Thread by @gathara

The Arsonists, we called ourselves.

If memory serves right, the name came from the 1990 university protests when Moi Uni students razed Mabs. I think it was at Coke 7s that Machine fans (led by @agohole, Steel Pulse) dubbed them the Arsonists.

I also believe that before that, they had been labelled "Blue Band" because of their yellow and blue striped uniforms which seemed to very quickly disappear.

So when you got your letter of admission to Moi University, what first came to mind was that you were going to miss out on playing for Mean Machine and you would be a DF wearing "blue band" - the target of humiliation by Machine fans (yes, #upperdeck problems, I know).

I'd been introduced to rugby by my childhood buddy and neighbour, Kennedy Ochieng (who did go on to play for Machine) at Upper Hill School when I was in Form 2. Upper was perhaps a second tier rugby school then, not really up to challenging the big 3 - RVA, Patch and Changes.

It's not that we didn't have talent - from the likes of Manuel Okoth to Paul Osimbo to Phillip Ondeng, we had our share of fantastic players. But in 86 or 87 we had been rubbed something like 52-3 by RVA in Kijabe (recall a try was still just 4 points) in the Prescott Cup.

By the time we went to Uni, the rugby bug had truly bit. I'd sneak in to Impala early to avoid paying for Floodlights - for some reason, if you were already seated by the time they started charging at the gate, you'd get a pass! Machine fans, btw, always came in over the fence.

Despite being in the boondocks, Moi was packed with talent. Guys like Vincent "Omweri" Onyango, Stan "Animal" Miheso, Herbert Mwachiro, John Kagagi, Gabriel Ouko, Fred "Lox" Ollows. Many went on to play for Kenya. And of course Michael "Tank" Otieno and Simon Munayi as coaches.