It is hard to teach a Kenyan good things, but as elder brothers, it is our job to give direction. For clarity, Uganda was a nation long before Kenya was, a whole grand year, among many things Uganda taught Kenyans how to do, go to school, by the time colony Kenya was accepting education for black men not yet women, Uganda had a school committed to girls’ education and the boys in Budo, Namilyango and the co ed Mengo were fully literate. University education, air travel, local legislative councils and domestic land rights, so defined that the biggest financiers of the MAU MAU movement were you guessed right. Uganda.
For sheer rugby terms, as early as the turn of the last century when Ugandan royalty went off to the blues of Oxford and Cambridge, rugby was here, the prince Mawanda forever immortalized for his cricketing prowess was a genuine standoff. The first black man to play rugby in Kenya specifically Nakuru Athletic Club a.k.a Nax Vegas was Ugandan, a certain Idi Amin, that year an all-black men team participated in the Enterprise Cup, the Kampala Rugby Club later on known as the Kampala Old Boys, it would take Kenya 30 years later to break that ground with the Milo later on morphing into Mwamba RFC.
Even on the continent, the trail blazing never stopped. Uganda was formally invited into the IRB membership in 1997, Kenya was stumblingly drunk on membership though and had to wait for the erstwhile better fed neighbors to show them the way.
On the 10th anniversary of the admission to the global world of Rugby, Uganda faced the likely foes Kenya in Antananarivo. The semifinal pitting the high-flying Cranes against a Kenya side that had blended the Shuja into their mix, Uganda 24-12 Kenya.Â
Uganda won their maiden Africa Gold Cup even before Kenya could dream of it.
In 2012, another semifinal in the Stade Municipal de Jemmal would pit the neighbours again in the semifinal. Uganda 21-19 Kenya. For the second time Uganda proceeded to the final beating those pretenders masquerading as defending champions. Zimbabwe sables with a knack for sneak peak were winners in one of the bitterest refereeing contests to date.
For sheer terms on who did it first, here is the story we have to cut short because of space limitations.
