The partnership, the biggest in rugby development history, will see Mwamba and Wadi Degla develop an age-grade rugby academy.
Mwamba, famously known as Kulabu, was founded in 1977 with the aim of promoting rugby among indigenous Kenyans when the game was still dominated by foreigners in the country. The philosophy still reigns supreme with this new partnership.
The academy, to be known as the WD-Mwamba Rugby Academy will be hosted at the Wadi Degla club’s ultra-modern sporting facility in Runda. Mwamba will provide the technical nous to run the academy, drawing from the renowned Mwamba Academy and the club’s vast experience in developing players from an early age.
The academy will develop players from as young as 4-years-old, who will learn the sport using Tag Rugby techniques, all the way to 18-year-olds who will be prepared to play at club level.
The academy is scheduled to kick off in early September and will initially recruit from Wadi Degla’s “Community Of Champions” members.
Mwamba President Alvas Onguru said: “As one of the premier sporting organisations on the African continent, and indeed the pioneers of the growth of rugby in our part of the world, we are delighted to open another chapter in the development of the sport along with Wadi Degla.”
On his part Ashraf Adel, Wadi Degla’s Operations Director welcomed the initiative saying: “Wadi Degla has always trusted its slogan Community of Champions. We have been working hard to bring social, leisure and sports to all of our dear members. We trust that we can change the lives of youths through sports. As a sports leader in Africa, we trust that adding rugby to our portfolio, through WD-Mwamba Academy, will present a platform to offer our youth the game they love, and will help us to grow our community of champions. We are happy to be on this journey with Mwamba RFC and we hope to grow rugby across the region.”
Mwamba has grown the sport of rugby with players such as Pritt Nyandat, Tom Oketch, the late Absalom ‘Bimbo’ Mutere among the founders of the club, to Edward Rombo, Manuel Okoth, Mwangi Muthee and more recently Kenya Internationals Humprey Kayange, Collins Injera, Lavin Asego, Daniel Taabu and Billy Odhiambo having grown through the ranks to not only play at the highest levels but also influence how the sport is played in the country. Mwamba is not new in age-grade rugby having had teams for the under 12s and under 16s among their rank and file.
Wadi Degla Clubs opened in Egypt in 2003. Five more clubs opened within the following years, serving 148,000 families and more than 600,000 individual members in Egypt. Extending the vision to Kenya and being an international social and sports club, Wadi Degla Runda Club opened its gates back in 2016. Its sports and leisure facilities include the finest sports infrastructures, restaurants, cafes, kids play area, gym, pools and the renowned TaraSpa.
