Nairobi — The upcoming Kenya Varsity League is an opportunity for more women's rugby teams to emerge and aid the development of the game at the University and National level.
The organiser of the league, James Kimutai, said one of the core objectives of the competition is to entrench gender equality in sports as far as rugby is concerned.
"We are working together with Kenya University Sports Association (KUSA) to increase the number of women's teams at the university level. This is in the spirit of gender equality. We hope to have more Universities forming women's rugby teams and the same will be allowed to compete in the league," Kimutai said.
The inaugural edition of the 15-aside league - set for September 24-November 26 - will feature 16 men's and four women's teams.
The male teams include: University of Nairobi, Technical University of Mombasa, Strathmore University, Egerton University, Catholic University, Moi University, Meru University, Masinde Muliro University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Dedan Kimathi University, Technical University of Kenya and University of Eldoret.
The female teams include University of Nairobi (UoN), Strathmore, Masinde Muliro University and Kenyatta University.
Kimutai admitted it was a challenge registering women's teams because of the lack of enough rugby sides at the University level.
Apart from enhancing gender equality in sports, the organisers plan on leveraging on the league to create awareness on financial literacy and mental health among University students.
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"We are looking at a situation where we will have workshops a day before every league match, that is on Friday. We will have experts, such as psychologists come in provide students with tips on how to manage their mental health. Most of the league matches will be on Saturday, which makes Friday an opportune time for the workshops," he said.
Kimutai added: "Overall, we want the league to be sort of a feeder program for the professional clubs. The Kuza Kizazi initiative seeks to provide players with the opportunity to develop their sports and work careers. We have institutions such as Kenya Commercial Bank that have rugby teams and, in many varsities, we have rugby players undertaking courses, such as Business Management and Commerce."
He hopes the league will become bigger and better in subsequent years as more teams and corporate bodies come on board.
The league winners will receive a trophy as are the players of the tournament and different matches who will also be provided with a token.
"So far, we have a lot of corporates that are willing to come on board. Of course, the winning team will receive a trophy whereas there will be rewards for players who shine in different matches as well as across the season. Our dream is to facilitate a modern training facility for the league winners as well," Kimutai said.
Matches will be staged in nine venues across different universities in the country.
