Rayon Sports plot way forward

AFTER wrapping up the 2012/13 Primus National Football League, Rayon Sports are back to business. The club is set to strengthen the squad in a bid to launch successful campaign in next year’s Cecafa/Kagame Cup and Africa Champions League quest.

Friday, May 17, 2013
Nyanza Mayor, Abdallah Murenzi, celebrating with head coach Gomez at full time on Wednesday. The New Times / Courtesy.

* Coach Gomez proud of his players, success* Skipper Kanombe dedicates title to club fansAFTER wrapping up the 2012/13 Primus National Football League, Rayon Sports are back to business.The club is set to strengthen the squad in a bid to launch successful campaign in next year’s Cecafa/Kagame Cup and Africa Champions League quest.Rayon cliched their first league in nine years on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Musanze at Amahoro National Stadium.Needing only a point to secure the title, Burundian international Cedric Amissi netted his 15th goal of the season. Victory took the Blues to 57 points, five ahead of second-placed Police Fc going into the last round of fixtures set for May 25.The Club chairman Abdallah Murenzi, who is also the Mayor of Nyanza District, is determined to see that the league title is accompanied by "more success in the region and beyond.”"This is a historic achievement after such a long period, but now we have to go back to the drawing board and plan how to build on this success so that the club can win more trophies in the years to come,” the visibly excited Murenzi told Times Sport after Wednesday’s win.He added, "We want to strengthen the team by recruiting good Rwandan players as well as a few from outside (the country).”"After winning the league, our next mission is to ensure that we start next season with a solid squad and bigger ambitions of winning Cecafa/Kagame cup and also try to do well in the Caf Champions League next year,” added Murenzi whose management has been commended for the club’s success this season.Since their last league success in 2004, Rwanda’s most supported club has been struggling to challenge the big rivals APR mainly because of the financial problems but Murenzi and most analysts believe that will soon be history.Their 4-0 drubbing of archrivals APR, the 2-1 win over SC Kiyovu, the 5-0 demolition of Etincelles and the 6-1 rout of AS Muhanga gave the whole team belief that they could actually go and achieve the dream. Nyanza District led by the management of Murenzi injected over Rwf80 million in strengthening the team, established good administration and organisational skills in dethroning APR FC, who have won the Rwandan league a record 14 times in 19 years. Asked what secret he employed to turn Rayon into a winning team especially that he found them languishing in the bottom when he took over last October, head coach Didier Gomez da Rosa said, "Journalists often ask me what is my secret, but honestly there is no special secret, I am just lucky to work with very good players, who are determined to work hard and stay united.”"Before this match, I said to them; murakoze, murakoze cyane to make me a good coach. Nobody can imagine how much I am proud to be the coach of these guys. I love them,” noted the Frenchman.Skipper Aphrodis ‘Kanombe’ Hategikimana, the club’s longest serving player said, "I am happy for having accomplished this mission as a captain. The last time I won the title was in 2004 as a young player. I dedicate this title to our fans and club administrators.”Rayon was founded in Nyanza on May 1968 and moved to Kigali in 1986, using Amahoro Stadium for their home matches.