Harlequins coach Odongo unbowed despite player exodus

Kenya Harlequins head coach Simon Odongo has rubbished claims that the over 35 players whose contracts were terminated was due to their failure to play for the club during the Kabeberi 7s in the National Sevens Circuit.

Instead, he insinuated the tiff emanated from contractual dispute with pay at the center of the standoff.

“So, I think the club proposed payment structures for the coming season and it was floated to the players. There are players who are not comfortable with it. They said they are not comfortable getting that kind of money. So, the club said whoever is not comfortable, they can go to the club where they feel they can get the kind of money they want,” he explained.

“The club said it is trying to operate within its means, and at the moment it reached a point where they noticed that their budgets exceeded whatever sums they had projected for the current season.”

The former Homeboyz tactician says the move will highly dent the club’s hopes of challenging for the title but is optimistic they would carry on with the remaining players.

“Definitely, it will affect the club. Any team, when you lose, your big players, it will affect but in coaching, we always say nobody is bigger than the team. So, for them, we wish them all the best if they decide to move on.

The work of a coach is to coach, at the end of the day,…you need to make sure you create a new Lucky Dewald, create a new Wangila,” he explained, “It gives other players a platform to have their names known by the other people, because it's not that there are no players left.”

He reckons no player is bigger than the club and challenged the new players who will step into the fold to take the opportunity by the scruff of the neck.

“At the moment we don't have (enough players), I wasn't at yesterday's session because I was doing the national team session but what I know is that Kenya Harlequins is a very big club and each and every day at training session, you always have somebody new walking in coming for training.

“Harlequins existed and I'm sure that even if I leave today, even if I leave tomorrow, Kenya Harlequins will still exist. The job of the new players who are going to come in is going to be to create a name for themselves and make sure the Queen's name remains and never dies.”