RAYON Sports, the reigning Rwanda Premier League champions, have reportedly gone four months without players, and Ghanaian striker Michael Sarpong blames the club for abandoning them during the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown. Some of the players, who preferred anonymity because they have been warned not to take the issue to the media, said they have for long been claiming for the unpaid salaries but all has been in vain. Sarpong says that the situation worsened in the last month since, before the pandemic, players ‘at least’ relied on match bonuses. “The club owes us four months in salary arrears and allowances. Life is very hard for all the players,” said Sarpong. “We demand to be paid so we can survive in this lockdown.” Another player said, “The lockdown does not mean that we don’t have bills to pay, some have families depending on us. The club should really sort this problem out.” However, Rayon Sports president, Sadate Munyakazi, has denied – via his official Twitter handle – that the Blues owe any arrears to its players. Meanwhile, Rayon Sports boss has appealed for the government to step in, in supporting non-playing staff after the league was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rwanda is currently on lockdown since March 21 and all sports activities, including the topflight football league, have been put on hold to curb the spread of the deadly virus. The local football season usually ends in July, but it won’t be the case this year unless the season is considered null and void, though, the league only remained with six match rounds before it was suspended on March 17 after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the country. As of Sunday, April 12, Rwanda had recorded 126 cases, from which 25 had recovered and discharged. Globally, the cases have risen to more than 1,859,011 – with over 438,236 recoveries.
