CHAN 2016 and the immense potential of the sports industry

The main chorus during the month of January has always been the scarcity of money. Those who owe you money in January will even expect you to understand why you are not being paid because ‘things are bad everywhere.’ However for Rwanda, the January woes have been clouded by the euphoria around the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN 2016). The tournament is for players that feature for their national leagues as they are often overlooked when bigger international engagements come up. With a total of 16 teams, Rwanda got the chance to host several Africans coming in to cheer on their national sides. The policy of allowing all Africans visas on arrival comes in very handy at such times. From day one it was quite obvious that the games that would most excite the hosts would be the ones that involved their neighbours and in this race the Democratic Republic of Congo emerged the team to watch out for. DRC is a football powerhouse and some of its local clubs like TP Mazembe are global brands. The organisers were even compelled to hike ticket prices for the quarter final encounter between Rwanda and DRC. This did not in any way dampen the moods of the fans as the tickets were soon sold out. The pre-match excitement was palpable everywhere. My biggest observation though was how much we can milk the opportunities that come with the passion around football. When the tournament started, I noticed so many people on Twitter were asking where they could buy a replica Rwandan football team jersey. It sounds like a simple request but it says so much more. On any given weekend in any African city your eyes will be tortured by the numerous Arsenal, Manchester, Liverpool, and Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Real Madrid replica jerseys worn by the fans of these clubs. Now imagine if our local clubs could also sell as many shirts and what that would mean for their coffers and administration in general. All the jerseys mentioned above come complete with the sponsors’ logo offering the big companies further exposure. If we directed enough passion in our local leagues then many local corporate companies would sponsor and have their brands gain from being on these shirts the same way global brands like Emirates and Chevrolet are doing. We cannot gain if we do not invest. The days when parents used to beat children for focusing on sports and not studying are long gone. The best paid footballers earn more than a Minister would ever dream of and your child can be those players. The skin colour is not even a big issue anymore. Kenyans and Burundians can identify their own in the premier league. Our governments must make an effort to see to it that there are structures to enable the identification and nurturing of sports talent. For example the master plans for any residential areas should include space for sports grounds. It is not enough to have streets where the middle class can jog while listening to music, we also need sports grounds where real games are played and skills perfected. Of late the talk about skills development is everywhere. You will hear a lot about the benefits of technical and vocational skills but little is said about sports skills. In countries like Uganda and Kenya the grabbing of school playgrounds by well connected land grabbers has taken on a worrying trend. And yet we all cheer when we see Kenyan athletes schooling others when it comes to field and track events. The sports industry is huge but like any other, the right policies and investments have to be made. When you have players earning over 150,000 British pounds a week, you know it is not just leisure but a huge industry that every economy would love to benefit from. So far all we have done is build a huge sports betting industry but what are we betting on? Why have we donated our passion to foreign leagues and left our own begging for crumbs? If you see how much money we are willing to spend on betting on the foreign clubs you can be sure we have the ability to support our own and reap even more. Given the bulging youth populations that all East African countries are faced with, now is a good time to seriously invest and grow the sports industry. We can keep them busy while setting them up for glorious sports careers.

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CHAN 2016 and the immense potential of the sports industry