Rwandans overcome hardship to fulfil Tens dream in East Africa team
The modern facilities at Hong Kong Football Club are a world away from downtown Kigali in Rwanda for the diehard GFI East Africans team taking part in the GFI HKFC Tens – in distance and in luxury.
The modern facilities at Hong Kong Football Club are a world away from downtown Kigali in Rwanda for the diehard GFI East Africans team taking part in the GFI HKFC Tens – in distance and in luxury.
The squad of Rwandan, Ugandan and Kenyan players are more used to dodging potholes, rubbish and ant hills in their schoolyard training ground.
The conditions you just would not believe, but the boys don’t worry about, they just get on with it
It is an achievement in itself that they are able to be in Hong Kong to take on some of the best tens teams in the world this week, says assistant coach Dave Hughes.
"We've got nothing. We train in downtown Kigali on a soccer pitch, which is actually owned by a school," says Hughes. "It's terrible. It's got huge holes in it, ant's nests, and it's has rubbish and litter all over it.
"The conditions you just would not believe, but the boys don't worry about, they just get on with it."
Rwandan players make up the bulk of the East African squad, with a few Ugandans and a trio of Kenyan sevens representatives adding depth.
The team have already lived through strife and economic hardship, and facing the Tana Umaga-coached BGC Asia Pacific Dragons - the winners of the trophy last year - in the first match of the tournament will be the least of their concerns.
