By the Revealer

After the attempted coup d’etat on Sunday 1st August, 1982 there was a long closure of campus. During this closure, the chairman then and a few other members were picked up and charged with sedition and as a result were remanded in custody for about six months. The rest of the players were sent home along with other students and ordered to report to their chiefs.

Many players who wished to continue playing rugby were forced to play for other teams. The lot that went to Mwamba helped them win their first Kenya cup title in 1983. In Easter of 1983 campus reopened for six weeks for end of year examinations. Machine regrouped and took part in the Harlequins Easter Festival where they beat a much fancied Dunganon R.F.C 12-0 and beat Impala R.F.C 12-6. They were however knocked out of the tournament due to a low point aggregate. In the RAF sevens during the same period Mean Machine A were the losing finalists and Mean Machine B won the plate competition.

After examinations Mean Machine were denied permission to continue training as a team or use the university facilities and players went back to the clubs they had turned out for earlier where a few of them acquired national caps. The university reopened after the close of the season and Mean Machine beat Mwamba in a demonstration game on Kenyatta day and later won the inaugural Jamhuri Day 7 a side tournament before the close of the year, a feat that was to be repeated the following year.

In 1984, the year of the second Impala Floodlit tourney, Mean Machine Tankers spotting their hooped blue and white kit demolished all opposition to claim the title in an epic final against Quins Ruffians. By this time each Kenya Cup team split their 1st XV into two and filled each side with a few players from the second team. Mean Machine therefore had Bulldozers and Tankers, Harlequins had Vandals and Ruffians, Impala had Gazelles and Boks, Mwamba had Vumbi and Umeme and the defunct Barclays had Eagles and Hawks. The final match remains one of the longest ever played in the country. The match was drawn at 3-3 and it went into extra time with no change in the score. Three sudden death periods were necessary to separate the two teams with Mean Machine Tankers finally carrying the day 6-3.

Also in this year, Mean Machine finished third in Kenya Cup behind Nondies and Mwamba. Mean Machine pulled large crowds to the 7s tournaments which were normally played on Sundays after the Saturday Kenya Cup matches. Some of the outstanding players of that year were Dan Kimoro, Dave Madara, Andrew Ahuga Mwenesi ( Skipper), Tim Githugu, David Sakari, Ken Nyangaga and Eric ‘Olukubudu’ Bukusi.

In 1985, Mean Machine’s season was once again disrupted with the closure of campus in February of that year. Machine however managed to raise a side, Bulldozers, which lost to Barclays Eagles in the semi-finals of the Impala Floodlit tournament. Despite the two-month closure and exam pressure Mean Machine still gave a good account of itself finishing third in Kenya Cup. Those who turned out for the club in this year included Omari Nyakundi, Elijah ‘Swaga’ Mureithi, Karubiu Karanja, Ian Amogola, Omondi Magunga, Ken Nyangaga, Andrew Mwenesi, David Sakari, Wanyoike, the late Roland Odipo, Fred ‘Nigger’ Odhiambo, David Ireri , ‘Olukubudu’ Bukusi, ‘Bobu’ Owiro, Mugambi Keana and Tim ‘Maua’ Githugu,

This era was not without its in-house controversy. While some claim that it was mere bureaucratic formalities for the trip that caused discontent, others argue that not everyone agreed with the criteria used to select the team that would fly to Dubai on the invitation of Dubai Exiles Rugby Football Club. It is argued that it was these squabbles that led to the decline of Mean Machine towards the end of this era.