Masudi holding Rayon Sports together and needs full support

One in three Rwandans, supports or at least sympathizes with Rayon Sports, which is why a joke has been coined within the Rwandan football circles to show how popular the club among the locals, “The beer is Primus, the religion in Catholic and the club is Rayon Sports.” Loving/supporting or hating Rayon Sports is a subject that divides opinions among Rwandans and whether you like it or not, a stable and successful Rayon Sports is the best thing that can happen in Rwandan football—it reinvigorates the mood within the general public. When Rwanda’s most popular football club packed their belongings and decided to relocate back to their original home in Nyanza, the ‘whole world’ knew about it, it was national news as the story made headlines. Three years down the road, the club returns to the capital, but only that it was through the back door! In fact, no one knew when the team returned to Kigali as their base at the start of last season following Nyanza district’s decision to stop funding the team after former district mayor Abdallah Murenzi, a diehard Rayon Sports fan, stepped down as the club president at the end of his term in office. It’s hard to confirm whether Murenzi stepping down as club president had anything to do with Nyanza district cutting sponsorship to Rayon Sports, but one thing for certain, is that since he left that post, which he held for less than 12 months, the club has taken a few steps backwards. Since leaving Nyanza, the Blues have had trouble finding a permanent home or even training ground—currently they play their home matches at Kigali Regional Stadium while training at Mumena stadium, which they share with SC Kiyovu. But before settling for Mumena, Djuma Masudi’s team trained at different grounds including the FERWAFA ground in Remera, Kicukiro Stadium, the home of Police FC and even at their former training field ‘stade malaria’ in Rugunga. Despite the change of leadership from Murenzi to Denis Gacinya, a city businessman, who is the current club president, Rayon Sports are ticking all the right boxes in terms of performances, thanks in large portions to work of head coach Masudi and his technical team. If the statistics I have are anything to go by, Masudi, a former Rayon Sports captain and striker, has lost only twice since taking over as head coach in February signing a three-year contract until 2020. In his first half season in charge, the Burundian tactician led Rayon to second place in the league, behind champions APR FC, and to the 2016 Peace Cup title after beating APR 1-0 in the final. The former Burundian forward re-joined Rayon Sports last November in the capacity of assistant coach under Belgian tactician Ivan Minneart, who ended his ties with the club in February to join Kenyan side AFC Leopards. Masudi, 39, was voted Revelation Coach of the Year for the 2015/16 season, piping APR’s Tunisian coach Nizar Khanfir and Etincelles’ Innocent Seninga to the accolade. Currently top of the table and still unbeaten after seven rounds of matches, including six wins and a draw, Rayon Sports fans are dreaming once again because their team is not only winning matches and consistently but also doing it playing good football, scoring goals and not conceding that many. The big players are performing, the fans are coming in big numbers to support their team and most importantly, the rival teams must be loathing to face the league leaders, who seem to be unstoppable in their bid to add to their seven league titles, the latest coming in 2013. However, being the self-destructive Rayon Sports that we’ve all come to get accustomed to, for they like shooting themselves in the foot when things are going well for them, the loyal fans can only hold their breath and hope that none of the old habits will crop up between now and end of the season. You know old habits die hard. Gacinya and his management team need and must do everything within their means and power to make the players and coaches’ salaries are paid on time, but most significantly, give Masudi all the support that he needs to work in a happy environment because he is the screw holding Rayon Sports together. Masudi and his team have the momentum at the moment and it will take either a self-destruction antic or really hard work by their rivals, particularly APR FC, who currently five points off the pace albeit having played a game less, to stop them. editorial@newtimes.co.rw