By Kenyatta Otieno
On the 17th of April 2016 Kenya erupted into celebrations when the Rugby Sevens national team beat Fiji to clinch their first main Cup in the Singapore Sevens circuit of IRB Sevens Series. It took us about 140 tournaments from late nineties to win a maiden title. Kenya had only reached two other main cup finals of the commercially viable Sevens Series of IRB that began in 1999.
To casual observers who may not know the history of Kenyan rugby, that was simply a special win. People who have followed rugby will realize that Kenyan rugby peaked when it spread to western Kenya. Rugby was played by British settlers; then represented by Lenana School and Nairobi School; Duke of York and Prince of Wales (I do not know the order) who ruled school rugby circles for long.
Whites, also dominated club rugby run by the defunct Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) and later Kenya Rugby Football Union (now KRU). When the game spread to schools, it first landed in private and national secondary schools around Nairobi. If you read the name of rugby players in the eighties and the schools they went to, it will go like; Lenana, Nairobi, Alliance, Mang’u and St. Mary’s.
In 1986 Kenya Sevens national team took part in Hong Kong Sevens. Between 1982 and 1984 a select side called Watemebezi Pacesetters RFC won the Dubai Sevens which led to Kenya team led by one Jackson Omaido being the first African nation to take part in an international Sevens tournament. That team was exclusively composed of alumnus of Nairobi and Lenana Schools.
Mature Blood
In the early eighties, Kenyatta University College was formed as a constituent college of University of Nairobi to train teachers. Some of the students from these national schools went to Kenyatta University for Bachelor of Education degrees. They soon formed Blak Blad (Black Blood) RFC, which became the main rivals of University of Nairobi’s Mean Machine RFC. This is where the revolution began.
In KU’s class of 1984, there were two gentlemen; Mike ‘Tank’ Otieno and Max Muniafu among many others who graduated. Otieno was posted to Ogande Girls while Muniafu went a school in the Northrift. As former players of Blak Blad, they came together and agreed to spread the game to schools outside Nairobi. They agreed that the name of the vehicle to take them upcountry had to have blood in it. They tinkered with the name Mature Blood to stand for former Blak Blad players.
Former Kenya Airways manager Alban Mwendwa who grew up in Mombasa was part of the team. He proposed a Kiswahil version to the name; he shot down Damu Mzee for Damu Pevu, which is a more accurate meaning of Mature Blood. They applied for registration but they did not wait for bureaucracy to hold them down, they submitted a proposal to KRFU and got down to work. Job Owino was the chairman. They identified a few schools across the country, which would act as the centres for their activities. Veteran rugby coach Michael “Tank” Otieno says he does not know if they were ever registered.
The Union agreed to give them stipend for transport and basic accommodation. Every Friday they got into public transport to schools like Khamis down at the Coast, Kangaru in Central, Maseno in Kisumu, Cardinal Otunga in Kisii, Kakamega, Musingu and Chavakali in Western among others. They conducted the clinics for students and games teachers to teach them the basics of rugby on Saturday and took the bus on Sunday back to their stations. Sometimes they held sessions on Sunday as well and travelled overnight to be at work on Monday morning.
According to Michael ‘Tank’ Otieno, their efforts bore fruits in western Kenya where the game was adopted and accepted very quickly. He was at Ogande Girls for one year and went back to Kenyatta University for postgraduate studies. This enabled him to resume playing for Mwamba RFC as well as coordinate Damu Pevu activities well. He then transferred to Moi University where he set up their Rugby Club- The Arsonists.
The Showdown
As Damu Pevu team was busy with their activities around the country, I was preparing to join Form One at Vihiga High School. In 1993, I found an Agriculture teacher who also doubled as the rugby coach, we nicknamed him Mr. Kitaumana, which loosely translates to English as- there will be a showdown. I later learnt he was not a fulltime teacher when he left later in the year to become an Agricultural Officer.
He used to wake us up at 4am every Saturday shouting “Leo Kitaumana” around the dormitories to take us for roadwork to Chavakali, about fifteen kilometres away. Every evening he led us out of school to a community playground called Kidundu about a kilometre away for practice. This is how rugby began at Vihiga High School. Though I later opted to play Hockey, our rugby team reached the Provincials in 1996 where we lost to Bill Odongo’s inspired Musingu High School.
By this time, the Secondary Schools Rugby title had begun its way to western Kenya. Kakamega and Musingu High Schools formerly known for football were beating the schools from Nairobi to the title. Schools like Cardinal Otunga, Maseno and St. Mary’s Yala were also leaving a mark in the championships. The blood transfusion from Damu Pevu had taken rugby from the social elite around Nairobi to the common man and the success of western Kenya schools showed it.
When Collins Injera and Oscar Ayodi joined Vihiga High School a few years later, rugby had taken root but I can bet they have never heard of Mr. Kitaumana. That is also what could happen to Michael ‘Tank’ Otieno and his Damu Pevu team.
The team that beat Fiji in Singapore had only two players from the ‘old rugby’ powerhouses. These are Robert Aringo and Samuel Oliech, alumnus of St. Mary’s school – Nairobi. The rest; have Humphrey Khayange, Agustine Lugonzo from Kakamega High School; Nelson Oyoo of Njoro Boys; Frank Wanyama from Nakuru High School was born in Bungoma while Captain Andrew Amonde went to Kisumu Boys High School.
This is proof that Damu Pevu and self-styled rugby apostles Like Mr. Kitaumana who went out of their way to take rugby to the grassroots laid the foundation for our success in Sevens rugby. They did what they had to do, sowed the seeds, which others later watered but at the end of it, Kenya celebrated. We owe the Singapore win and other victories in rugby to this band of young Kenyans who did not have much in their hands but passion and love for rugby.
The writer is a practicing Hydrogeologist and a sports enthusiast
2 Comments
Sorry but Hamphrey Khayange is an alumnus of St. Peters Mumias High School and not Kakamega High School as you have put it
A Fairly good write up. However, you should link up with the Damu Pevu (who still meet to date) Society, who can give you detailed information on the Formation of the DP. the individuals who actually were in the field working with the students and the enthusiastic teachers of the schools. There are many more schools DP spread the game to including those in the then Central Province and some schools in Nairobi.