tactical improvements. The 15s game is looking up following some good fixtures for the national team in the Enterprise and Victoria Cups. If this is to be sustained, the clubs need invest more in their technical and other necessary investments as may be needed to realise the success.
We should not be under any illusion that the success of a few clubs is good for the winners as it kills any form of competition and the same old same old names are staying up there ( a quick look at the list in the last 40 years, shows only 3 teams have won the Kenya Cup...hmmm...).

All the same, we look forward to some interesting games at both the 2011 Bamburi Super Series and Impala Floodlites.

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Profile of a Kenyan Sports Personality

This is a look at a Kenyan personality who may have influenced and continues to affect sports in Kenya and inspires all and sundry in sports. It is our hope that you shall reflect on this, take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and efforts these heroes made. We do take a bow and wave our hats as we cheer true Kenyan patriots in sport!

This one takes a different twist. Having seen individuals grace this column, we have sought to recognize a team of individuals who did some exemplary work and set what has been an unbeatable national and indeed continental effort.

Kenya has never been a major power in shorter races 400m downwards. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was a different script especially with the more exciting relay races. It is in 1968 when Kenya’s dominance came into play and with it a retinue of athletes who would become legends of their era.

The 4x400m races are usually the climax in the athletics calendar of events and in Mexico ’68, Kenya’s team including Charles Asati, Naftali Bon, Munyoro Nyamau and Daniel Rudisha ( the latter being the father to David Rudisha - current World and African champion in 800m) had other ideas coming 2^nd to USA.

In 1972, the 4 x 400m team was tweaked a bit and the final race was run by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko and Julius Sang blazing the track to come up with the only other Gold medal from the Munich Games. But for this unprecedented move and none that has been done before by any other African nation, we salute our compatriots making them the Kenyan sprint legends!

Know your Sport

Swimming

Recently at some social setting we were engaged in a club quiz and one of the questions was about swimming. This sought to know which stroke was not among the competitive ones till 1956. One of our team-mates (we were 6 said that it was back-stroke while I argued it was butterfly, and the majority thought the former ….guess we should have stuck with my answer though!)

All the same, this sport has become one of the most competitive sports in any major sporting extravaganza in the form of the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth or indeed the Olympic Games. Kenya has lately featured in this very involving and energy-sapping sport. Thanks to the exploits of the Dunford brothers who have shone the spotlight on the country away from traditional sports in athletics, football, boxing and rugby. But what do you understand from the sport? Here’s a brief of it from different sources;

According to Wikipedia, swimming is based on the human act of swimming, that is, locomotion in water by self propulsion, with the goal of completing a given distance in the shortest amount of time. Swimming is distinguished from other aquatic sports (such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo) that involve swimming but the goal is neither speed nor endurance.

Competitive swimming consists of four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or front crawl), and backstroke. When all four strokes are done during a race, it is called medley swimming (otherwise known as the individual medley, or I.M.). It is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).

The goal of competitive swimming is usually to have the fastest time to complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 meter pool (long course).

There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events; however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female. Most swimming sport events are held in special competition swimming pools, which are either long course pools such as those used in the Olympic Games (50 m) or short course pools such as those used in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) (25 yards or 25 m). Competition pools have starting blocks from which the competitor can dive in, and possibly also touch-sensitive pads to electronically record the swimming time of each competitor.

In most competitions, the competitors are required to wear swimwear/swimsuits to adequately cover their bodies for the dip. However some suits have created controversies which have seen FINA coming up with standards to adhere to ensure competitors do not have undue advantage over each other.

The sport can also be pursued for personal fitness and is considered by fitness enthusiasts as one of the few that does an all-round job body of keeping the body in shape. It also requires healthy diets and rehydration (yes even if your body’s dipped in water)! Famous names in the sport include Mark Spitz – 7-gold medals winner 1972 Olympics and Michael Phelps – 8 gold medals - Beijing 2008.
For more info, check www.fina.org

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