As you drive past one of the most iconic roundabouts in Rwanda’s capital city Kigali, it’s hard to miss a giant billboard honoring one of the country’s most recent triumphs in sport: the national cricket’s team captain Eric Dusingizimana, who broke a Guinness world record batting non-stop for 51 hours in May 2016. He had trained months on end to accomplish the feat of the ‘longest net session’.
This has made Dusingizimana one of Rwanda’s most recognizable faces but has also brought awareness to a sport few talked about before. Remarkably, cricket is now being hailed as a new cohesive force for a country that has seen one of the world’s greatest human tragedies.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is all praise for the country’s new hero and his sport.
“The record-breaking feat of endurance recently accomplished by Eric Dusingizimana is a fitting example of the perseverance and determination that characterize the Rwandan people. Sport is a unifying force that builds both individual character and national cohesion and cricket is no exception,” said Kagame.
The president is an ardent lover of sport and one sees him occasionally expressing his views on various sporting disciplines to his million-plus followers on Twitter.
Rwanda reveres football, and has well-entrenched interests in basketball and cycling – the country’s rolling hills are filled with cyclists in colorful gear on Sunday mornings.
And now cricket is also getting its share of the limelight. The sport also has big names supporting it in Rwanda.
Former British prime ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair were famously part of the fundraising drive for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, which has now, over the past four years, managed to raise over a million pounds for phase one of a world-class facility for cricket in Rwanda. Blair was present when Dusingizimana broke the world record – he was in Kigali at the time to attend the World Economic Forum on Africa.
After bowling to Dusingizimana on his way to the world record, Blair noted the importance of the sport in a country like Rwanda.
“Cricket is known as a gentleman’s game and one cannot ignore the impact the sport has had in uniting the people of Rwanda,” he said.
The national team’s captain is mighty pleased about the mileage the sport has received since, which in turn helped raise additional funds for the stadium’s construction.
“That was easily the largest crowd I’ve seen at any cricket event in Rwanda and now more people know about the sport,” said the batsman.
<div id="attachment_32156" style="width: 650px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32156" class="wp-image-32156 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/0091.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="640" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0091.jpg 640w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0091-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0091-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0091-600x600.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0091-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />Mary Maina, captain of the women&#8217;s cricket team</div>
His accomplishment exemplified the many things the Rwandan people stand for, one of which is the country’s perseverance in rebuilding its economy after the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.
But before Dusingizimana became an overnight celebrity, it was not all rosy for the sport. One would hardly hear cricket mentioned outside its small circle of players and foreign enthusiasts. Newspaper coverage was hard to come by and radio and television did little. This made the task of finding sponsors for the game difficult.
It is partly for this reason that Dusingizimana and Alby Shale, founder and project director of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation decided to try something different.
Dusingizimana’s record was previously held by an Indian batsman but it was Shale who set out to achieve the first record. As part of the first campaign to raise funds for the sport, Shale had set a new world record batting for 26 hours but this was eventually broken by another Englishman whose record was 48 hours.
“It was at this point that my friends asked if I could do 49 hours but then came an Indian guy who made it 50 hours. That’s when Eric came and started working for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation and when I suggested it to him, he didn’t think twice.”
Shale’s first interaction with Rwanda came as part of a group of British volunteers who would come to the country every year to work for the Rwandan people.
“My father [Christopher Shale] set up a social action project that would go to Rwanda every year to try and justify why the British government should spend some of its GDP on international aid. I immediately fell in love with the people and saw first-hand how Rwanda was trying to rebuild its community having gone through the horrors of 1994,” says Shale.
It is during this time that he noticed the love the few cricket enthusiasts in the country had for the game.
“After my return to the UK, I started having extensive conversations with some organizations and my father about how cricket is a resource-intensive game and Rwanda was really lacking in facilities, this was ultimately prohibiting their development, that’s when we agreed to set up the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation to help the sport grow in the country.”
Unfortunately for Shale, a few months after setting up the foundation, his father passed away and that’s when it became more obvious he needed to focus on this as part of his legacy.
“I needed to channel my grief and keeping my father’s dream alive was the only thing I could think of. Cricket needed to be taken to the next level and ever since, we’ve been trying to raise funds to try and create the first international cricket stadium in Rwanda.”
The facility will include a cricket square, cricket nets, a maintenance facility and all the equipment needed to maintain the oval to international standards.
The foundation has to now raise a further £250,000 for the construction of a cricket pavilion. Its design will replicate a bouncing cricket ball in a bid to make it look authentic, and complementing Rwanda’s beautiful landscape. The local community will be involved in the construction of the facility.
Just like most development projects in the country, the Rwandan government has had a hand in seeing this dream come alive.
The government, through the Ministry of Sports and Culture, has not only given VAT exemption to the foundation but also provided the land on which the facility is to be built, free of charge.
“Such has been the government’s role in facilitating not only the growth of the sport of cricket but also across other sectors that has seen a whole-scale infrastructure transformation in the country,” Charles Haba, President of the Rwanda Cricket Association, had said in an earlier interview.
The story of Rwanda’s growth over the past 22 years is never complete without the mention of the role its women have played in seeing it come to fruition. Rwanda holds the record for the highest number of women in public office with a 64% representation in parliament.
This empowerment has been reflected across various sectors and the sport of cricket hasn’t been left behind. In its journey towards achieving the dream of a world-class cricket stadium, the national women’s team captain Mary Maina will attempt to set a new world record for the longest net session by a woman.
The feat has never been attempted before and Maina will have to bat for a minimum of 24 hours. A university student, she believes that the growing popularity of the sport among women is a reflection of women’s empowerment in the country. In fact, the growth of women’s cricket in Rwanda has seen it surpass that of international powerhouse India despite the latter having more people supporting it.
“Our leaders have made us believe that a woman’s place can be anywhere. In Rwanda, a woman is not only restricted to the kitchen stereotype, we have been made to believe that we can achieve anything and even be better at most things,” says the 24-year-old.
Clearly, the journey of cricket in Rwanda is not so different from the country’s own growth. They are both setting world records.

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Cricket: Rwanda’s New Unifying Force

At the age of 16, while his contemporaries were barely able to hit a football on target, Daniel Amokachi was already a fully-fledged international for Nigeria, and was competing against the best on the continent.
He began, like all African boys of his generation, by kicking an improvised ball in the streets of Kaduna in north-west Nigeria. Strong for his age, he stood out like a sore thumb. Before long, he was elevated to the youth sides of the city’s many territorial leagues.
He also featured for his secondary school team which won the state trophy and went on to play in the national championship, where, against overwhelming odds, they became champions.
In 1989, he was called up for a trial with his local Kaduna team, Ranchers Bees, who played in the top national league. The transition from playing in front of a few hundred students to suddenly finding himself displaying his skills in front of tens of thousands of Kaduna loyalists was a huge gulf but the confident 15-year-old was determined.
When Ranchers Bees faced Ivorian giants, ASEC Mimosas, in a regional tournament, he had no idea that the national team’s recently recruited Dutch coach, Clemens Westerhof, was present. Ranchers Bees won 3-1 with the effervescent Amokachi scoring twice. After the match, Westerhof sought him out.
“Do you know who I am?” the Dutchman asked.
“No,” replied Amokachi.
“I’m Clemens Westerhof, the national team coach, and I want you to play for the national team.”
Amokachi found himself at the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria a few months later. Nigeria went all the way to the final where they fell to a solitary goal against the hosts. They had gone to the tournament with little expectation and it was the first step of a journey that would see their star rise over the next decade.
Amokachi’s outstanding performances led to a move to the top Belgian side, Club Brugge, where he initially struggled to adjust to the the unfamiliar environment. He lived with a Belgian couple, Magda and Willie, who became his ‘foster parents’ and made his transition less stressful.
There were some memorable moments.
“I saw the great Jan Ceulemans, Belgium’s World Cup star, carrying a bag of balls to the training session from the dressing room and in true African culture, since he was much older than me, I went to carry the bag for him. He said no and told me that this week it was his turn and that my turn would come, and offered to show me the timetable for players’ duties. It was a learning process for me because it showed that as a team we were all equal irrespective of age, experience or form,” says Amokachi.
He spent four successful seasons in Belgium and was prominent in the Nigerian team that won the Africa Cup of Nations for only the second time in 1994, and that went on to the World Cup in the United States (US) the same year. It was here that Nigeria showed their class by topping their group, beating Bulgaria 3-0, Greece 2-0 and narrowly losing to Argentina 2-1.
In the second round, Nigeria led Italy by a single goal and were two minutes away from reaching the quarterfinal when a defensive error allowed Roberto Baggio to equalize. Baggio went on to score again in extra time and Nigeria were out of the tournament but left an indelible mark. Amokachi believes they could have gone much further.
<div id="attachment_4566" style="width: 230px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4566" class="size-medium wp-image-4566" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GettyImages-102304017-220x300.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="300" />DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA &#8211; JUNE 22: Lars Lagerback head coach of Nigeria speaks to Daniel Amokachi, assistant coach during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Group B match between Nigeria and South Korea at Durban Stadium on June 22, 2010 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Lars Lagerback;Daniel Amokachi</div>
“It’s the mentality of an African team. We always think it’s over when it’s not over. We were celebrating like we had already won. We forgot that football is 90 minutes.”
Amokachi scored one of the goals of the tournament against Greece, a scorching volley from outside the box, and earned accolades for his strength and skill. Shortly after, Everton Football Club came calling and he became the club’s most expensive player when they paid £3 million for his services.
Moving from the Belgian league to English football was a culture shock and initially Amokachi struggled.
“It’s a totally different ball game. The toughness, the speed is a reality. My nickname was ‘The Bull’ and I had strength and speed but after the first game I knew I had to really work hard. We played Blackburn Rovers in the first game and I had three opportunities that under normal circumstances I would score but each time a defender took the ball away from me. It took me six months to adjust. It was only towards the end of the season that I found my rhythm.”
He won the hearts of the Everton fans when he came off the bench to score twice in the FA Cup semifinal against Tottenham Hotspur to take the team to Wembley for the final. His two goals in 10 minutes etched his name into the club’s history books. Everton went on to beat Manchester United 1-0 in the final, with Amokachi making a substitute appearance.
He made his second World Cup appearance at the 1998 tournament in France, and was hoping Nigeria would go further after their second round exit in 1994, but it turned out to be a torrid time for both him and the team. An errant tackle in training saw him limp off the field.
He missed the first game against Spain, lasted 70 minutes against Bulgaria, but in the third match against Paraguay he felt his knee give way as he warmed up.
“I just walked off, didn’t tell anyone and went to the dressing room and locked myself in the toilet, in tears.”
He had surgery and played for another year but could feel that something was not right and underwent a second operation. A long period of rehabilitation followed. After unsuccessful spells with the Colorado Rapids in the US and Besiktas in Turkey, he made one final attempt with Créteil in France but when his injury recurred during the trial, he informed the club that he wouldn’t be able to continue.
After a discussion with his wife, he decided to give up the game at the young age of 28. It was a heart-rending decision that opened his eyes to life’s realities.
“One day you are up there and then you are down here. All the people you thought were your friends disappear. But that helps you because you now see who your real friends are. It makes you become a man and know what the world is really about. Even in your family, you find out who is really your true family.”
When the dollars were flowing, Amokachi was known for living the highlife and he made choices that he regrets.
“When you are living in that world and you wake up every morning, every week your bank account is credited, whether there is training or not, whether you play or not, that account is credited and you have endorsements left, right and center. You’re making money. You have style, you have class and you want to show it. But, when you sit down and think about it, the reality hits you. It’s not just about making money. You go back to Nigeria at that age of 28, and you see how people suffer and are really struggling, and it makes you realize that the life you were living is a totally different ball game. You think about the money you waste,” he says.
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“Someone will come and tell you they need some working capital and they ask for less than $100. You ask them what they can expect to generate from less than $100 and they just want to have enough to make small cakes and sell on the street to survive. Meanwhile you take out $120,000 to buy a car, and park five cars that you don’t really need and maybe drive them once a month. What are those things for?… You then realize that you need to use money to impact people’s lives and that’s how I’ve been living my life since, helping where I can.”
After his playing days came to an end, Amokachi took up coaching and has served the Nigeria national team as assistant and caretaker coach. In almost a replication of his playing career, he was assistant coach when Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and reached the second round of the World Cup in 2014.
At the age of 42, the African game will definitely be hearing the roar from The Bull in the future.

Tears of a wouNded bull

As a child in Kampala, Dennis Kirunda Mahadha dreamed of playing professional football in the leading European leagues. The son of the legendary national team captain, Jimmy Kirunda, pursuing a career as a footballer meant he had massive boots to fill. Undaunted, he arrived at West Ham United’s Chadwell Heath training ground in 2003 for trials with the English Premier League team. On the cusp of achieving his lifelong dream, Mahadha played his heart out as he sought to convince the club to offer him a contract. Sadly, the verdict after the trial was unfavorable.
“They wrote back to me saying that I hadn’t qualified; not because I wasn’t good, but because of their structure here. If you are above 16 [he was 19 at the time], your chances of playing professional are slim. So I was disappointed and I thought about leaving football completely,” he says.
Mahadha took a break from the game to reconsider his career. During this period of introspection, the light bulb moment occurred.
“I found out that many African brothers have gone through what I went through. Disappointed, they decided to go on the streets frustrated as they thought their life was over. So I came up with this idea of the African Nations Cup UK, for them to come and participate, and come back into football. I thought that this idea of football can unite the whole African community in [Britain] and when the community is united, lots of good can come out of it.”
With the help of a few trusted friends, Mahadha began planning for the tournament. The inaugural event, which featured eight countries, was held at the Hackney Marshes sport grounds in east London in 2009. Although small in terms of the number of countries and players, Mahadha was surprised by the excitement and interest from the African community. This motivated them to press on with the event which is held annually.
“In 2010, we identified the real people in charge of community football, so that’s when it went big. We registered 16 countries; we played our matches at Beckton and had our finals at the Terence McMillan Stadium,” says Mahadha.
Each year, the profile of the event gets bigger. This year, the tournament was declared open by the Rwandan high commissioner to Britain, Williams Nkurunziza. Partnerships have also been established with various county football associations, charities and corporate organizations, such as the Essex County Football Association, the Terrence Higgins Trust and Kick It Out, the anti-racism organization established by the English Football Association (FA). It was based on this that Mahadha received an interesting email on a routine work day last September.
The growth of Mahadha’s tournament and his contribution to grassroots football grabbed the attention of the country’s football authorities. They sent him an email to tell him he had been selected to attend an event at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the FA’s 150th anniversary.
“I thought it was junk. I looked properly at the email to see where it came from; it had the logo of the FA’s 150th anniversary and the signature of the Chairman, Greg Dyke, and I thought this is real. I was so pleased.”
The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, who is also the president of the FA, hosted the event which recognized 150 individuals for their contribution to the development of grassroots football. Mahadha received a commemorative medal and certificate signed by the prince. He relives the moment with a mixture of happiness and humor.
“I went and bought a nice suit from Marks &amp; Spencer and we went to Buckingham palace. Security was tight and the event was fantastic.”
Significantly, the Prince’s words to him remain etched in his memory.
“He told me ‘this idea, this concept is so good. Just keep it up; keep up the good work for the community.’”
Recognition has also come by way of a formal ranking on the FA’s community development list.
“When we began, we were just affiliated with the county FAs, just to get the license to run a football tournament. We had to be organized, we had to have the right timing for the tournament after the football season; and we had to have a clear vision. Your objectives must be very, very clear. We had all these, so through that we managed to partner with different FAs, then ultimately the big FA at Wembley. That’s why, this year, our draws were done at Wembley Stadium. We are now rated number 67 on the FA leaderboard. I think Arsenal is third, Barnet is second for community development, so we are on that list.”
From its humble beginnings when around 500 players registered for the tournament, the African Nations Cup UK now attracts more than 6,000 players of African descent as participants. This remarkable growth means the tournament could be a platform for discovering new talent. Convinced that it could become renowned for this, the organizers have introduced an under-15 category to run at the same time as the senior tournament.
“We have the unspotted talent at the tournament. Last year, three boys were taken to [English Premier League side] Norwich for trials. They were from Ghana. Also, there was a Zimbabwean guy who is now in Turkey, but he was spotted at the African Nations Cup UK. Based on this, we started thinking of giving the youth a chance and we had to introduce the junior category as well. The best player from the winning side gets a chance to take part at a competition at AFC Wimbledon. So now we give the best young players a chance to do trials at some good clubs,” says Mahadha.
The organizers hope the impact of the tournament will also be felt in Africa.
“We believe that African Cup of Nations UK will be a feeder to the African Cup of Nations. We get good players from here, they go into their national teams where they come from or where their parents come from, and they play for them to represent Africa,” says Daniel Lutaaya, the co-founder and head of marketing for the tournament.
Despite these remarkable achievements, Mahadha believes there is still some way to go to achieving his vision. He wants to have all African countries represented at the event.
“My dream is to see that not only 20 countries take part in this, but all 54 African countries take part. If we have 54 countries, then we’ve united the whole community. It’s not yet over until we reach the last person in the community.”

African Cup Mends Broken Dreams

To qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations 2013, was no mean feat. Zambia had to work extremely hard for the right to defend its title. Football today is tougher than people know. It is interesting that Egypt—AFCON winners in 2006, 2008 and 2010—was absent in 2012 and will again miss out on next year’s tournament after being defeated by minnows Central African Republic.
There are no longer weak teams in Africa. African football has become unpredictable. On no other continent, do rankings mean so little. FIFA rankings can be misleading because friendly matches also count, which means that football associations with larger budgets can afford more significant high-profile friendlies, earning them false gradings. My opinion is that rankings should only be calculated through official qualifying international matches. If one were to use rankings as a true measure for the grading of teams, how do you explain the likes of Ethiopia, which is ranked 33rd and Niger ranked 42nd in Africa qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations, over Egypt, Senegal and Cameroon? Each of these teams is brimming with international stars.
In order for Zambia to qualify for the AFCON 2013 we were drawn against Uganda—a team ranked 22nd in Africa and 90th in the world. As African champions, we went into this battle confidently, yet cautiously. Uganda had a track record of being unbeaten in Kampala. They are also reigning CECAFA, Eastern and Central African champions.
The AFCON qualifying format is home and away. Chipolopolo went into their home game to a capacity crowd at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, with only one thing on their minds: to score enough goals to win the game outright. Zambia won the game 1-0, yet were left with a dangerously narrow comfort margin.
In Kampala, we were confronted by a formidable Ugandan team. A team that never let up; a team that kept their shape and that fought until the bitter end, which ended in a 1-0 win to Uganda. Notwithstanding, with an aggregate score of 1-1, we went into penalties. Zambia’s composure and big match temperament paid off in the end, Zambia winning 9-8.
The Africa Cup of Nations was always a very exciting period throughout my career. I relished the opportunity to represent my country and did so with enthusiasm and ambition. All the effort, preparation and sacrifice is rewarded with incomparable satisfaction. National pride and honor are the greatest  incentives.
Becoming continental champions is the ultimate goal for any football association. As the Zambian Football Association president, Zambia winning this coveted title in 2012 filled me with immense pride and satisfaction.
The 2013 edition of this prestigious tournament will be held on South African soil. A host most worthy of this tournament after staging one of the most successful World Cups, in 2010. The world-class infrastructure that exists in South Africa is hard to beat.
The final 16 teams have qualified, the groups have been formed and the battle lines drawn. Next year’s tournament will see the return of powerhouses such as Algeria and the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Rookies Cape Verde, which qualified by overcoming the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, proved that no country is to be underestimated.
In fact, there are probably eight or nine countries which could conceivably become the champions. Zambia proved, in 2012, that a happy camp and a good result first up, builds momentum that can see a less fancied side go all the way.
Certainly, Zambia believed it had a squad capable of winning the tournament, but not many outsiders gave us a chance before the event. Now we go into this tournament with a weight of expectation both at home and across the continent. Many have become new fans of Chipolopolo, after what was achieved in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Group A hosts South Africa and Morocco, are probably the two favorites to advance, but Cape Verde has made great strides, in recent years, and even Angola has a squad, which can surprise.
Bafana Bafana has proved to be very difficult to beat at home. Over the last 20 years, they have lost just a handful of times to African opposition in South Africa. Morocco underachieved in 2012, of that there is no doubt, and their squad is better than recent results suggest.
Group B features perennial favorites Ghana and Mali, who finished third in 2012. They are two very good sides and it is hard to see past them when looking for candidates for a quarter final spot. But the Democratic Republic of Congo has been buoyed by the recent success of TP Mazembe in the CAF Champions League with coach Claude Le Roy, a seasoned tactician, who served as mentor to Zambia’s Hervé Renard. Niger is not the same force outside of Niamey as they are at home.
Zambia were the top seeds in Group C, as defending champions, and they have been drawn in a difficult pool. Nigeria is an obvious threat, though they are rebuilding under Stephen Keshi, while Burkina Faso can be a match for anyone on the day. Ethiopia has held South Africa and Nigeria in recent times and did very well to get past Sudan in the qualifiers. They will be no pushovers.
Group D could be the Group of Death. This could be the final chance for CÔte d’Ivoire’s golden generation to win the Africa Cup of Nations and it is something Didier Drogba is desperate for. He has had so much success at club level in his career, it seems incredible that he may end his glittering career without a Nations Cup win.
Algeria has proved to be one of the top teams on the continent since the last Nations Cup, while Tunisia may not have the strength of old, it still has some top individuals. Togo make a welcome return after the horror of the events preceding the tournament in Angola in 2010 when their bus was attacked by guerrillas. I think the whole of Africa is glad to see them back on this biggest of continental stages.
The open nature of the field, the wonderful stadia and surroundings, and the passion of the African people for football will, I believe, make this one of the best Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in history. African football is on the rise and this is our chance to prove this to the rest of the world.
May the best team win!

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Cricket: Rwanda’s New Unifying Force

Tears of a wouNded bull

African Cup Mends Broken Dreams

This Could Be The Best Ever