For three days, the organizers of the 27th Safari Sevens held at the Nyayo National Stadium for only the second time in 11 years kept an open secret.

Warren Abrahams, a South African who was head coach of the Belgium women’s team collapsed and was rushed to a hospital in Nairobi where he passed on. Rather than acknowledge this unfortunate incident without circumventing the protocols, the tournament director and KRU kept quiet.

They were left with an egg on their face when the news was broken on social media. The following day after waiting for word from tournament officials. An insider who had no authority to speak on KRU mattress explained the incident was beyond KRU and needed to be handled by officials of the respective governments assumed to be South Africa and Kenya. 

A Minute of Silence

Belgium where Abrahams coached would also be informed. On the last day, participants, invited guests, and fans were asked to stand and honor the late coach with a minute of silence before the match between Shujaa and Shogun. On Sunday, www.thesportsneewsarena.com confirmed that the family had arrived in Nairobi and a post mortem was due to be done on Monday.

As a result, Belgium who were making their first appearance in Safari Sevens who had just lost their opening match to the Lady Cranes understandably pulled off from the there-day event. This writer had traveled with the team from Brussels and spoke to the coach as the team waited to board their flight.