A fortnight ago, Patriots were for a third consecutive year crowned Rwandan champions after overpowering archrivals Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in the final of the 2019/20 BK Basketball League at Kigali Arena. It was also the club’s fourth championships in the last five seasons as they became the first side to retain the championship three times in a row ‘three peat’ since Espoir did so from 2012 to 2015. And, thanks to their league success, Patriots again secured their ticket into the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2021. The club are also representing the country in the inaugural BAL season this year, with the finals tournament due in December, in Rwanda – at the Kigali Arena. This week, Weekend Sport’s Damas Sikubwabo caught up with Brian Kirungi, the club’s president, to discuss the team’s five-year journey of dominance, secret behind the achievements as well as future prospects of the team. Excerpts: Patriots have been in the league for six years. How did the club come about, whose idea was it to found a new team and register it in the league? Actually, Patriots is older than six years. We started as an informal team for veteran players who only played basketball to stay fit. Then with time, we thought we could do more and everyone had passion for basketball, and wanted to contribute to the development of the game in Rwanda. At some point, we talked to the basketball federation (Ferwaba) about a possibility of founding a new club and fielding it into the league. The federation’s leadership welcome the initiative and here we are today. Four-time champions in six seasons. What would you say is the secret behind the Patriots’ success? There is no particular secret. Often all things are due to passion and hard work. What the people of Patriots have, be it fans or members and players is passion and the love for basketball. But, on a social note, the success is mostly because we have players who are committed to each other and to the team goals, supported by an executive committee that is united. It is that bond that makes us who we are – a club that always wants to win. Many clubs have limited resources and often struggle to meet their financial obligations, where do you get funding as Patriots? Most of the support comes from the club members. Obviously, there is a percentage that comes from other partners and sponsors like Azam, but the members are and have always been our primary source of budget as a team. It was not an easy period for clubs during the Covid-19 lockdown. How was it for you, because you came back stronger to retain the league title? Like everyone else in the sporting industry, Covid-19 was also a difficult situation for us. We had to overcome many challenges, and we only did because we understood what needed to be done and every member of the team – and the club management – was determined. My contribution was probably the easiest, I just needed to coordinate the efforts from everybody and it was not hard because we all wanted to be champions again. It was unusual, but because we have members that love the sport and know the reason why we are in these things, it was easy for me to put them together. They did a great job, and our sponsors Azam came on board, we put in effort and we managed to win the championship. After six years in the league, do you feel like you have done and achieved enough? Based on what we set out to achieve when we entered the league, I think we have achieved more than we expected. First we want to make basketball more popular and I believe everyone agrees that Patriots have contributed a lot towards that. Basketball is now probably among the top two most popular sports in the country. Then because the sport gained popularity and, more and more talents came out, the government constructed the Kigali Arena, a modern facility that cannot be found anywhere else in the region. We made the league more competitive, entertaining and in the process won many trophies. However, we are not resting on our laurels. We will continue to work hard in making in our league one of the best in Africa and making Patriots one of the best clubs on the continent. After retaining the league title, what are your immediate next plans? We are now focused on getting ready for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) and making sure that we have everything in place to represent the country well. The competition is on a high level, slightly higher than our local league, so we cannot take anything for granted. We will build the BAL squad from the core set of players and beef it up with maybe one or two new players. What we put forward is the chemistry of the team and doing the best with what we have, and I think that mentality allows us to challenge at the highest level. There are foreign players that played for Patriots during the BAL qualifiers last year, and even featured in the league. Will they return for the BAL finals? Currently, we have a pool of about 20 players, but we will only need 12 players for the BAL finals. So everyone is going to be tested and we have a technical team that I have confidence will select the most deserving players. Head coach Dean Murray and his assistants should be able to name the final squad in mid this month. While selecting the team, we will not use any sentiments. We will simply pick the best.
