The Blackrock Rugby Festival (also known as the St. Mary's Blackrock Festival or simply Blackrock), is an annual school's
rugby union competition held at
St. Mary's School in
Nairobi, Kenya, usually around 17 and 23 May. It is claimed to be the biggest high school tournament in East Africa.
[Manyatta, Kenya Rugby Union Newsletter, June 2010] The first tournament took place in 1983, and also featured a club rugby competition. The tournament is used by Kenyan rugby clubs to scout for new and upcoming players.
St. Mary's School was founded in 1939 and, for many years, was run by the
Holy Ghost Fathers
, image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png
, size = 175px
, caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity.
, abbreviation ...
of
Blackrock College in Ireland, hence the name of the tournament. The school uses the same badge as Blackrock College and their rugby team also wear the same blue and white hoops as their sister institution. A further reminder of the strong Irish influence on the school is the former name of their playing fields where the tournament takes place, ''Lansdowne Road'' (named after the
Irish national rugby stadium in Dublin).
The Blackrock Festival is a key event where future rugby stars in Kenya are identified, nurtured, and given the platform to shine. The Most Valuable Players from this festival have gone on to achieve great things in the game. For instance, Allan Hicks, who was 19 when he played for Kenya at the
Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2001,
Innocent Simiyu
Innocent "Namcos" Simiyu (born 24 April 1983) is a Kenyan rugby union former player who captained the Kenya national rugby union team and the Kenya national rugby sevens team, national rugby sevens team. In the World Rugby Sevens Series, Simiyu ha ...
, who captained both
Kenya's 15s and
Sevens teams, and went on to serve as Head Coach twice for
Kenya Simbas. Other notable M.V.P.'s include Ugandan International Philip Wokorach and former Kenya Simbas Head Coach, Paul Odera.
Competition
The tournament is played in a
round-robin format, normally with 24 teams divided into 8 groups of 3 teams each.
The top team of each group qualifies for the quarter-finals of the Main Cup, while the second and third-placed team of each group qualify for the quarter-finals of the Plate and Bowl Cup respectively.
Recently, a girls' tournament was introduced to run alongside the main boys' tournament. In the girls' tournament, there are 12 teams that compete for the cup.
In 2022, the competition was played in a
seven-a-side format instead of the regular fifteen-a-side format while in 2023, the competition was played in a
ten-a-side format with the competition returning to the regular fifteen-a-side format in 2024.
Knockout stage
Teams in each group advance to the Main Cup, Plate and Bowl Cup as shown below.
Public influence
Entrance for spectators was free until 2012, when tickets began to be produced and sold for
KSh.200/=, and later KSh.100/=. This was in response to several security concerns that arose in the past few tournaments, especially thefts and disturbing the peace.
The tournament usually attracts crowds of about 2,000 people each year.
Previous winners
References
{{Rugby union in Kenya
Rugby union competitions in Kenya
Sport in Nairobi
High school rugby union
1983 establishments in Kenya
Recurring sporting events established in 1983
Annual events in Kenya