Kenya Cup 2021: Highs and lows
By Alex Njue, September 8, 2021
After 16 weekends of action, the 2021 Kenya Cup rugby league came to a spectacular end last Saturday with KCB clinching the title after a nerve-wracking final against Kabras Sugar.
The match played at the Nandi Bears Club was decided by KCB skipper Darwin Mukidza through his boot after both sides tied 25-25 at full time, wrapping up the short season that recorded highs and lows from lack of sponsorships to match postponements due to Covid-19.
A season that kicked off on February 27 would be interrupted by a directive to suspend all sporting activities by President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 26 when Blak Blad and Nondescripts were already in Kakamega County ready for matchday five against Kabras and Masinde Muliro University respectively.
KRU chairman Gangla Oduor then led the sporting fraternity in appealing for Covid-19 vaccines to be made available, and in April, Kenya Cup players got their first AstraZeneca shots at the Kasarani Stadium.
As the season resumed, KRU CEO Thomas Odundo thanked Mediamax Network Limited for “saving the league” after coming on board as the broadcast partners.
“One of the lessons we learnt is that Covid is here with us and we learnt how to mitigate by working around the protocols pretty well under the instructions of the ministries of Health and Sports and now we will do a review and make recommendations to guide us when we host another competition with the likelihood of hosting Safari Sevens,” Odundo told People Sport.
“Kenya Cup would not have been a reality were it not for the Mediamax partnership.
We are glad we penned the broadcast deal and teams were able to get money to sort costly Covid-19 tests done on a weekly basis as fans catched the action live on K24tv.
A big thank you to Mediamax for making the league a success,” KRU CEO Odundo added.
Meanwhile, Strathmore Leos head coach Louis Kisia is positive his side will return to battle for the title next season after defying all odds to finish third in their first season on their return to the Kenya Cup league.
“Finishing third is technically the right morale booster for us because we surpassed our target of finishing in the top five so the next season we will go for the title.
I am glad the boys got the opportunity to see how it feels not playing in a final and afterwards we made the decision to stick together and contest for the cup next time,” said Kisia.