EDITORIAL: Wake up Union, we want to see our rugby grow
What you need to know:
- Two years later, Tanzania won the CAR Castle Cup before clinching CAR Castle Cup Division 2 in 2007. All these signalled the future we all crave. But since the ignominious outing at the Bamburi Rugby Super Series in 2010, there is no doubt that Tanzania is not making progress.
Five or so years ago, rugby was one of the less popular sports that were steadily coming out of the doldrums. The national team, Twigas, competed in regional and invitational championships. Since 2010, though, the high energy sport has suffered a major downturn.
The Twigas no longer make the headlines. While cricket has grown in leaps and bounds in the past decade, rugby enthusiasts see little or nothing at all of strategies to raise the sport. Is the Tanzania Rugby Union (TRU) still active? If it is, why is rugby on a downward spiral then?
The previous TRU regime laid plans to promote rugby from the grassroots but, judging from what is going on the ground, things fell apart.
Dar es Salaam and Arusha were doing stupendously as far as rugby promotion is concerned, but the excitement has dipped and the likes of Dar Leopards and Arusha Rhinos are hardly ever in the news.
The Twigas played their first officially recognised international match in 2004 and defeated Burundi. Two years later, Tanzania won the CAR Castle Cup before clinching CAR Castle Cup Division 2 in 2007. All these signalled the future we all crave. But since the ignominious outing at the Bamburi Rugby Super Series in 2010, there is no doubt that Tanzania is not making progress.
It is high time the TRU came up with strategies that will foster the growth of rugby countrywide. Tanzania has millions of youngsters with the right physique to play rugby. All that the TRU has to do is organise multiple age-based tournaments regularly and use these to tap into and groom talent.
Kenya and Uganda are miles away in terms of rugby development and it is imperative that the TRU devises strategies that will rekindle our enthusiasm for the sport. TRU needs to pin down what has failed us in recent years--and then hit the ground running. We must never stumble again.
