IN RUGBY LEAGUE I STAND

The distance travel though hidden from the normal eye, has been exhausting but more importantly the road ahead is more challenging, yet i hope to reflect on Robert Frost's poem, and smile for it will ring true.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, 10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. 15 I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. 20

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

3 April 1968 I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Memphis, Tenn.

Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. [Laughter] It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you, and Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world.

I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined [Audience:] (Right) to go on anyhow. (Yeah, All right) Something is happening in Memphis, something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt (Yeah), and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeongs of Egypt through, or rather, across the Red Sea, through the wilderness, on toward the Promised Land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. (All right)

I would move on by Greece, and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides, and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon [Applause], and I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there. (Oh yeah)

I would go on even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire (Yes), and I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there. (Keep on)

I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn't stop there. (Yeah)

I would even go by the way that the man for whom I'm named had his habitat, and I would watch Martin Luther as he tacks his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg. But I wouldn't stop there. (All right) But I wouldn't stop there. (Yeah) [Applause]

I would come on up even to 1863 and watch a vacillating president by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there. (Yeah) [Applause]

I would even come up to the early thirties and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation, and come with an eloquent cry that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." But I wouldn't stop there. (All right)

Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy." [Applause]

Now that's a strange statement to make because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick, trouble is in the land, confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. (All right, Yes) And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men in some strange way are responding. Something is happening in our world. (Yeah) The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: "We want to be free." [Applause]

And another reason I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through istory, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. (Yes) Men for years now have been talking about war and peace. But now no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today. [Applause]

And also, in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done and done in a hurry to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty; their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. (All right) [Applause] Now I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period, ot see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that he's allowed me to be in Memphis. (Oh yeah)

I can remember [Applause], I can remember when Negroes were just going around, as Ralph has said so often, scratching where they didn't itch and laughing when they were not tickled. [Laughter, applause] But that day is all over. (Yeah) [Applause] We mean business now and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world. (Yeah) [Applause] And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. (Yeah) We are saying [Applause], we are saying that we are God's children. (Yeah) [Applause] And if we are God's children, we don't have to live like we are forced to live.

Now what does all this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. (Yeah) We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula of doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. [Applause] But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. [Applause] Now let us maintain unity.

Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. (Right) The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. [Applause] Now we've got to keep attention on that. (That's right) That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window breaking. (That's right) I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that 1,300 sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn't get around to that. (Yeah) [Applause]

Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again (Yeah), in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be (Yeah) [Applause] and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering (That's right), sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. (That's right) And we've got to say to the nation, we know how it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory. [Applause]

We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces. They don't know what todo. I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church day after day. By the hundreds we would move out, and Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come. But we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around." [Applause] Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." (Yeah) And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history. He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the trans-physics that we knew about. And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. [Applause] And we went before the fire hoses. (Yeah) We had known water. (All right) If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist or some others, we had been sprinkled. But we knew water. That couldn't stop us. [Applause]

And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them, and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it. And we'd just go on singing, "Over my head, I see freedom in the air." (Yeah) [Applause] And then we would be thrown into paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can. (All right) And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take 'em off." And they did, and we would just go on in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome." (Yeah) And every now and then we'd get in jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers (Yes) and being moved by our words and our songs. (Yes) And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to (All right), and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we on our struggle in Birmingham. [Applause]

Now we've got to go on in Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday. (Yes) Now about injunctions. We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning (Go ahead) to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is to be true to what you said on paper. [Applause] If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they haven't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read (Yes) of the freedom of speech. (Yes) Somewhere I read (All right) of the freedom of press. (Yes) Somewhere I read (Yes) that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. [Applause] And so just as I say we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. [Applause] We are going on. We need all of you.

You know, what's beautiful to me is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. (Amen) It's a marvelous picture. (Yes) Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somewhere the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones (Yes), and whenever injustice is around he must tell it. (Yes) Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, who said, "When God Speaks, who can but prophesy?" (Yes) Again with Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Yes) Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me (Yes), because He hath anointed me (Yes), and He's anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor." (Go ahead)

And I want to commend the preachers, under the leadership of these noble men: James Lawson, one who has been in this struggle for many years. He's been to jail for struggling; he's been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggling; but he's still going on, fighting for the rights of his people. [Applause] Reverend Ralph Jackson, Billy Kyles; I could just go right on down the list, but time will not permit. But I want to thank all of them, and I want you to thank them because so often preachers aren't concerned about anything but themselves. [Applause] And I'm always happy to see a relevant ministry. It's all right to talk about long white robes over yonder, in all of its symbolism, but ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. [Applause] It's all right to talk about streets flowing with milk and honey, but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here and His children who can't eat three square meals a day. [Applause] It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. [Applause] This is what we have to do.

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now we are poor people, individually we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it. (Yeah) [Applause]

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles; we don't need any Molotov cocktails. (Yes) We just need to go around to these stores (Yes sir), and to these massive industries in our country (Amen), and say, "God sent us by here (All right) to say to you that you're not treating His children right. (That's right) And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment where God's children are concerned. Now if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you." [Applause]

And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight (Amen) to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. (Yeah) [Applause] Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. (Yeah)[Applause] Tell them not to buy–what is the other bread?–Wonder Bread. [Applause] And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. [Applause] As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now only the garbage men have been feeling pain. Now we must kind of redistribute that pain. [Applause] We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies, and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right. (That's right, Speak) [Applause]

Now not only that, we've got to strengthen black institutions. (That's right, Yeah) I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank. (Yeah) [Applause] We want a "bank-in" movement in Memphis. (Yes) Go by the savings and loan association. I'm not asking you something that we don't do ourselves in SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We are telling you to follow what we're doing, put your money there. [Applause] You have six or seven black insurance companies here in the city of Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We want to have an "insurance-in." [Applause] Now these are some practical things that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base, and at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. (There you go) And I ask you to follow through here. [Applause]

Now let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. (Amen) Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We've got to see it through. [Applause] And when we have our march, you need to be there. If it means leaving work, if it means leaving school, be there. [Applause] Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike (Yeah), but either we go up together or we go down together. [Applause] Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

One day a man came to Jesus and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters of life. At points he wanted to trick Jesus (That's right), and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew and throw him off base. [Recording interrupted] Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from midair and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. (Yeah) And he talked about a certain man who fell among thieves. (Sure) You remember that a Levite (Sure) and a priest passed by on the other side; they didn't stop to help him. Finally, a man of another race came by. (Yes sir) He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But he got down with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying this was the good man, this was the great man because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.

Now, you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to a church meeting, an ecclesiastical gathering, and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. (Yeah) At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that one who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony. (All right) And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather, to organize a Jericho Road Improvement Association. [Laughter] That's a possibility. Maybe they felt it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effect. [Laughter]

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that those men were afraid. You see, the Jericho Road is a dangerous road. (That's right) I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. (Yeah) And as soon as we got on that road I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. (Yes) It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about twelve hundred miles, or rather, twelve hundred feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about twenty-two feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. (Yes) In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. (Go ahead) Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking (Yeah), and he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. (Oh yeah) And so the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" (All right)

But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" That's the question before you tonight. (Yes) Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job?" Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" (Yes) The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question. [Applause]

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. (Amen)

And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you. (Yes sir) You know, several years ago I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?" And I was looking down writing and I said, "Yes."

The next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured you're drowned in your own blood, that's the end of you. (Yes sir) It came out in the New York Times the next morning that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died.

Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheelchair of the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the president and the vice president; I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. (Yes)

But there was another letter (All right) that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School." She said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze." (Yes) [Applause]

And I want to say tonight [Applause], I want to say tonight that I, too, am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed (All right), I wouldn't have been around here in 1960 (Well), when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up (Yes sir) for the best in the American dream and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy, which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

If I had sneezed (Yes), I wouldn't have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in interstate travel. (All right)

If I had sneezed (Yes), I wouldn't have been around here in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent.

If I had sneezed [Applause], if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been here in 1963 (All right), when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had. (Yes)

If I had sneezed [Applause], I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great movement there.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. (Yes) I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.

And they were telling me. [Applause] Now it doesn't matter now. (Go ahead) It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane–there were six of us–the pilot said over the public address system: "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."

And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out (Yeah), or what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.

Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. (Amen) But it really doesn't matter to with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. (Yeah) [Applause] And I don't mind. [Applause continues] Like anybody, I would like to live a long life–longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. (Yeah) And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. (Go ahead) And I've looked over (Yes sir), and I've seen the Promised Land. (Go ahead) I may not get there with you. (Go ahead) But I want you to know tonight (Yes), that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. [Applause] (Go ahead, Go ahead) And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. [Applause]

Delivererd at Bishop Charles Mason Temple.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

to rugby players

There are little eyes upon you,And they're watching night and day;There are little ears that quicklyTake in every word you say;There are little hands all eagerTo do anything you do;And a little boy who's dreamingOf the day he'll be like you.You're the little fellow's idol,You're the wisest of the wise,In his little mind about you,No suspicions ever rise;He believes in you devoutly,Hold, that all you say and do,He will say and do, in your wayWhen he's grown up like you.There's a wide-eyed little fellow,Who believes you're always right,And his ears are always open,And he watches day and night;You are setting an exampleEvery day in all you do,For the little boy who's waitingTo grow up to be like you.

THE INTRODUCTION OF RUGBY LEAGUE IN KENYA

Defiance
Defiance is defined as the bold resistance to an opposing force or authority.

Another definition: readiness to contend or resist.

I like the second one more. In either case, you know it's not going to be easy but you take up your fight anyway. You block out the doubting thomases, the ones who are afraid of taking risks and the ones who you offended by going against what they thought was the 'obvious direction'. If you've done this you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I met a certain gentleman this past week and whenever we would talk, the word just kept coming to mind.

Defiance.

The way he spoke about what he's doing now(training people to speak in public), you can see he has a passion for it. After five minutes of telling me how his classes usually go, I wanted to sign up for one. I might need the skill one day when I receive my very big writing award:). He was to study medicine, he'd already gotten his admission letter and everything but on that first day of campus something just didn't feel right. He chose not to study medicine because that's not where his heart is. You can imagine the reaction he got from his family. Outrage, I say. They just couldn't understand. At some point I wondered if he had sat any one from his family and told them like he did me about what he does now. Maybe there wouldn't be as much resistance.

But sometimes the people closest to us don't understand why we don't go the 'obvious' way. It takes a bit of time for them to get on board. It took a while for my mum to come around to the whole writing thing. Defiance has its benefits. You stick with something and you fight for it with everything in you and soon, the people you had to resist become your biggest fans.

I'd love if the world was full of defiant people; defiant in the sense that we follow our dreams instead of doing what's expected of us. So piss a few people off. Get a few people wondering about your sanity.

Go out there and be defiant.

STRENGTH AND HONOUR[Rugby Kenya League motto]

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.


In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.


Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.


It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley.

RUGBY LEAGUE TILL I DIE

Rugby League vs Rugby Union Kenya is the new stage

Friends Nor Lovers
Star crossed we may seem
Forever to traverse this realm
My path crossing yours
Even without effort from ourselves
Try as we might to stop it
With open cheating and flirting
Fights clear for all to see
That seem to hurt no one
Many years it had been
And our parting was really forced
But now that is done
It's time to have some fun
Greater heights we must climb
And more people must see
Just why it's hard to tell
Why we are neither friends nor lovers!

with lofty ideas and ideals they want to make professional, this game I LOVE. Rugby Kenya League Ltd is the new Canaan, in Kenyan Sports.

ATLAST, RUGBY LEAGUE

The face of rugby in Kenya is set to change, with the falling into place of the plans, to start playing Rugby League in Kenya before the end of July.
Often cited as the toughest team sport in the world, the younger of the two codes of rugby, fittingly nicknamed 'The Greatest Game' is a game for 'THE ULTIMATE ATHLETE' with its fast pace, brute force, skilled execution and fun appeal, rugby wont be the same again.
The clock is ticking, the sports family in Kenya is about to get an awakening, like no other.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE IN 102 YEARS OF RUGBY

There is nothing to write home about in the years that rugby union has been around in Kenya, apart from increased popularity, there has been nothing else in terms of standards, development and investment, what can I say. The game is no longer about passion, but rather about pride and showmanship.This is what i found out after having a chat with one very charming woman over tea.
Let the union teach people in the rugby fraternity about the spirit, values and principles of the game and maybe then rugby in KENYA WILL PUT ON A SMILE.

CONGRATS

It is the final weekend of the season,and much has been said by me over the past months, before we resume next season my friends and I will change the face of rugby in Kenya, for it has reached a time when words do not help and so action is the only option. Hope the KRU elections will be free and fair. Today i am humbled as I stand up and pay tribute to those who have made it to the 'Murabwa's Awards'.
THE WINNERS
- KRU - for making it all possible, though I have issues with you.
-BEST CLUB - QUINS, though it pains me that you are, but who can say you did not show your superiority with each game.
-MEAN MACHINE - for fighting to the bitter end,that is what sportmanship is all about.
-NONDIES - MOST DISAPPOINTING CLUB, you have forgotten where you come from and you are two times lucky.
-BEST PLAYER KENYA CUP - NICK BARASA[quins], you are a beauty to watch at centre, dazzling runs, deft skills, hard tackles and raw power.
- BEST PLAYER ESS- KEN MOSETI [ homeboyz], you are a person your team can always rely on.
-THE FANS - you make it all worth it.

Lets meet next season.

LONG DOES NOT MEAN FOREVER

Am informed that my grammar needs to be worked on, and thus i will burn the midnight oil to ensure that i improve.
For the longest of time we have praised our prowess in the 7's and proudly worn the National team jersey and thronged the stands during Safaricom sevens us it is now known, as we moved from being giant killers to Giants, a sense of arrogance crept in, the team and union officials were afraid to change the squad since it seemed to be performing and this led to the most experienced side in the IRB sevens circuit to become complacent as they knew their places in the team, was assured.
I did not have the pleasure of watching the matches but the results i have seen seem to indicate that we lost all our group games.
'' long does not mean forever.'' we have for a long time been living in a bubble and finally it busted on our faces, the lads at the union if they have any irk of passion for the game left, must be asking themselves, why? oh why? Am no guru or legend, just a stupid,weak and non-achieving rugby fan, but who lives, eats , and breaths rugby. So i might be wrong but this is my two cent worth, on the plight of 7's rugby in Kenya.
Gentlemen, a lot has been said about what ails rugby in Kenya by me or others out there, so to day I WILL NOT BOTHER YOU WITH A LIST FOR I UNDERSTAND YOU ARE VERY BUSY MEN. I will just state that which I think is the root cause of the problem. In this age and time of the technological revolution, instant millionaires,crash courses,fast foods, instant messaging and social networking sites , PATIENCE as a virtue has lost its allure and gotten thrown out of the window, to give way for instant gratification.
The success of the sevens team in the last decade, I have always attributed purely to the talent of the players and not at the coaching staff, clubs initiative or structures in place.
''Talent can only take you this far but not any further.'' as my high school teacher used to tell us back home in western. The player's talent has reached optimum and the only way forward, is for the clubs and the union to put up development and monitoring structures at the grassroots, to ensure the tapping of talent at an early stage and more importantly, the monitoring of the player's development in terms of international standards of progress, a change of coaching staff which i think has done a great job though their time is up will be the final pieces to complete the puzzle, together with a health dose of patience.
ALL THE BEST IN THE USA, CARRY OUR FLAG HIGH AS ALWAYS. SO LONG

Cry My Beloved Game in Kenya

This Saturday Quins the defending Kenya cup champions will be up against the Rats from Australia. To me it seems Quins have turned into a monopoly and there in lies the problem this move will mean that a single club will benefit from this visit more than the country, for the initial idea was for Chairman Select to play the Rats but that was not to be. We the rugby family in Kenya are like the provibal Ostrich that buried its head in the sand. It is a mockary of development of our national 15's team if seach an oppurtunity to learn is left to go a begging, for in my view such games will provide valuable experiance for the players and technical staff so as to avoid the humiliating scores like the one against mpalanga and also act as our launch pad to contesting for a place in the world cup in the future. Rugby lies bleeding on its death bed in our country yet we fete clubs and forget the bigger picture.
We walk with our heads held high as we speak of the strides made by rugby over the years, and strangely enough i agree that we have made great strides, and it is due to this strides that i walk with my head bowed and my tail between my legs in embarassment, humiliation and despair.We have made great strides backwards, you only have to look at the history of the game in the country and compare with the present and you can not help a tears trickling down your cheeks.
The questions that speed past my shocked brain are , where did the rain start beating us ? , where did we take a wrong turn ? and where did we stumble and fall flat on our faces.
The first reply echoing in my brain is , you do not know where you are going if you do not know where you are from; players, schools, clubs, the union and the larger rugby family, do not take pride in where they are from, be it Nondies which is the oldest club in Kenya full of a rich history, Mwamba and Mean Machine which were the pioneer African clubs, now they just exist instead of being the leaders.
The second reason is the lack of foresight, passion, commitment and love for the game in the Union's leadership, who are more intrested in instant gratification at the expense of Rugby.
To finish off my top three answers is our idolizing of rugby sevens which is merely an adaptation, [small wonder it isnt included in a players international caps tally] at the expense of 15's and i think the reason is because the union is lazy and doesn't want to invest the great amount of time and money which is needed in the development, growth and establishment of a formidable 15's national team and league.
My heart is saddened with the sight of this game that is larger than life to me on its knees and pained by its cry of help to a seemingly ignorant populance.
Maybe it is just me , maybe i am just stupid to belive the is more to rugby than what is available in the country.
LETS MEET AT THE THE TERRACES ON 5TH, 6TH AND 12TH. SO LONG.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The destination of the Kenya Cup seems to have almost been cast in stone. As we cheer our clubs let us not forget that the National team will be playing on 6th and 12th. My request is to the fans to turn in large numbers to support our team for RUGBY is A 15'S affair, as we the fans prepare to scream our voices hoares , I pray that the Gentlemen at the union select a team with 2015 in mind. SEE YOU ALL AT THE TERRACES.

Alas ! We want change we can belive in

Am told that there are changes taking place behind the scenes to make the sport of rugby in Kenya better, only time will tell. I am of the opinion that rugby will truly change for the better if those of us with the passion and love of the game seize the moment and drive this change, if not then ours is a sorry state of just being critics and nothing more. We will be living a life of slow agony.

THE WISE

Am told that the wise change their mind sometimes but the foolish never. I have proven my wisdom by some very fundamental shift in my view of rugby. the next few months are going to change the face of rugby in kenya as we know it. remain at this blog to be on the front sit in witnessing the changes