Somali rowing develops outside the country

By Melissa Bray

Adapting to local conditions has been taken a step further. For a new group of Somali rowers it means developing rowing far away from their East African homeland and growing it in Great Britain.

Under the initiative of Duran Farah, the vice president of the Somalia National Olympic Committee, Head of International Relations, rowing is being introduced to young Somalis living in north London.

Recently 30 young Somalis stepped into the new experience. Aged between 10 and 20 years, Farah says his aim is to start them at a young age. “The Lea Rowing Club is willing to work with us and train these young people,” says Farah. “We have a good relationship with the community.”

Farah says that he and Lea Rowing Club were amazed by the numbers interested. “It’s a new sport to Somalis and most see it as a white middle class sport,” says Farah. “Somalis like football. We told them this is another sport they could be good at.”

“We have to overcome the hurdle of making Somalis realise rowing as a sport. Most people see rowing as a university sport and they don’t see ethnic minorities rowing,” says Farah. “We want to show them rowing is for everybody.”

The introduction weekend gave Farah and Lea Rowing Club an opportunity to show what was involved in rowing: the boathouse, the rowing machines, the technique. The outcome was optimistic.

“Most want to continue,” says Farah.

Farah chose north London to start the rowing programme because of the large number of Somali immigrants in the region – the largest number in Europe.

The current situation in Somalia makes rowing virtually impossible inside the country. At present there is no proper equipment and with the federation only a year old, it is still early days.

FISA’s development manager Sheila Stephens-Desbans commented that the current state of Somalia necessitated the development of rowing in unique ways. “External training camps are planned and we hope to establish rowing within Somalia in the future,” says Stephens-Desbans.

Earlier this year a small group of Somali rowers went to Kenya for a successful training camp. “We hope to have more training camps and prepare athletes for the All Africa Games in 2007,” says Stephens.

Farah’s role in the Somalia Olympic Committee involves him identifying talented Somalis for all sports and he looks to sport as a way of an improved future.

“They can use sport as a vehicle to create a good future. It also means they can be a benefit to their adopted country as well, like they could potentially row for the British rowing team.”

“Somalis don’t have a big physique,” says Farah, “but they’re tall people and strong if they have good nutrition.”

Somalia was elected as a new FISA member federation at the FISA Congress in August this year and Farah says this position has established rowing as a sport in Somalia for the first time.

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