What is the future of Rwandan basketball?

IN the wake of Rwanda’s disqualification from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations group stage qualifiers in August, the Minister of Sports and Culture Joseph Habineza called upon all federations to ban naturalised players. The most affected sports disciplines are football and basketball which have over the years collaborated with the Immigration office to hand Rwandan citizenship to foreign players from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Europe and United States of America over the years. A public secret. These players received five-digit US dollar cheques to don the national jersey while their local counterparts on the same team settled for just hundreds. If anything the latter were on the team to make up the numbers. While this fueled discontent and fury among the home grown players, the basketball federation, Ferwaba turned a deaf ear to their concerns and overlooked the effects of this choice in years to come. Veteran shooting guard Jean Louis Habineza who made his national team debut in 2006 revealed that, “Some of the upcoming players were forced into early retirement after their dream of playing for Rwanda was shuttered.” Habineza vividly recalls most of his national team engagements were spent on the bench as the naturalised players took centre stage en-route to Rwanda being crowned champions or runners-up at regional events. Home grown players like Aristide Mugabe, Aboubakar Barame and Olivier Muhizi barely got playing time and warmed the bench only to lift the trophy at the end of tournaments as Rwanda dominated regional basketball representing the Zone 5 at the Fiba Afrobasket four consecutive times from 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. According to Habineza, this affected the growth of basketball in Rwanda because upcoming players opted to play the game for fun rather than continue with club basketball if they were not going to make the national team anyway. The 32-year-old Habineza, who retired from the national team last year, believes that the absence of a competitive league has also affected basketball development in Rwanda. The national league currently has 11 men’s teams and just four clubs in the women’s category, a feat that has affected the competitiveness of the league. Six of the current national team players including national team captain Aristide Mugabe, Lionel Hakizimana, Pascal Karekezi, Elie Kaje, Bienvenue Ngandu and Olivier Shyaka feature for the reigning champions Espoir, a side, that as a matter of fact not lost a regular season game in two years. Espoir’s dominance has been fueled by the decline of archrivals APR once a regional force because of using foreign players. However, two years ago the military side adapted the home grown player policy with head coach Cliff Owuor doing a remarkable job. However, the youthful side can only put up a fight against Espoir. Habineza further added that, “We should learn from the Ugandans. Their league is vibrant and has so many teams which fuels competition. You can now see they beat us at Zone 5 and have qualified for the Afrobasket championship next year.” The Ugandan league has over 40 men’s teams in three divisions while the women’s category has two divisions with eight teams in each including secondary schools. On this basis, Uganda emerged winners of the women’s title at the just concluded Zone 5 in Kampala while the men defeated Rwanda 85-77 to finish second and qualify for the continental showpiece. In an interview with the Ferwaba secretary general Richard Mutabazi, he said, “We cannot force teams to join the league. As a federation, we deal with the available ones that are ready to play in the league.” Of the 11 teams in the men’s category, only Rusizi is from upcountry, the rest are based in the City of Kigali. However, the Ferwaba technical director Didier Shema Maboko revealed that the federation has grassroots programmes across the country. “We have trained school teachers and coaches in Fiba coaching courses for children and they are creating awareness about the game and teaching the students the basics of basketball,” explained Maboko. The national leagues in Rwanda do not have sponsorship from any corporate company as compared to their counterparts in the region for example the Kenyan league which recently signed a Ksh12m ($134,680) sponsorship package from Top Fry and Kabras Sugar as well as have the games broadcast on pay channel Supersport. In Uganda, the league is sponsored by Airtel which injects an undisclosed fee with each team in the topflight divisions receiving Ugsh3m ($1,121) per month. According to federation officials in Kenya and Uganda, this money helps them to run day-to-day activities of the federations as well as promote the game across the countries. Ferwaba also faces a challenge in the growth and development of women’s basketball in Rwanda. With just four teams competing in the national league, there is a less competitive atmosphere for the girls and women who are often challenged by a society that is yet to fully embrace female competitive sport. Just like the men’s side, the national women’s team also suffered from a lack of interest by home grown players after several American players were naturalised in order to represent Rwanda at zonal tournaments. At last year’s Zone 5 event in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the Rwandan women’s side finished fourth after losing to Uganda in the third place play off. This year, they were denied a chance to compete at the regional tournament after Ferwaba announced that the Ministry of Sports and Culture had released funds for only one team and therefore preference was given to the men’s side. Asked about a specific plan to address women’s basketball in the country, Maboko said, “There is no specific plan for women’s basketball. We are looking at spreading the game with no particular attention to the women. We are doing a general plan.” For the first time since 2007, the men’s side will not compete at the Afrobasket championship while no Rwandan club will represent the region at the Fiba Africa Club championships after Espoir and APR finished in sixth position in the men and women’s categories respectively. At the Fiba Africa Zone 5 U-18 tournament in May this year, defending champions Rwanda lost 63-61 to Uganda in the boys’ category as the hosts emerged regional winners. Uganda registered a double victory over Rwanda after winning 73-53 in the girl’s category to qualify for the continental tournament. Losses at the club, youth and senior national team levels in 2014 at regional tournaments has left Rwanda with a lot of thinking to do ahead of next year.