The first recorded rugby match in Kenya was in 1909 when a team composed of predominantly British officials took on Afrikaaner Settlers in Mombasa. The Rugby Union Of Kenya RFU-K was formed in 1923, the same year when Nairobi District team split to form Harlequins RFC which is not the current club Kenya Harlequins which was formed in 1952 and Nondescripts RFC. Impala RFC, another traditional club was founded in the 1930s. For a number of years, Nondescripts and the Harlequins were two of the best sides in the country and nominated Kenya Rugby when the British Isles went to South Africa for their 1955 tour and their 1962 tour, they played East Africa sides in Nairobi, on the return leg of their journey. The lions won both of the games, 39-12 and 50-0 respectively . The East Africa team played some of the best sides in East Africa.
The East Africa team played some of the best side in the world, including the British Lions in 1955, South Africa in 1961, and wales in 1964. The political struggle in Kenya took a heavy toll on rugby. Not only had the white population failed to promote the game properly amongst the black African and Asian population in Kenya, but when employment restrictions were introduced by the newly independent Kenyan state, they ensured that a number of the white British and South Africans who had been the mainstay of the game previously left the country.
The distances involved world frequently cause big communication problems for Kenyan teams. For example, in 1974, when Nairobi was due to apply Mombasa, the Mombasa team flew to Nairobi, while Nairobi team flew to Mombasa. It was a 950 mile round trip, meaning that the two teams covered nearly 2,000 miles in a game that did’nt happen until the 1970s the sport in Kenya was mainly played by expatriates. This changed once new black clubs, Mean Machine RFC and MWAMBA RFC were formed.
Today, rugby in Kenya is played almost exclusively by indigenous players. Rugby in Kenya is mostly played in Nairobi, only a handful of teams come from outside the capital . The struggle to make Kenyan rugby truly multiracial, and to make it popular was tackled frantically by the KRFU in the post-independence period, with success only coming under its president George Kariuki in the 1980 and 1990s . The former Gloucester player Dave Protherough helped out the KRFU, before his death in the mid- 1990s, and helped the game to thrive once more Kenya founder member of the confederation of African Rugby CAR, which was launched officially in January 1986 , in Tunis. Rugby officials fom Morocco, Segenal ,Ivory Coast, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Madagascar also attended Kenya plays host to the annual Bamburi Rugby Super Series which teams from other East African countries also attended. In 2009, it also hosted the IRB Junior World Trophy, the second tier of the uner-20 world championship structure established in 2008 by the sport governing body, International Rugby Board (IRB) Safari Sevens is an international Ruby Tournament played annually in Nairobi and is the most popular rugby competition in Kenya. Our women also are vry promising.
the heck game 