Why Police and Butali won’t be in African Cup
By Amos Abuga, October 17, 2019
For the second year running, Kenya will not have male representatives at the annual African Cup of Club Championship scheduled for December 1-10 in Ismailia, Egypt.
This is after champions Butali Sugar Warriors pulled out just like their predecessors Kenya Police who withdrew last week.
While league leaders Butali cited unavailability of players, the law enforcers said the decision was based on a ‘financial crisis’.
An insider at Kenya Police, however, says the decision was based on the poor performance by the former champions who are ranked fourth on the 10-team Kenya Hockey Union league table.
Butali team manager Kamal Sembi said unlike in 2008 when the sponsors were not able set a budget aside to send the team to Nigeria, this time around, the situation was different.
“It’s true we will not be sending our team to Egypt for the championships. As you know, most of our players are employed and not able to get permission from their respective places of work to honur the tournament,” said Sembi.
“Our sponsors were hoping to send the team to the tournament but with such commitments, there is nothing we can do,” added the team manager of the league leaders, who are top of the table with 33 points with five matches left.
In the women’s category, Kenya will be represented by 10-time champions Telkom. The other representatives Strathmore University are yet to confirm their participation.