KRU Chairman outlines plans to digitize rugby

It will be a new beginning for the Kenya Rugby Union if the agenda of current Chairman Sasha Mutai to digitize rugby is anything to go by.

The sport has for a long time been old school. This year for instance the Kenya Cup season came to a conclusion on March 11 but fans are still waiting to know the Top Try Scorers, Most Valuable Players of the season, and so on.

Recently, National 15s rugby champions Koyonzo High School were disqualified from participating in the Western Region Secondary School Term One games for fielding an ineligible player during their tie against Butula Boys High School. Koyonzo won the match 12-6. That left Butula in the title contention. Mutai blamed the situation on the lack of digitalization.

“Kenya Rugby is going hi-tech; we do have a technology partner. It is no longer paperwork. Paperwork is what is causing a lot of problems when you see players from other teams coming to play finals for other sides whereas there is technology. We have internet everywhere we can have biometrics so when the players are getting registered. Once a player is on the database, they will be tracked throughout their playing career,” Mutai said.

In addition to that, the former Kenya 7s Vice Chairman noted that the move will aid in tracking future Kenya Rugby stars.

“We will also do registration for schools. We have also to track our future players and we will put in a Kenya National Schools team that will go and play in South Africa in the Grand Commo week and in a few years go for the global CocaCola Craven week. If you are a Kenyan and you play good rugby, you will end up playing for Kenya,” he noted.

The Chairman told Mozzart Sport that the Union is seeking to fully engage with all the fans across the world. Mutai had a technological background. In 1998, he was part of the fixtures committee that came up with the scoresheets with the likes of Godwin Karuga and Albert Wachira. He promised to do away with paperwork.

How Francis Baraza's tactical prowess helped Police trounce over Bandari

“KRU has an application that has been developed but it has not been fully used. Because our fans are mostly young people, we will have the KRU app with details of games, scores, and ticketing information, and we are also engaging ESE providers so that all payments and everything will be cashless, and everything will be on that app. Data is key. With our followers like on social media and all that. Now, when we put it in the app and put it down to numbers, who comes to the games, what do they like, that is the way to go,” he explained.

“We cannot be guessing. Immediately after the game, all scores should be updated on the database and verified because fans have to know the Most Valuable Players, Top Try Scorers, and statistics too, like who scored in which game, etc. That will also help us to engage with our partners like betting companies,” he concluded.