Safari Sevens

Safari Sevens

Current season, competition or edition: 2014 Safari Sevens
125px Safari Sevens
Formerly	Tusker Safari Sevens
Sport	Rugby union sevens
Founded	1996
Inaugural season	1996
Motto	Africa's premier rugby sevens tournament
No. of teams	16
Country	19
Venue(s)	Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
Most recent champion(s)	Kenya 2013
Most titles	Kenya (6)
Qualification	By application and invitation.
Sponsor(s)	Safaricom
Official website	[2]

The Safari Sevens, is an annual rugby sevens tournament held in Kenya. The tournament is run by the Kenya Rugby Football Union. The competition is promoted as being Africa's premier rugby sevens tournament drawing crowds of over 20,000 to the weekend event.

It is unusual amongst modern tournaments in that it is contested by numerous national representative sides from Africa and beyond, by professional sevens outfits, professional and amateur club sides, invitational teams, universities and schools. The competition was originally held at the RFUEA Ground, Ngong Road, Nairobi. At that time the South African company Supersport was broadcasting the tournament live on DSTV.

After 15 years at the RFUEA Ground and growing attendances annually, the tournament was taken to the Nyayo National Stadium for the first time where it run in 2011 and 2012. The rationale for the move was to allow room for more spectators as the RFUEA Grounds had in previous years been packed to the rafters.

In 2013 it was moved to its current home at the 60,000 seater Moi International Sports Centre at Kasarani in Nairobi's northern suburbs.

History

Since the earliest days, rugby in Kenya had relied on a regular influx of foreign touring sides in order to test the mettle of the local teams and to provide opposition for the representative sides such as the Scorpions RFC and East Africa. The coming of professionalism to rugby in the 1990s all but dried up these tours and it was decided that a means had to be found of reinitiating the influx if the quality of rugby in the country was not to stagnate.

The Rugby Patrons Society decided to put in place a seven-a-side tournament and invite a number of foreign national and club teams to participate. Robin Cahill (a founder member of the society and the man whose brainchild the tournament is) led a team of Patrons to run all the early competitions and oversee its integration into the Kenya Rugby Football Union's calendar. The trophy, a bronze of two elephants, is named in his memory.

The Inaugural Tournament 1996

The inaugural tournament took place in 1996, Public School Wanderers, who had supported Kenyan rugby for many years, brought a strong squad as did the Welsh Exiles (a team managed by the Welsh Rugby Union to nurture Wales qualified players living outside of the Principality) captained by future Welsh International captain, Colin Charvis. The tournament also included several international teams (Arabian Gulf, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe) as well as Selkirk RFC and a Cumbria Schoolboys team. The chairman of the referees was the famous English referee Ed Morrison and he took charge of the final between the Public School Wanderers and Zimbabwe. Chester Williams was there as guest of honour and to present the trophies to the winners which included Kenya (who beat Uganda 38-12 in the Plate final) and Cumbria Schoolboys who defeated Shujaa 29-10 in the Bowl Final.

Expansion and Growth 1997-2007

In 1999 the Kenya Rugby Football Union applied and won the right to host the Africa Zone Qualifying Tournament for the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens Finals. This qualification competition was combined with the 2000 tournament to make it into a longer 3 day festival of rugby rather than cancel the Safari Sevens. The Kenya sevens side did not therefore take part in the Safari Sevens; Shujaa the Kenya 'A' side carried the hopes of the home crowd and did not disappoint, winning the cup. In the World Cup Qualifying tournament Kenya, captained by Sammy Khakame, defeated Swaziland and then Madagascar at the beginning of day two and then Namibia in the semi-finals on day three, thus qualifying to go to Argentina the next year as there wer two slots open to the African Zone. Zimbabwe defeated Kenya in the final.

The tournament has grown in stature with a large increase in crowds numbers. In 2004 the first women's team played in the tournament.

In 2005 Fijian rugby great, Waisale Serevi played for Kenya A (Shujaa) as a guest player.

Since then the tournament has attracted the likes of London Irish, Emerging Springboks, Fiji, Japan, Western Province, Argentina, Golden Lions, Belgium Barbarians.

The tournament has atrracted a variety of international rugby players and coaches including Naas Botha in 1999, Waisale Serevi and Gordon Tietjens.

Consolidation 2008-2009

A Bristol University Select player scores a try at the 2008 Safari Sevens, at the RFUEA Ground

The 13th edition of the Safari Sevens saw a rise in the gate fee of KSh200 per person to KSh800, in addition the weather was colder than usual but this did not produce any reduction in the crowds. The spectators included Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi (who presented the prizes) and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, as well as various other celebrities from the world of Kenyan showbusiness ensuring a constant flow of Hummers, Jaguars and Range Rovers into and out of the car park.

The Fiji Barbarians made their debut at the Safari Sevens in 2008. National teams taking part were Botswana, Emerging Springboks, France A (Les Blues), Japan, Namibia, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. In addition Samurai Sevens (a professional rugby invitation side) and the Kenya A sevens team (Shujaa) and University of Paris also took part. Bristol University Select (a team put together from Bristol University, Clifton RFC and the professional Guinness Premiership side Bristol) returned to take part in the Safari Sevens yet again; they have participated in every Safari Sevens ever staged.

Kenya won the competition beating the Emerging Boks in the final, 31–12. The continued increase in the number of people attending the event and this year's rise in admission caused many critics called for an upgrade in the quantity and quality of seating available for spectators.

Nine nations took part in the 2009 event; Botswana, Japan, Kenya (who finished sixth in the IRB Sevens World Series this year), Morocco, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Other foreign teams included the perennial Bristol University Select from the UK, Hamilton Raiders RFC from South Africa, Les Bleus Sevens from France, and Western Province schoolboys. There was also a Kenyan invitation side the Chairman’s Select. Other local entrants included various Kenya club veterans sides, ladies and schools teams.

Kenya Harlequins won the veterans competition beating a Rift Valley Academy Veterans 17–5, Western Province took the schools title with a 19–0 win over Nyanza, while Mwamba RFC I won the ladies title with a 54–0 win over Vivi.

The refereeing cadre included the IRB elite referees Wayne Barnes and David Rose of England.

2010-2015

See the main articles

• 2010 Safari Sevens
• 2011 Safari Sevens
• 2012 Safari Sevens
• 2013 Safari Sevens
• 2014 Safari Sevens
• 2015 Safari Sevens

The future of the Tournament

The tournament, which was previously staged in June or July each year, will in future be held in September or October to attract more participation from international sides and foreign clubs. Despite there being over KSh 40 million in sponsorship from various sponsors the Safari Sevens still does not offer any prize money. There are some commentators of the opinion that until prize money is offered the tournament will continue to be subject to late withdrawals from major teams.

Sponsorship

In the first year the tournament was run on a shoe-string budget provided by the Rugby Patrons Society and the KRFU. In its second year the tournament was sponsored by East African Breweries Ltd (EABL), the makers of Tusker beer and became known as the Tusker Safari Sevens.

In 2008, EABL sponsored the event with a donation of KSh24 million. In 2009 this was increased to KSh 26 million, of which KSh20 million was allocated to go directly to KRFU for the running of the tournament and for their development work in Kenya. The other KSh6 million was earmarked to be spent on various peripheral supports, most notably media during the event.

EABL remained the sponsors up to, and including, the 2009 event; Safaricom became the main sponsor in 2010. Safaricom donated KSh25 million, which was to be divided into two parts; Ksh22 million being directed towards the running of the annual tournament, the remaining KSh3 million was spent on sponsoring a Media Centre at the event.

Table of Previous Winners

A list of results for all tournaments.

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate	Bowl	Shield
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Winner	Winner
1996	RFUEA Ground	Public School Wanderers (U.K.)	40-14	Zimbabwe	Kenya	Cumbria Schoolboys
1997	RFUEA Ground	Kenya	24-21	Cumbria School Boys (U.K.)	Public School Wanderers (U.K.)	Uganda
1998	RFUEA Ground	Bristol University Select (U.K.)	33-7	Samurai International	Lusaka RFC (Zambia)	Zimbabwe
1999	RFUEA Ground	Public School Wanderers (U.K.)	25-22	Bristol University Select (U.K.)	Uganda	Kenya Harlequins
2000	RFUEA Ground	Shujaa (Kenya A)	26-24	Bristol University Select (U.K.)	London Scottish (U.K.)
2001	RFUEA Ground	British Army	45-26	Bristol University Select (U.K.)
2002	RFUEA Ground	British Army	40-7	Kenya	London Irish (U.K.)	Ulinzi Stars RFC (Kenya)	Uganda Kobs RFC (Uganda)
2003	RFUEA Ground	Kenya	29-7	Emerging Springboks	Zambia	London Irish (U.K.)	Lagos RFC, Nigeria
2004	RFUEA Ground	Kenya	10-7	Emerging Springboks	Golden Lions (S.A.)	Shujaa (Kenya A)	Kenya Commercial Bank RFC
2005	RFUEA Ground	Samoa	50-5	Western Province (S.A.)	Zimbabwe	Tanzania
2006	RFUEA Ground	Emerging Springboks	26-22	Zimbabwe	Uganda	Shujaa (Kenya A)	Botswana
2007	RFUEA Ground	Emerging Springboks	27-17	Zimbabwe
2008	RFUEA Ground	Kenya	31-12	Emerging Springboks	Bristol University Select (U.K.)	Japan	Zambia
2009	RFUEA Ground	Kenya	40-19	Emerging Springboks	Hamilton Raiders RFC (S.A.)	Bristol University Select (U.K.)	Japan
2010	RFUEA Ground	Kenya	17-12	Emerging Springboks	Ponsonby RFC (N.Z.)	Argentina	Hamilton Raiders RFC (S.A.)
2011	Nyayo National Stadium	Samoa	31-12	Samurai Sevens	Auckland Vikings (N.Z.)	(Tackling Cancer) Tiger Rugby (USA)	Uganda
2012	Nyayo National Stadium	South Africa Elite Programme Development	21-17	Kenya
2013	Moi International Sports Centre	Kenya	40-7	Australia Renegades	Samurai Sevens	Grenoble	KCB RFC
2014	Moi International Sports Centre	Welsh Warriors	24-17	Argentina	Kenya	Germany	Golden Lions

Notes

a. ^{^} In 2000 Kenya won the right to host the Africa Zone Qualifying Tournament for the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens Finals. Rather than cancel the Safari Sevens they combined both events into a three-day festival. The Kenya sevens side did not therefore take part in the Safari Sevens; Shujaa the Kenya 'A' side carried the hopes of the home crowd and did not disappoint, winning the cup.

External links

• Safarisevens.com
• Kenya look to the world stage
• Safari Sevens Profile on UR7s