Former Kenya international Peris Mukoko-Wanyaga wants the women’s rugby team to be given the same treatment as their male counterparts.
“Women’s rugby is quite often just an afterthought in Kenya as the sport is obviously a male-dominated field,” said Mukoko.
Mukoko has very much seen it all in the sport of rugby as she went through the ranks from being a fan, a player (played for both the national 7s and 15s teams), officiating, educating, and a director at the Kenya Rugby Union.
“Women do not get as much attention from the government, sponsors and fans despite the fact that the Lionesses always punch above their weight and bring back good results and are very marketable,” she said.
SportPesa recently signed a sponsorship deal worth Sh15m and Sh22m for the National Sevens Circuit and Shujaa respectively.
The women’s national 15s side, Lionesses, are currently the second-best team on the continent as they are ranked 23rd worldwide, sitting 11 places behind South Africa.
“Majority of female rugby players in the country pick up the sport after the age of 18 in comparison to their male counterparts who averagely start playing rugby at age 14 or earlier,” she revealed.
“We should take the right steps to head in the direction of Europe, who recently held a regional Sevens U18 tournament for girls (Prague U-18 Sevens Championship).”
“It would be nice to see the women use a full pitch to train instead of just a try-box and for them to attend conclusive residential camps, especially before tournaments,” she said.
The Lionesses are set to compete in the third division of the inaugural edition of the WXV, where they will face Colombia, Fiji, Ireland, Kazakhstan, and Spain in Dubai from October 14, 2023.
The Lionesses' Head Coach, Dennis Mwanja, said his team will be aiming for nothing short of victory in the tournament as they have been training hard since qualifying.
