Kenya rugby federation hints at introducing women, youth leagues
The Kenya Rugby League Federation (KRLF) men’s team head coach John Mbai says the team is angling to grow the sport in the country by introducing the women and youth categories leagues.
The move Mbai noted will boost efforts to attain full membership of the local rugby governing body at the International Rugby League (IRL). Kenyan men’s team finished third in the 4-team Middle East-Africa (MEA) Rugby League Championship title which defending champions Nigeria retained.
Kenya’s captain Eliakim Kichoi was glad the country settled for bronze in their first international competition after beating Cameroon 16-0 at the Mansah Sabbah Field, the University of Ghana in Legon, Accra on Saturday.
“It was a very good tournament that has given us the right international test we needed to serve as our eye opener on how competitive rugby league is.
“The boys had fun on the pitch against experienced teams and we still managed to win our first game and bagged the bronze,” Captain Eliakim Kichoi told People Sports.
Although the MEA competition is the pathway to 2025 Rugby League World Cup qualification, KRLF has plans to bid to host women and the youth categories World Cup qualifiers as the men’s team was not eligible to proceed because of missing full membership of the International Rugby League (IRL).
“Most of the players are below 23 years and the competition was a great experience for the entire federation because we are now able to gauge how our development structures and player pathways are working on the international stage.
Final mandate
“Also we are now focused on fulfilling our final mandate to be affiliate members of IRL. Upon receiving our pending affiliate status we will then apply for full membership within one year that will have our focus largely on expanding our domestic leagues to include women’s and Youth as mandated.”
“KRLF has plans to bid to host both the qualifiers for women and youth. We are ambitious enough to believe that those two categories have realistic chances of making it to the women’s and youth World Cup in 2025 if given a chance to compete.
“Upon receiving affiliate status which is now just a matter of time then we can apply for full membership,” Kichoi said.
since the mandate lies with our domestic league which needs to be expanded to include women and youth,” Team Kenya head coach John Mbai told People Sports on their Monday morning arrival from Ghana.
