Impala Saracens is a Kenyan rugby club based at the Impala Club (a sporting/

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offer ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

). The club competes in the

Kenya Cup The Kenya Cup is the top tier club rugby union competition in Kenya organized by the Kenya Rugby Union. For the 2019-2020 season, twelve teams are divided into two pools of six, Each team plays home and away against each team in its pool and on ...

as well as the

Enterprise Cup The Enterprise Cup is an annual rugby union competition in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, though the competition frequently has the appearance of being an all-Kenyan affair as the majority of rugby clubs in the African Great Lakes region are based in ...

. The club is based and trains at their ground on Ngong Road, adjacent to the RFUEA Ground, and also has an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

division.

History

The origin of the present Rugby Section of the Impala Club dates back to 1930 when an old boy of the Prince of Wales School (now

Nairobi School The Nairobi School is a national secondary school in Nairobi, Kenya. It was founded in 1902 by the British settlers who had made Nairobi their home after the construction of the Uganda Railway. In 1925, Lord Delamere and Sir Edward Grigg, then ...

), Gregory Comninos, started raising teams of ''old boys'' to play regular mid-week matches against ''the School''. These matches proved to be a very popular and the possibility of starting an official club was put forward. A meeting was held at the Prince of Wales School and the Old Cambrians Club was launched. It was decided at this time that the club would wear the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

colours as their kit. The club initially prospered however, shortly after the acquisition of their Ngong Road ground in 1949, the club went through extremely tough times, the low-point being the 1953 season when no rugby was played. A decision was made to re-launch the club under the name Impala RFC, with many of the old players and coaching staff staying on. This led to a return in strength of the club, and in 1959 they enjoyed an unbeaten season (though ironically this powerful team were not allowed to enter the

competition due to vagaries in the then qualification process which required them to have finished in the top three of the previous year's Nairobi District Championship). Impala continued to prosper into the Sixties, winning the

in 1961 & 1965. They won the Enterprise Cup consecutively for four years from 1971 to 1974 and several seven-a-side tournaments during the same period. Between 1980 and 1995 the quality of rugby at Impala went into decline however since then they have returned to take their place as one of the top three rugby clubs in the capital. Impala has since then performed well in the two major 15-a-side competitions in Kenya rugby, the

and

. They won both these titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 (shared with Harlequins) and 2005. They also won the

and Supremacy Cup (a one-off match at the end of each season between the

winners and the

winners) in 2009 beating Harlequins in both instances.

Notable players

*Moses Kola *Nato Simiyu *Vincent Mose *Paul Oimbo *James Rautta *Felix Makori *Frank Ndong *Anthony Nyandigisi *Xavier kipnegitch *Lameck Dunde *Sammy Oliech *Robert Aringo *Richard Sidindi (Jadhah - now deceased) *Harritone Munai *Duncan Ekasi *Edgar Obino *David Moenga *Joel Omer *Tyson Okoth *Antony Odhiambo *Brian Nyikuli *Steve Shammah

Kenya Simbas

*Samson Onsomu *Linus Nato Simiyu *Dennis Karani *Simon Muniafu *Xavier Kipngetich *Vincent Mose Brian Nyikuli

Historical Honours for Impala Players

East Africa / Tuskers

*Adams, H.A. *Andrews. Mike *Barnes, Mike *Booyse, L. *Brown, D.G.D. *Brown, Tom *Cobb, Andy *Chubb, J.A. *Davies, Gareth *Hiley, Peter. *Isherwood, B. *Leask, Roy *Lillis, Kevin *Mason, Joe *Mills, Peter *Mitchell, Arnold *Muhato, John *Onsotti, Chris *Parker, Dave *Parsons, David *Rowland, Rob *Tory, T.A.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Impala Saracens Kenyan rugby union teams Sport in Nairobi Saracens Global Network