Lionesses fist fight in Angola sums Rio 2016 Team Kenya chaos

A bitter quarrel that escalated into a full scale fist fight as members of the national women rugby sevens team- the Lionesses- turned on each other physically on their way back from the Rio 2016 Olympics in one of the most embarrassing episodes of the crisis-plagued Team Kenya to the Summer Games.

The Rio 2016 Olympics Probe Committee report details the incident as clear evidence of how disorganized the team was during the August event as the girls turned on each other as tensions that simmered way before the Games boiled over.

It went down at the Luanda Airport in Angola when the team was waiting for their connecting flight back to Nairobi after ending their campaign in Rio where the Lionesses and women rugby sevens were making their debut.

“The fall out started over some prize money the team had received from the Government of Kenya for their wins in France and Italy in June 2016, which quickly escalated into a fist fight amongst the team members.

“The probe committee questioned both parties about the issue getting different answers where the team management said the girls were fighting over a man, but the team members said the fight was over the prize money,” part of the 90-page report that chronicles the shambles that were Team Kenya to Rio read.

“The probe committee tried in vain to have the team captain, Catherine Abila appear before it and shade more light on the team behaviour,” the reports adds.

“It all started before the team left to Rio, after the team selected by head coach, Michael Shamiah with the consultation of physiotherapist Ben Mahinda, Team Kenya Doctor Dr. Julius Ogeto and the two rugby consultants sent to help Kenya Rugby by World rugby (Peter Harding and Laurent Gainer) was changed without his approval by the team manager Sarah Ogola.

“This was not well received by both the coach and the players and the team morale began to drop,” the findings state on the genesis of the tensions in the team.

Josephine Adhiambo and Sanaida Aura selected by the coach while Camilyne Oyuayo and Linet Moraa carried the favour of the team manager.

This according to the report demoralised Shamiah who has since been replaced by Kevin Wambua at the helm of Lionesses who are currently on tour for the Dubai 7s.

“Men’s Head Coach, Benjamin Ayimba was given the additional responsibility of doubling up as the women’s head coach at the camp,  this not only made the women’s coach distracted, but it made him lose valuable time that would have been used on the men’s team.

“In Rio, as the team was preparing for the games, the programme and the schedule of training was constantly changed by the team management, this affected the transport and field usage schedule that was being shared by other teams,” the report highlights.

-Drastic measures-

“After a while, the Rio Games Local Organizing Committee could not tolerate it anymore and took a drastic measure of reporting the Kenya Rugby women’s team management to the IRB and Kenyan Rugby Union which was an embarrassing moment for the team and the country,” the Probe Committee underpinned.

During their preparations both teams held their training camp in Nandi Hills at the Nandi Bear Golf Club.

“Although the camp was at high altitude and was very conducive for the development of red blood cells and also away from distractions, it had many challenges that hindered the players’ preparations.

“The club they camped had no gym, there was no enough accommodation for both teams and therefore the women were accommodated at Nandi Blues hotel, some few kilometres away. The strength and conditioning coach, Geoffrey Kimani, was not at the camp and so the players had to do whatever they knew,” the report cited in laying into the ill preparations the rugby sevens teams were subjected to.

“The team having no nutritionist at the camp, the strength and conditioning coach who joined the team as they were travelling to Rio had to double as a nutritionist, despite Nock having accredited a nutritionist who travelled to Rio,” it added.

Both teams finished 11th out of 12th in their debut at the Olympics.

The probe committee recommends that the coaches and technical officials who have successfully handled the team in the recent past should be allowed to continue with the team once it qualifies since changing the technical bench with a few days to a major tournament destroys team cohesion.

“A fully equipped High Performance Center is needed for Rugby, while player welfare needs to be addressed at the team management level to avoid players fighting over prize money.

“Whenever the Government or any sponsor gives the players’ prize money the Kenya Rugby Union should at least be informed of the award and the payment schedule. This will help resolving any disputes that might arise,” it adds.