tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39296295147335942272024-03-13T16:48:44.235-07:00shabik...be yourself!!De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-28476890946146102102013-11-18T01:55:00.000-08:002013-11-18T01:55:03.000-08:00Preparations for Cecafa Cup one big shamNot so long ago, a local daily newspaper ran a series on the shameful state of our sports stadia.<br />
The stories made for pitiful reading, exposing all venues in major towns and cities as derelict facilities. At the time, no one took notice. Football Kenya Limited (Football Kenya Federation’s predecessor), Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB), respective municipal councils and the government of the day were all collectively guilty for the mess.<br />
But what goes around surely comes around. From the events of the last few weeks, it seems we have finally come to a sad awakening; or perhaps not. With the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup returning to Kenya on the country’s Jubilee Independence anniversary, our inept football administrators have been running around like headless chicken all in the name of rehabilitating neglected facilities in Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru.<br />
The whole exercise seems an afterthought, a stopgap measure ‘to take care of this Cecafa thing’ that has suddenly dropped on our laps from heaven. I pity FKF President. Poor Sam Nyamweya has been one busy man traversing the country in a belated inspection tour of about half a dozen venues earmarked for the championships.<br />
Predictably, there has been one common thread in his torturous evaluation exercise – virtually all the stadiums outside Nairobi are unfit to host the regional tournament.<br />
Mombasa and Kisumu, the second and third largest cities in Kenya after Nairobi, hold the dubious distinction of having stadiums that have been out of use for hell-knows how many years. That explained why, even during these times of ‘<i>giniwasekao<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHq0bsb65aE/Uonj4Bvo7kI/AAAAAAAAAN8/gowqF9Oq5QM/s1600/Machakos-Stadium.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHq0bsb65aE/Uonj4Bvo7kI/AAAAAAAAAN8/gowqF9Oq5QM/s320/Machakos-Stadium.jpg" /></a></i>’ (we have taken this thing), Kisumu residents have for decades been starved of any meaningful football action.<br />
It also explains why, even with crowd-pullers Bandari back in the top flight, the football-mad fans of Mombasa are always forced to cram a nondescript sports club every time upcountry teams are in town. Needless to say, the amiable coastal dwellers often end up being outnumbered by exuberant travelling fans if the fixtures involve either Gor Mahia or AFC Leopards, but that is beside the point. <br />
The swift pace with which the respective county governments, Cecafa’s Local Organising Committee and FKF have swung into action in Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru would easily put to shame their Brazilian counterparts.<br />
Brazil, for all its massive resources and infrastructure, had in excess of four years to prepare for the 2014 world Cup but with just seven months to kick off, are still struggling with last-minute preparations. This whole thing is a sham. In typical Kenyan style, football authorities, working in cohorts with county governments, have found it convenient to engage in a last-minute rush to beat the deadline.<br />
It gets worse. That it has taken so long for the event to attract credible sponsors following the expiry of the Tusker deal says a lot about how the corporate world perceives football administration in this part of the world.<br />
Must we always wait until the last minute to embark on such shambolic preparations whenever a low budget tournament such as the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup comes around? And we still expect to host the Africa Cup of Nations in the near future!<br />
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De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-90516116025717849692013-07-26T12:19:00.001-07:002013-07-26T12:19:14.089-07:00The Pandora's box that is Kenyan footballIt is Nigeria’s foremost towering literary icon, the late Chinua Achebe, who once said that if you don’t like someone’s story, then you are better off writing your own.<br />
The problem is, not all of us are adept at writing stories. Even in newsrooms, the supposed natural habitat of the sharpest writing minds, sub-editors – like yours truly here – on a daily basis contend with unraveling topsy-turvy copies from run off the mills reporters.<br />
I guess it’s on this premise of writing one’s own story that what a section of the media referred to us ‘estranged’ officials of the national football federation recently rushed to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to submit what they believed was incriminating evidence of financial impropriety by the federation.<br />
To say the very least, it was a haphazardly penned manuscript that made a mockery of transparency and accountability.<br />
I don’t hold brief for the powers that be at the national football federation, but what came out of this farcical attempted ‘bloodless coup’ was a simple case of sour grapes after what must have a sensational fall out within the federation.<br />
Granted, the Kenyan federation could do with a bit of some housekeeping, but isn’t it rather odd that the same people who have been in the thick of things in as far as running football affairs in the country should one morning wake up to the realization that all is not well with Kenyan football?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1yoIpY1XjTk/UfLLZnwlpXI/AAAAAAAAANk/9RptepniBEA/s1600/Deflated+ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1yoIpY1XjTk/UfLLZnwlpXI/AAAAAAAAANk/9RptepniBEA/s320/Deflated+ball.jpg" /></a></div>If indeed there is something wrong with the federation (and many people are of the view that a lot has gone wrong with the federation) then it wouldn’t have taken expulsions and suspensions for these accusations of financial impropriety to start flying left, right and centre.<br />
Me thinks all these bland threats by the federation ‘rebels’ to unearth the rot within the institution are just desperate attempts at trying to arm twist and force the hand of their erstwhile ally-turned-foe.<br />
If I was in their shoes I would tread very carefully lest, like in Pandora’s case, she of Greek mythology, all sorts of self-damaging ills spring out of the box.<br />
Be as it may, I highly doubt if all these ruckus on roof tops about corruption within the federation is borne out of public interest.<br />
Either way, there are too many skeletons in the closet. It’s a classic case of different sides of the same coin, if you get the drift. Nothing will come out of it.<br />
In the meantime, as the Swahilis says, <i>Fahali wawili wapiganapo, nyasi ndio huumia</i>; Kenyan football will continue to suffer as a result of these senseless turf wars.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-30629118523205926752013-07-12T09:42:00.000-07:002013-07-12T09:42:03.825-07:00 Harambee Stars need a complete wardrobe makeoverWatching Harambee Stars beat Swaziland 2-0 at the ongoing Cosafa Cup in Zambia, reminded me of a story I read before the semifinal between hosts Brazil and Uruguay at the just concluded Confederations Cup.<br />
It so happens that after Brazil’s devastating 2-1 loss to Uruguay in the final of the 1950 World Cup on the hallowed ground of Maracana, a competition was launched by Rio newspaper Correio da Manha to redesign the uninspiring white strip that Brazilian players wore on that fateful day.<br />
The winning entry, submitted by 19-year-old illustrator Aldyr Garcia Schlee, combined the yellow, green and blue of the Brazilian flag. Successive generations of the Selecao, including the current Neymar-inspired squad, have worn this uniform ever since.<br />
Back to Kenya versus Swaziland. This was Kenya’s first win in a competitive match since December 2012, never mind the fact that atleast five of the players in the starting eleven were playing their third straight match in as many days, without mentioning the many hours of travel by air and road.<br />
Given that this was Adel Amrouche’s first victory at the fifth attempt as Harambee Stars coach, the team had every reason to celebrate.<br />
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<b>Nondescript kit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCIo5u5MlIY/UeAxbnXRJ5I/AAAAAAAAANQ/I3qqVP_rABI/s1600/Mugubi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCIo5u5MlIY/UeAxbnXRJ5I/AAAAAAAAANQ/I3qqVP_rABI/s320/Mugubi.jpg" /></a></div></b><br />
Big deal! The only blemish in the otherwise impressive performance was that yet again the Kenyan team showed up in some nondescript kit bereft of a designer’s label. A very small detail but one worthy of note all the same.<br />
Unlike the national sevens team that looked resplendent in their Samurai kit at the just concluded Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow, Harambee Stars handlers have no qualms in throwing ours boys on the pitch donning some indistinct apparel.<br />
For the last few months, the team has been playing and training in Kelme branded kit but since that match against Nigeria in Calabar, the Kelme kit have suddenly run out of circulation.<br />
From the look of things Kenyan football authorities are completely ignorant of how big the kitting and branding business is not just in football but in sports as a whole.<br />
That explains why the trouble former Dortmund playmaker Mario Götze recently got into when he arrived at his presentation by his new club Bayern Munich in a Nike emblazoned t-shirt.<br />
Adidas have a 9.1% stake in the Bavarian club, and part of their clause requires players to wear Adidas tops during official presentations.<br />
For his troubles, Götze has been slapped with a hefty €10,000 (Sh 1.12 million) fine. That’s how serious kitting and branding is.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-21708034956098804572013-07-05T05:23:00.001-07:002013-07-05T05:23:15.243-07:00 Kenyan journalists have sold their souls to the devilWord on the street is that some computer geek has hacked into the mobile phone money transfer account of a certain sports administrator and is about to unleash the names of sports journalists on the big shot’s payroll.<br />
As you would expect, this rumour has thrown our news rooms into panic, for many are they whose palms have repeatedly been greased by, ahem, Mr. Sports Administrator.<br />
And therein lays the basis of my gripe with my comrades-in-arms in the sporting arena. Following the happenings of the last few days, I have every reason to believe that professional ethics have been thrown out of the window by a vast majority of my colleagues in this trade of reporting news stories.<br />
Granted, receipt of the (in)famous ‘brown envelopes’ is a standard practice by journalists in this part of the world, but Kenyan sports journalists have succeeded in taking their vile practices to a whole new level.<br />
It is no secret, for example, that a number of sports journalists threw their lot with one or the other top aspirants who were vying for administrative positions during last weekend’s AFC Leopards elections.<br />
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<b>‘Secret night meetings’</b><br />
I have it on authority that, in the run up to the polls, many are the ‘secret night meetings’ that my fellow scribes attended across the breadth and length of the city to assuage and lick the boots of their newfound benefactors.<br />
It gets worse. I am told some journalists turned themselves into human resource mobilisers-cum-chief campaigners for ‘their’ candidates of choice.<br />
I don’t get it, but in such a scenario, how does one report objectively, while – to put it in a layman’s language – he or she has already been ‘pocketed’ by the candidate?<br />
Little wonder then that on Saturday afternoon, Tusker and Sofapaka played to not only a yawning Nyayo National Stadium, but the reporters were also nowhere in sight.<br />
From my vantage position in the VIP stand, I found myself in the good company of only two reporters. The photographers, too, were conspicuously missing. It wasn’t hard to guess their whereabouts.<br />
I thought long and hard before writing this article and I am fully aware of the fact that I risk winning more enemies than friends on the account of this treatise. Yet, I have chosen to bite the bullet for I find it extremely hard to stomach the spiteful ways of the Kenyan media. I rest my case.<br />
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De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-22808627702396470942013-06-23T13:00:00.000-07:002013-06-23T13:00:04.900-07:00 Let the corporates ‘fight’ for the good of football<br />
I took a lot of flak a few weeks ago when I penned an article here regarding the standoff between Kenyan Premier League Limited and AFC Leopards over the latter’s ill-adviced move to enter into a deal with a pay TV provider that is in direct competition with the league’s official broadcasters.<br />
So let me state upfront that I don’t intend to stick out my neck again by harping on the same old tune.<br />
Still, it’s been hard not to take notice of the subtle push and pull between the parties involved over the last few weeks without a clear way forward being advanced.<br />
Thankfully, last Friday, the whole saga took a fresh twist when the often indecisive KPL spoke with finality and issued a 72-hour ultimatum for AFC Leopards to either cut lose their association with the TV at the center of the controversy (yes, they of the Ingwe TV infamy) or forfeit participation in the league.<br />
Tough choice for Leopards who, nonetheless, responded by saying that they would not budge. The club even threatened to take the battle to the corridors of justice.<br />
Suspension of a team from a top flight league under such circumstances is unprecedented in this age and time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cxBRJVea1Ek/UcdTexbjHBI/AAAAAAAAAMw/Gkj4ovVIJKA/s1600/Tusker+Premier+League+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cxBRJVea1Ek/UcdTexbjHBI/AAAAAAAAAMw/Gkj4ovVIJKA/s400/Tusker+Premier+League+Logo.jpg" /></a></div>It will be very interesting to see whether KPL will make good their threat should Leopards stand their ground.<br />
But what I find more interesting is the kind of debate that Kenyan football, moreso the league, nowadays elicits in the public ‘court’.<br />
That multinational companies can fight and exchange unsavoury words ‘just for football’ is very delicious indeed.<br />
A renowned sports editor, with multiple KPL Print Journalist of the Year awards under his belt, once told me how, as a budding reporter, his editor had lambasted him for filing a 400-word match preview.<br />
Kenyan football was at its lowest ebb then, and the best coverage the print media could offer were ‘fillers’ not exceeding 250 words.<br />
Times have since changed, more so with the arrival of SuperSport to resuscitate the game. With more corporates coming on board the standards have improved in leaps and bounds.<br />
My take on the KPL-Ingwe impasse? Let the corporates ‘fight’ it out, as long it elevates local football.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-18859892789129576822013-06-17T05:07:00.000-07:002013-06-17T05:07:04.217-07:00Nothing funny about AK's 'Comedy of Errors' renditionWhat was that poorly scripted show that Athletics Kenya (AK) attempted to stage last week at the Nyayo National Stadium in the name of national trials for the World Youth Championships?<br />
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From claims of age cheating to controversial selection criteria that denied some athletes who had attained qualification marks a chance to represent the country next month in Ukraine, the whole thing was one big charade.<br />
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So ridiculous was ‘show’ that at one point, a busted age cheat mumbled some inaudible incoherencies in an attempt to state his date of birth infront of cameras.<br />
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But the climax of this ‘comedy of errors’ was when AK’s youth sub-committee sidelined four athletes who had attained the World Youth qualifying times from their final team of 20 athletes for reasons only best known to them.<br />
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The sight of men’s 400m hurdler Geoffrey Kipkoech blubbering and weeping uncontrollably while lying prostrate on Nyayo Stadium’s tartan track was indeed a heartrending spectacle.<br />
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While AK is yet to give an explanation of how ineligible athletes sneaked their way to the starting line with forged birth certificates, the reason they have proffered for excluding Kipkoech and three others sprinters was a tad too wishy-washy.<br />
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For one, I don’t buy the idea that selectors must give priority to ‘medal prospects’ at the expense of athletes competing in events that are traditionally not Kenya’s forte.<br />
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How do we expect to extend our dominance from the middle and long distance races to the sprints if we don’t give these youngsters an opportunity to compete at the very highest level?<br />
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Secondly, AK’s explanation that they had exceeded their ‘allocated quota’ of 20 athletes from the IAAF begs the question; why then did they invite so many competitors in different events in the full knowledge that theirs was a limited quota?<br />
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What strikes me as odd is the casual manner with which AK has treated this whole fiasco. The London 2012 debacle came in the backdrop of similar farcical circumstances.<br />
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But Kenyans are a people well known for their short memories. We shall resort to the usual blame games if our youngsters (God forbid) fail to deliver the gold medals from Ukraine next month.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-28136970746926086472013-06-11T08:54:00.001-07:002013-06-11T08:54:31.159-07:00 Hail the ‘grand gentlemen’ of Kenyan football<br />
The Kenyan media has never established the genesis of the beef between FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya and Cecafa boss Nicholas Musonye.<br />
What is known, though, is that two gentleman don’t see eye to eye. Their extreme distaste for each other is well established from the verbal tirades they have publicly exchanged in the past.<br />
Sometimes, this endless tiff has taken the most outrageous forms; on other occasions, it has been utterly hilarious.<br />
Known for his brash personality, on most of these occasions, Musonye has provided some witty sound bites for nosy members of the Fourth Estate.<br />
Take for example last December when local football authorities threatened to boycott the Cecafa Tusker Senior Challenge Cup after being denied hosting rights in favour of Uganda.<br />
“They (Kenya) are the poorest side in the region. They can stay away if they so wish; we won’t miss them!” Musonye had said, tongue-in-cheek, of course.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P82YUNVN1w0/UbdHeDMcDEI/AAAAAAAAAMg/0QWGtM2lnbc/s1600/Musonye.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P82YUNVN1w0/UbdHeDMcDEI/AAAAAAAAAMg/0QWGtM2lnbc/s320/Musonye.jpg" /></a><br />
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Needless to say, FKF eventually came around and a third string Harambee Stars surprised many when they went all the way to the final only to lose 1-2 to hosts and defending champions Uganda.<br />
But I digress. Last week, when this year’s edition of the Cecafa Kagame Cup (the regional tournament for champion clubs) scheduled for North Darfur and South Kordofan in Sudan was rocked by mass withdrawals, it didn’t occur to me that Nyamweya was somehow involved. Not until a seething Musonye spoke out.<br />
“Someone’s team (read ‘Nyamweya’s Harambee Stars’) is already out of the World Cup campaign with two matches to spare and now he finds it convenient to interfere with Cecafa’s issues,” he told a colleague of mine in an off-the-cuff remark.<br />
Apparently, Musonye is convinced that his longtime nemesis has a hand in the rough seas that Cecafa has run into in an attempt to host the tournament in the war-ravaged Sudanese State of Darfur.<br />
Still grappling with Harambee Stars’ botched World Cup qualification bid, Nyamweya is yet to issue a rebuttal. But expect something acerbic if and when he does respond to those allegations.<br />
It’s unfortunate that these two distinguished sons of Kenyan soil seem hell-bent on destroying each other even if it means football suffers as a result. Whatever it takes for Uncle Sam and good old Nick to close ranks, Kenyan football will certainly thank them for it.<br />
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De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-37183539100197658092013-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:002013-05-31T09:59:39.518-07:00Losers in NOCK elections have no moral ground to complainThere is a verse in the Good Book that warns believers against looking at the speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye while making no effort to dislodge the log in their own eyes.<br />
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With the conclusion of the NOCK elections – selection would fit the bill in this particular instance – things have gone a full circle for top brass of the various sports federations in the country who have been salivating for a piece of the cake at the multi-billion shillings National Olympics Committee secretariat.<br />
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The boot is now on the other foot and the very same officials who are known to have bulldozed their way into office in dubious election exercises not so long ago are the ones shouting at the top of the roof for being shortchanged in the NOCK polls.<br />
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I take particular issue with the athletics body and the football federation. Its not lost on our memories that during Athletics Kenya’s recent elections, they employed the same tactic that NOCK used in endorsing some incumbents while at the same time locking out those posing a threat to the old guards.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/---FQLnvpUbs/UajW4fndrTI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/JJ_ObmmD6lY/s1600/Kipchoge+Keino.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/---FQLnvpUbs/UajW4fndrTI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/JJ_ObmmD6lY/s320/Kipchoge+Keino.jpg" /></a><br />
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Football Kenya Federation, on its part, is as dead as a dodo; it has been in comatose for the last hell knows how many years. The long and short of it is that FKF’s inclusion or exclusion from NOCK is of little or no consequence.<br />
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Let’s face it. The Olympics, itself is a strange concept to a federation that perennially struggles to send our national team football team across the board to participate in a nondescript tournament going by the name the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.<br />
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However, two wrongs don’t make a right. By stage managing their elections, NOCK have proved to any one among the citizenry who in still doubt that ours is a country incapable of the simple exercise of counting and tallying votes in elections at whichever level.<br />
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All said and done, the entire process was a lose-lose situation for Kenyan sports. Electing new officials, who have done little in uplifting the standards of the respective sports disciplines they head, would have just been as detrimental as maintaining the status quo.<br />
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Omondi is a sub-editor with Sporton! Email: soomondi@ke.nationmedia.com<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-6952978115696822932013-05-28T09:29:00.000-07:002013-05-28T09:29:19.858-07:00 Clubs must learn to take responsibility for their fans’ behaviourIt’s now clear that the Kenyan Premier League and the clubs in the league are completely incapable of controlling crowds at match venues.<br />
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I attended Saturday’s match between AFC Leopards and Mathare United and from the events that unfolded after the final whistle, I am now compelled to believe that our local football fans have staged a violent takeover of all the match venues.<br />
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The sad thing is that not the clubs, KPL or Football Kenya Federation can do anything about it. Whenever these goons have gone about unleashing terror at match venues to vent out their frustration over reasons only they can explain, all KPL is known for doing is issuing some inane threats, which they don’t execute anyway.<br />
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As is always the case, it is the unsuspecting traders, pedestrians and motorists who usually bear the brunt of this public nuisance. The traders whose stalls outsides City Stadium were razed up in the aftermath of Saturday’s match will attest to this.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g4Lw7hDA96Y/UaTbNV8kpFI/AAAAAAAAAMA/gk_zmOsm7JY/s1600/AFC+Goon.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g4Lw7hDA96Y/UaTbNV8kpFI/AAAAAAAAAMA/gk_zmOsm7JY/s320/AFC+Goon.jpg" /></a><br />
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But it is the clubs that are the masters of passing the buck. Every time things go wrong during matches, the clubs always choose the convenient option of ‘disowning’ their fans as opposed to taking responsibility for the unruly behavior of their benefactors.<br />
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Hear out their standard line of absolving themselves from blame:<br />
<i>“Oh! Those trouble makers? Not a single one of them is fan of the club. They are just individuals wearing our replica jerseys with the sole aim of giving us a bad name.”</i><br />
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The irony here is that club branches comprising signed up members is what is currently trending among the fans of the serious teams in the KPL. Yet, the clubs and their members are practically perfect strangers. In time of trouble, neither can recognize the other.<br />
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In the final analysis, it matters little whether the perpetrators of hooliganism are actually fans or masqueraders.<br />
The buck stops with the clubs, Kenyan Premier League and Football Kenya Federation in as far as crowd control is concerned. But until this threesome learns to accept responsibility, hooligans will continue having a field day on each and every match day.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-78081882688727916632013-05-19T21:04:00.000-07:002013-05-19T21:04:39.685-07:00SuperSport slept on the jobKenyan football could easily pass for any other name ranging from boxing, tae kwon do or even karate for the endless verbal and physical fisticuffs that the fans are often treated to.<br />
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If it’s not, the endless upheavals within the federation or the intra-club feuds, then it’s the fans themselves settling score the old fashioned way, <i>omundu khu mundu</i>, as AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia fans are often compelled to do.<br />
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But the past one week has seen a different kind of a fight in the football realms far removed from what the public is used to.<br />
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South African pay television SuperSport is screaming blue murder after their rivals Zuku pulled a fast one on them with that controversial <i>Ingwe TV</i> deal.<br />
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As the exclusive Kenyan Premier League broadcast rights holders SuperSports’ ire is quite understandable. But it is the underhand ploys they have resorted to in desperation that have fanned the raging flames.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BY3bIZqVJrE/UZmgsvdArtI/AAAAAAAAALw/CisK_LMLwd8/s1600/IngweTV.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BY3bIZqVJrE/UZmgsvdArtI/AAAAAAAAALw/CisK_LMLwd8/s320/IngweTV.jpg" /></a><br />
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Using their massive leverage, SuperSport is clearly arm twisting the Kenyan Premier League to coerce AFC Leopards into revoking the deal with suspension threats in the event they fail to comply.<br />
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There has been a heated debate on the Daily Nation sports desk over this issue but no one seems to agree with each other.<br />
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Give the devil his due. SuperSport have done a great job in lifting the standards of the game since their arrival on these shores some five years ago at a time when Kenyan football was on its death throes. The milestones achieved cannot be gainsaid.<br />
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But that said, am afraid it seems SuperSport have also been sleeping on the job in certain aspects. I still don’t understand how a Johnny-come-lately (no offence to Zuku) could beat the moneyed SuperSport in their own turf to a simple idea such as a club TV.<br />
<br />
This is something they should have done like yesterday. In the meantime, for their folly they will have to contend with the excellent publicity Zuku will gain from this fallout.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-40165535676012410282013-05-17T08:47:00.000-07:002013-05-17T08:47:02.443-07:00Gone are the days of 'kuchaguliwa bila kupingwa'Dear readers, allow me to regale you with a political tale from yore. At the height of the infamous Nyayo era, a new phrase, <i>‘kuchaguliwa bila kupingwa’</i> entered the Kenyan lexicon.<br />
This was in the wake of the massively rigged 1988 general election that were held under a new queuing system, at the time simply known as <i>‘mlolongo’</i> in Kenyan lingo.<br />
The whole exercise was very simple. The various candidates would stand at the head of queues carrying placards bearing their images.<br />
Voters were required to line up behind the candidate of their choice upon which a head count would be conducted by dubious electoral board officials and the results announced pronto.<br />
But Kanu, the ruling party of the day, nay, the only party (<i>baba na mama</i>) at the time had no place for dissidents.<br />
The polls were marred with numerous cases of the notorious Kanu Youth Wingers whipping up voters into line from queues of candidates perceived as being in the bad books of the powers that be to join the queues of the party’s candidates of choice.<br />
To cut a long story short, the whole exercise was a sham.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kmo8Z2Z4ZQE/UZZQWDGxEvI/AAAAAAAAALg/JpfkMfapfsw/s1600/Kiplagat+&+Okeyo.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kmo8Z2Z4ZQE/UZZQWDGxEvI/AAAAAAAAALg/JpfkMfapfsw/s320/Kiplagat+&+Okeyo.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
The tragedy is that rather than resulting in free, fair and transparent polls, the secrecy of ballot boxes having been dispensed with, the 1988 polls ended up being the most flawed elections in the history of independent Kenya.<br />
What am I ranting and raving about? Tuesday’s Athletics Kenya (AK) election brought back the old memories of those days of <i>‘kuchaguliwa bila kupingwa’</i> with some members of the athletics body’s top brass assuming office ‘unopposed’.<br />
I don’t know exactly what informed AK’s decision to abolish the chairmanship in favour of a Presidency with four Vice Presidents in it’s new constitution.<br />
But it all reminded me of the stormy Kanu National Delegates Conference of March 18, 2002 in Kasarani where President Daniel Arap Moi, the self-proclaimed ‘professor of politics’ pulled a fast on his overly ambitious Vice President, the late Professor George Saitoti (may his soul rest in peace), by endorsing the creation of four ambiguous posts of party Vice Presidents.<br />
The move ultimately locked out Saitoti from the grand scheme of the Moi succession politics.<br />
It is on this particular occasion that Saitoti made his most famous quote, <i>“There come a time”</i> (sic) that became popular when he passed on in a tragic plane crash on June 10, 2012.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-55125096495173476202013-05-12T19:40:00.000-07:002013-05-12T19:40:27.697-07:00Superstition is just part of the gameIt’s strange how a sports-filled weekend is every sports editor and sub editor’s worst nightmare. The newsroom is one cauldron of a pressure cooker with very tight deadlines. <br />
The working hours are often long, odd and irregular. Naturally, things usually get thick and misty on those crazy weekends, like the past one, when you have the final IRB Sevens leg, Manchester United’s coronation and of course the <i>Mashemeji</i> derby all competing for space on the sports pages. It’s not a place for the fainthearted. <br />
So I when at the end of a back breaking day, someone in the newsroom, in total exasperation exclaimed, “This is the most thankless job in the world!” I empathized but at the same time could not suppress my laughter.<br />
It’s on the account of the same that I missed out on my place on the stands as AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia performed the latest rendition of their age long ‘friendly war’.<br />
In anticipation of a long hard day in the office, I made a deliberate effort to make up for the missed opportunity to watch the derby at the stadium by attending Saturday’s top of the table clash between Sofapaka and KCB at the City Stadium.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6p5EyAMWTz4/UZBScKGKr2I/AAAAAAAAALE/RcrahQX38EM/s1600/Dn+Sports+Jaber+0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6p5EyAMWTz4/UZBScKGKr2I/AAAAAAAAALE/RcrahQX38EM/s320/Dn+Sports+Jaber+0111.JPG" /></a><br />
Without taking anything away from the two teams, by all standards it was an entertaining match but an unworthy substitute for the AFC-Gor showdown.<br />
On the stands, I found myself in the company of a renowned sports presenter with a leading TV station and naturally our chit chat drifted away from action on the pitch to the much anticipated <i>Mashemeji </i>derby.<br />
My affable companion went about regaling me with tales of his encounter with two teams earlier on in the day during the final training sessions at separate locations in the city.<br />
His first stop was Nyayo Stadium where the <i>K’Ogalo</i> camp welcomed him with open arms. Coach Zdravko Loguruisc even had enough time for an exclusive interview!<br />
But it was a different scenario at the Marist Centre in Karen where Leopards were going through their final paces. The players and the technical bench fell short of declaring my journalist friend ‘<i>persona non grata</i>’. <br />
Apparently, a decree has been issued (by hell knows who in <i>Ingwe’s</i> technical bench) that the team should avoid any form of ‘contamination’ ahead of the match.<br />
No prizes for guessing the beleaguered scribe’s ethnic background. Nothing to worry though, it’s all in the spirit of the game. Superstition is an integral part of Kenya’s biggest football league match.<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-25552855461553380842013-05-05T21:04:00.000-07:002013-05-05T21:04:27.928-07:00Get ready for Ingwe-K'Ogalo derby!The Monday edition of the <i>Daily Nation</i> is fast becoming my favourite weekly read for one simple reason. <br />
Following the sustained efforts of our two in house columnists, Peter Leftie, yes he of the <i>Ingwe’s Den</i> and Tom Osanjo in <i>K’Ogalo’s Corner</i>, fans of Kenya’s most decorated clubs, AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, have been inevitably sucked into this soft banter.<br />
For those still not in the know, Leopards’ blood flows in Leftie’s veins while Osanjo, on his part, is K’Ogalo’s self-appointed <i>‘Praise and Worship’</i> leader.<br />
Just check out their stories in the sports pages of today’s copy of the <i>Daily Nation: Green Army, prepare for Ingwe attack</i>, is Lefties pompous headline to which Osanjo aptly replies, <i>Crooners will never miss the lyrics to praise storied Gor Mahia</i>.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c--dX4YHy6g/UYcrtRFavqI/AAAAAAAAAKs/uDPkCcIC6VU/s1600/Gor-Mahia-AFC-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c--dX4YHy6g/UYcrtRFavqI/AAAAAAAAAKs/uDPkCcIC6VU/s320/Gor-Mahia-AFC-4.jpg" /></a><br />
Boy, don’t these two gentlemen love to have a go at each other and settle matter the old fashioned way!<br />
But it has gotten even better. My editor has also finally swept away by the K’Ogalo-Ingwe traction and set aside entire page for the fans engage in football hostilities.<br />
Ideally, this should have been a forum for fans of all the teams to have a say, but because all the other teams have ‘no fans’ the Green Army and Ingwe fans have hogged and gobbled up the entire space.<br />
I have been having a ball reading these interesting articles that are always biased towards one team or the other. <br />
And with Gor and Leopards set to renew rivalries on Sunday at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani you can bet your life that these verbal tirades will rage on unabated.<br />
In the coming days it will spill over to social media where all sorts lewd obscenity will be thrown back and forth. <br />
And when the match day finally comes, a sea of blue and white hoops will troop to the battle field to meet what, Lefties loves calling their noisy neigbours in green. Brace yourselves for total ‘war’.<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-88300156297105745272013-05-05T20:57:00.002-07:002013-05-12T19:43:34.298-07:00In sport, a little consideration goes a long wayOn Thursday night while burning the midnight oil at the office, I received an interesting text message from a certain Joel Andanje.<br />
<i>“Heading to Kampala for the East Africa Skating Championships. Pray for Journey mercies,”</i> the message read.<br />
My acquaintance Andanje is a self-made skating coach, who also holds the position of Head of Freestyle Skating in the Rollersport Kenya Federation.<br />
We didn’t touch base again until Tuesday afternoon when Andanje called and requested me to return his call. But for some strange reason, when I tried calling back, his phone went answered.<br />
Then on Wednesday morning I got another text from Andanje explaining his predicament. Apparently, the Kenyan contingent got stranded in Kampala soon after the championship concluded on Saturday.<br />
In his own words, Andanje explained that the Ugandan Skating Federation reneged on their assurance to foot the Kenyan team’s accommodation and meals ostensibly after losing out on the skating course.<br />
In the end, it took the benevolence of Kampala Coach who obliged to ferry the skaters back home even though the team was short of a whopping Sh 19,000.<br />
I eventually got to speak Andanje late on Wednesday evening shortly after the team of 26 skaters arrived in Nairobi, thankfully in one piece. <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kw81Dz5S5Eo/UZBTPZ-ipYI/AAAAAAAAALQ/Xmqfv64mFoc/s1600/SPORTON+SKATE+DERBY+ac.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kw81Dz5S5Eo/UZBTPZ-ipYI/AAAAAAAAALQ/Xmqfv64mFoc/s320/SPORTON+SKATE+DERBY+ac.jpg" /></a><br />
In this age and time, do such things still happen? Our skaters tribulations across the border reminded me of one poignant incident way back in 2006 when former top tier league side Shabana got ‘stuck’ in the coastal city of Mombasa after playing a league match against Dubai Bank.<br />
The story has it that the Kisii side started their journey to the Coast on a Friday but failed to make it in good time after their bus broke down somewhere along the way.<br />
Somehow, the travelling party arrived in Mombasa on Saturday morning after a labourous overnight journey and headed straight to Bamburi Portland Cement ground for the match. As it were, the fatigued team suffered a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of host team.<br />
But that was just the beginning of their troubles. Having run out of cash, the players wondered aimlessly like vagabonds in the streets of Mombasa.<br />
It was by pure luck when they bumped on a sympathetic patron in some seedy food kiosk who catered for their meals for the night. With nowhere to go, the team spent the next twenty four hours in the rat hole of an accommodation spending their nights either on the concrete floor or on the tables after close of business.<br />
Eventually, word reached an official of Dubai Bank FC who bailed out the team after some 48 hours in hell. It all made for a very pitiful story. Sadly, that marked the beginning of the end for once vibrant Shabana FC.<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-84898094111827766942013-04-28T19:43:00.001-07:002013-04-28T19:43:50.465-07:00Open letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and ArtGreetings Waziri Hassan Wario Arero! Allow me to begin by congratulating you on your nomination for the position of Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Arts.<br />
Precisely seven days ago, I wrote in this very column that the sporting fraternity could not wait any longer for your identity to be revealed. Thankfully, His Excellency the President Uhuru Kenyatta spared us any further apprehension when 72 hours later he announced your name along with those of 12 other nominees for various cabinet dockets.<br />
Honestly, your nomination took me by surprise considering that I had never heard of your name anywhere in the sporting circles before. I am embarrassed to make this confession, but the truth is I am being economical with the truth here. I was hearing your name for the first time last week. But that is beside the point. My main concern is to bring you up to speed with the goings-on in Kenyan sports. I believe this information will come in handy you when you finally assume office.<br />
First and foremost, it would be of utmost importance for you to know that as much as the President categorically stated that your role (and that of your other Cabinet colleagues in-waiting) will be nonpolitical, everything about sports in Kenya is political!<br />
In the course of discharging your duties be prepared to get drawn into the endless political turf wars that are synonymous with all sports federations in the country.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_BTx_HhP854/UX3ePW9uzwI/AAAAAAAAAKM/7AqSaij5zcE/s1600/Hassan+Wario.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_BTx_HhP854/UX3ePW9uzwI/AAAAAAAAAKM/7AqSaij5zcE/s320/Hassan+Wario.jpg" /></a><br />
Be particularly wary of Football Kenya Federation (FKF). Controversy is the middle name of this federation whose past and present leaderships are known for their conniving and wily ways, especially when it comes to transparency and accountability.<br />
But FKF will not be the only source of your headache. The equally inept Cricket Kenya (CK) and Kenya Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) are FKF’s chief partners in crime. Ever wondered why Kenya’s performance in cricket and boxing nosedived to a bottomless abyss? Well, wonder no more Bwana Waziri.<br />
Don’t be deceived by the many medals Kenyan runners rack up at very global event; if you scratch beneath Athletics Kenya’s (AK) glossy exterior you will be surprised by the heap of dirt you will unearth.<br />
The good performance of the Kenya 7s rugby team and the women’s national volleyball team somehow paints Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) and the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) in good light. Yet, Kenya has not achieved its full potential in the two disciplines. <br />
I won’t waste precious space on the ‘other’ such as tennis, badminton, squash, motorsport, handball, netball and basketball. There is nothing to write home about.<br />
But being the optimist that I am, I believe you have what it takes to turn things around. At just 42 years, you are the embodiment of youthfulness in tandem with the Jubilee Coalition’s campaign clarion call for the long overdue generational change. What more! Being an Anthropologist you should be able to immortalize the past, present and future exploits of our athletes in the National Museum of our collective memories.<br />
Finally, it’s my hope that you will take the cue from the appointing authorities (the dynamic <i>UhuRuto</i> duo) and roll up your sleeves for serious work once the parliamentary vetting committee clears you. Good luck Sir!<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-63973360932648452042013-04-28T19:39:00.001-07:002013-04-28T19:39:48.135-07:00Hooliganism is here to stay!<i>Football. Bloody hell!</i> Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous quip after Manchester United’s wrenched the big-eared Uefa Champions League trophy by the scruff of its neck with a dramatic stoppage time victory over Bayern Munich during that memorable 1999 Uefa Champions League final comes to mind in view of the recent happenings in Europe’s premier club competition.<br />
Who would have thought Bayern Munich could have steamrolled the all-conquering Barcelona and that the unfancied Borussia Dortmund would have made mincemeat of the star-studded Real Madrid?<br />
Thomas Müller and Robert Lowendowski proved to be the Spanish teams’ worst nightmares with peerless performances that reduced the unfit Lionel Messi and a largely subdued Cristiano Ronaldo to mere mortals.<br />
“Has the power balance in European football shifted from Spain to Germany?” was the TV commentator’s punch line after Dortmund annihilated Real at the Signal Iduna Park. <br />
But I will leave at that and wait for the return fixtures in the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona. <br />
On the domestic scene, all I have been hearing the whole week has been a raucous din about some miscreants masquerading as football fans.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TYOSvTyirUI/UX3dW8E3OMI/AAAAAAAAAKA/nzxhDsdVNoQ/s1600/Broken+gate.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TYOSvTyirUI/UX3dW8E3OMI/AAAAAAAAAKA/nzxhDsdVNoQ/s320/Broken+gate.jpg" /></a><br />
While Football Kenya Federation (FKF) was busy paying lip services by imposing a ‘life bans’ on some goon who invaded a match between AFC Leopards and Chemelil Sugar, Gor Mahia fans were on the loose unleashing terror on motorists, pedestrians and traders along Jogoo Road after their team barely managed a draw against Sony Sugar.<br />
FKF’s ban claim would have been laughable if not for the gravity of the matter. For all I know, neither FKF nor Kenyan Premier League (KPL) have the capacity or resources to impose such a penalty.<br />
I have covered many football matches in KPL and from my observation, little or no screening is done on the ticket holders at the turnstiles.<br />
That is why all sorts of contrabands too often find their way into the stands. During last season’s violence-marred meeting between Gor and Leopards at Nyayo, one fan was pictured carrying a gigantic water tank high up on the terraces in the troubled section.<br />
Absence of surveillance cameras in our stadia makes it practically impossible to identify persons entering the venue.<br />
SuperSport cameras can to some degree do the job, but not all matches are televised live. Furthermore, SuperSport is not in the business of picking out trouble spot in the stadium. Their sole interest is to televise matches. That’s why we shall have to contend with many more case of hooliganism in future EPL matches. Unfortunately so!<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-91643456561920976892013-04-22T07:05:00.001-07:002013-04-23T05:41:54.879-07:00Can't wait for new Sports MinisterLast week when President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the structure of his new cabinet, Sports (no prizes for guessing) was lumped together with Culture and Arts.<br />
It came as no surprise at all. This was purely in keeping with tradition. In the eyes of Uhuru’s predecessors, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, sports belonged to the backwaters of their cabinet structures.<br />
I was born during Mzee Kenyatta’s sunset days but from what I gather, sports featured nowhere in his lean independence cabinet of 1963.<br />
A look at the list of Kenyatta’s cabinet of 15 ministries, perhaps the only one that was ‘remotely’ related to sports was Eliud Mwendwa’s Ministry of Labour and Social Services. <br />
Exit Kenyatta, enter Moi. His fetish for having all the main sporting facilities across the country named after him notwithstanding, not to mention his knack for gracing all major sporting events, Moi too didn’t consider sports worthy of having a full ministerial docket.<br />
In fact, during the Nyayo days sports was just a department within the expansive Ministry of Culture and Social Services.<br />
Then came Emilio Mwai Kibaki. Apart from his love for golf, the immediate former president was overtly aloof to sports.<br />
Ironically, he was the first Head of State to grant sports a visible docket, albeit under the Ministry of Youth, Gender and Sports.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lg_Tjpvl7yc/UXVFYvxgZ5I/AAAAAAAAAJw/7Ivg8MRig10/s1600/Uhuru+Kenyatta.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lg_Tjpvl7yc/UXVFYvxgZ5I/AAAAAAAAAJw/7Ivg8MRig10/s320/Uhuru+Kenyatta.jpg" /></a><br />
During their well-oiled campaign in the run up to March 14 General Election, the ruling Jubilee Coalition identified the country’s sporting challenge thus (and I quote their manifesto verbatim):<br />
<i>“Our collective love for sports and the arts is one of the strongest factors that unite us. In the sporting arena we are world leaders in middle and long distance running. At home our culture is vibrant and thriving. However, successive Governments have too often neglected sports and creative industries. As a result, the potential in these sectors have not been accorded a chance to improve our quality of life or boost our economy.”</i><br />
To this end, the Jubilee manifesto outlined a 16-point blueprint as a viable solution.<br />
As we wait with bated breaths for President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto to reveal the identities of the office bearers of their 18-ministry cabinet later this week, it is my hope that the two principals will appoint in the Sports, Culture and Arts Ministry someone capable of maximizing the great potential of this multi-billion shillings industry.<br />
Key in Jubilee’s ambitious manifesto is the establishment of a National Lottery Scheme, the establishment of state-of-the-art youth development centres in all the 47 Counties and building of five new sports stadia in Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret and Garissa while at the same time upgrading existing sporting facilities at the county level.<br />
Clearly, the yet to be named Sports, Culture and Arts Minister already has his/her work cut towards achieving this ambitious plan. The Kenyan sporting fraternity will be keenly watching to see whether indeed, they <i>‘should believe, yawezekana, kusema na kutenda’</i>. <br />
Failure to which, the Jubilee Government will be held to account for their lofty promises.<br />
<br />
De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-85503691513823803432013-04-19T09:29:00.001-07:002013-04-23T05:33:07.250-07:00AFC Leopards must be reprimandedJust what will it take to end this Ingwe ‘madness’? My words have been very carefully chosen here because just twenty four hours to their match against Chemelil Sugar in a KPL Top 8 match, it was their new coach Luc Eymael who exclaimed in total exasperation: “It’s madness here... I am very irritated”. <br />
To put things in context, a missed ride to the team’s training ground on Monday afternoon was the source of the Belgian’s frustration. <br />
But if the gross maladministration of Ingwe is indeed madness, then I can’t find the right words to describe the shameful act of the club’s fans in recent days. <br />
In my last column, I wondered aloud how the Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB) could grant Leopards a <i>carte blanche</i> in their facilities yet the conduct of the team’s fans has lately left a lot to be desired. <br />
Under the guise of protesting ‘poor officiating’ Ingwe’s fans set the tone of their agenda this season by ripping off seats at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on the very first day of the season after their match against Chemelil Sugar ended in a 1-1 draw. <br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NdmgasiTaTE/UXFw4VR1EgI/AAAAAAAAAJg/2lP6yAYN9YA/s1600/AFC++Leopards.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NdmgasiTaTE/UXFw4VR1EgI/AAAAAAAAAJg/2lP6yAYN9YA/s320/AFC++Leopards.jpg" /></a> <br />
On Wednesday night the same hoodlums once again went on the rampage at Nyayo National Stadium as their team faced imminent defeat to the sugar millers. Yet again, their scapegoat was ‘poor officiating’. <br />
For too long Gor Mahia fans have been depicted as the vile ‘war merchants’ in Kenyan football. But at this rate, AFC Leopards are will sooner rather than later stage a coup on <i>Sirkal</i>. <br />
If Leopards fans can resort to violence and wanton destruction of property against a team of Chemelil’s ilk, then what will happen when they meet their eternal nemesis in three weeks’ time? So the question is: for how long must Leopards continue in their wayward ways before the authorities take action? <br />
During that first match, against Chemelil on February 24, a top Leopards official had the nerve to shift blame on the home team (Chemelil) for their failure to put up sound security measure never mind practically all the fans inside the stadium were donning Ingwe’s famous blue and white hoops. <br />
It will be interesting to hear what the team’s administration will proffer in defence of the vile fans if and when KPL holds to them to account for their actions. <br />
That said, no amount of lame excuses can justify the violence that was meted out by Ingwe fans on Wednesday night. The authorities must act now! De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-66026308703772799202013-04-16T05:07:00.000-07:002013-04-23T05:36:03.510-07:00Hell hath no fury like K’Ogalo fans scorned! A story published on last week’s Wednesday edition of the <i>Daily Nation</i> confirmed that Gor Mahia fans do not take kindly anything that tends to disparage their beloved team. <br />
It takes a very brave journalist to brand the mighty Gor as ‘perennial continental flops’ - as the article insinuated.<br />
So naturally, for his troubles, the writer whose byline the story bore got some serious tongue lashing on social media from a section of miffed Gor fans. <br />
That’s just how passionate <i>K’Ogalo</i> fans are. And who would blame them? The world over, football fans are known to go to unthinkable extent to uphold the honour of their clubs. <br />
My colleague and friend who penned the piece should actually count himself very lucky for getting off the hook with just a mere dressing-down. <br />
A tale is told of a historic meeting between arch rivals Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards in the finals of the 1985 Cecafa Club Championship in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. <br />
Pundits have described this encounter as the most fiercely contested final in the regional tournament’s history. With Leopards having beaten Gor 2-1 in the previous year’s edition, the tie was thick with sub plots as the sworn enemies took their battle beyond Kenyan borders. <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uL48ahD0W-Y/UW0-4LZS5SI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/2LHAIIZ6uNY/s1600/Gor+Mahia.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uL48ahD0W-Y/UW0-4LZS5SI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/2LHAIIZ6uNY/s320/Gor+Mahia.jpg" /></a> <br />
At the end of a bruising 90 minute, Gor prevailed over Leopards with a sweet 2-0 victory. But there was a strange twist to the tale when Gor Mahia’s two goal hero William Obwaka had his rural home torched by AFC Leopards fans who felt betrayed by a kinsman who chose to go to bed with the enemy. <br />
Finally, I found it a little bit odd that late on Friday evening the Kenyan Premier League hurriedly dispatched information to the effect that Sport Stadia Management Board (SSMB) had declined to host Gor Mahia at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. <br />
As carefully as the mail had been drafted, the message was clear. The Green Army are still considered <i>persona non grata</i> at all SSMB facilities. <br />
Strange, given that Gor have not had one single incident of crowd trouble this season. In fact it was AFC Leopards’ fans who on the very first day of the season ripped off seats at the Kasarani facility in a violent fit of rage ostensibly to protest ‘poor officiating’. <br />
How odd then that <i>Ingwe</i> were allowed to prance in feline grace around the same facility on Saturday evening only to have Gor locked out for their Sunday afternoon date with KCB? Is SSMB’s ‘hosting advisory’ on K’Ogalo a case of selective judgment of simply giving the dog a bad name? Just my thoughts. De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-67145486621458377152013-04-12T09:45:00.000-07:002013-04-23T05:38:27.479-07:00Kenyan clubs should drop Gunners' defeatist mentalityIt’s the most annoying thing that I keep hearing. When will Arsenal fans (the local ones) realize that ‘their’ team has hit rock bottom? <br />
On Sunday I was left completely aghast with a colleague at the office (a self-styled Gunner) who was besides himself as Everton frustrated Tottenham Hotspurs to a 2-2 draw at the White Hart Lane. <br />
His source of excitement was informed by the notion that defeat for Spurs would provide a window of opportunity for his beloved Arsenal to sneak through the backdoor into the Uefa Champions League. <br />
I found that a little pedestrian. It’s no secret that over the last few years, eight to be precise, Arsenal has been reduced to a run off the mill side in the Premiership that finds enough reason to ‘celebrate’ a top four finish. <br />
But on every occasion they have gatecrashed the European banquet, they are ever content in scrambling for crumbs that fall off the high table while the big boys (Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United) eat to their fill. <br />
Arsenal fans keep talking about qualification for Uefa Champions League, but what's the point of qualification only to get whacked all over the place? <br />
But I care less about the much hyped English Premier League, let alone spineless teams that forever keep talking about the future and not the present. <br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dFuR3B_4mWE/UWg5zpy1T2I/AAAAAAAAAJA/rCZxcXlgtGQ/s1600/Arsenal_Logo9.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dFuR3B_4mWE/UWg5zpy1T2I/AAAAAAAAAJA/rCZxcXlgtGQ/s320/Arsenal_Logo9.jpg" /></a> <br />
That brings me to the crux of the matter, local football. For all the talk about the Tusker Premier League being one of the most competitive this side of the Sahara, there is little evidence to validate this claim. <br />
If indeed the proof is the pudding, then the top two Kenyan Premier League sides, Tusker FC and Gor Mahia, the burden of proof has been way too heavy to shoulder, going by their dismal showing at the continental stage. <br />
Just over two decades ago, Kenya teams had little difficulty in reaching the latter stages of continental tournaments. Indeed, the then ‘Mighty Gor’ class of ‘87 class of wrote history by becoming the first club in East and Central Africa to clinch a continental diadem. <br />
Seven years later, Tusker came very close to repeating Gor’s feat but sensationally capitulated at the hands of Congolese side DC Motema Pemba when losing seemed more difficult than winning. <br />
Since then, it has been a downward spiral for Kenyan teams. Nowadays, we seem more content in just making the numbers as opposed to contesting for honours. <br />
True, Egyptian clubs are established on sound infrastructural and financial foundation, but that should not be an excuse for Tusker’s and Gor’s tame display against Al Ahly and ENPPI respectively. <br />
I would have thought that either team should have, at worst, forced a draw at home. I cringe at the thought of our clubs going the Arsenal way of taking pride in merely qualifying for continental tournaments only to get kicked left, right and centre De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-72111184282987995552013-04-10T15:05:00.000-07:002013-04-23T05:40:09.078-07:00Age is more than just a numberI have always wondered; if indeed age is just a number then why it is such a pain for most people to reveal how old they are? Having been schooled in the old-fashioned way I, for one, takes utmost care on all matters related to age when dealing the womenfolk. <br />
Most ladies have an inborn fetish for youthfulness and from where I come there is an unwritten rule that asking a woman her age is the height of churlishness. It’s simply a no, no! <br />
I must also hasten to add here that one of the missing bit of detail on my Facebook and Twitter accounts is the date of my birth. Not for any reasons other than a deterrent measure for a barrage of unsolicited birthday wishes. <br />
But I digress. My gripe is with the issue of age falsification in sports. <br />
While it’s an accepted fact that ‘age cheating’ is rampant in sports, recent claims that former Nigerian defensive lynchpin Taribo West once ‘slashed’ his age by 12 years in order to join a club in Europe is, for lack of a better word, mind-boggling. <br />
The former president of Serbian club Partizan Belgrade, Zarko Zecevic, last week blew the lid off the can with claims that West lied about his age and that the former Super Eagles centre half was actually 12 years older than the 28 years he claimed to be when he joined the club way back in 2002. <br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g6wSt95Ie28/UWXiG_1aFDI/AAAAAAAAAIg/CR6bUQ5fIKM/s1600/Taribo+West.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g6wSt95Ie28/UWXiG_1aFDI/AAAAAAAAAIg/CR6bUQ5fIKM/s320/Taribo+West.jpg" /></a> <br />
A certain website couldn’t have put it better by saying: ‘If Taribo West is as old as they say he is, then his professional football career is one long achievement in itself.’ <br />
Although a rare feat in football, there exist a few players in the mound of Lothar Matthaus, Edwin van der Sar, Jens Lehman, Paulo Maldini, Hossam Hassan and Roger Milla (all legendary in their own rights) who extended their playing careers beyond their 4oth birthdays. <br />
But without a doubt this class of players is a dying breed. Manchester United’s philandering yet ageless winger, Ryan Giggs, is perhaps the last of a lineage of players with an incredible ‘staying power’ (no pun intended). <br />
What makes Zecevic’s claims incredible is that after leaving Partizan in 2004, West played for four more years, turning out for four different clubs, until 2008 when he finally hanged his boot. <br />
That would have made him a 46 years old scoundrel who cheated his way into all age group tournaments that he represented Nigeria in, including the famous 1996 Olympic Games victory in Atlanta, USA. <br />
Of course, and naturally so, West has disproved these claims. This begs the question are all those fabled tales of West African nation’s success in youth development just a sham? <br />
But Kenyan football too is not immune to age cheating and my haunch is that there are many players in the Kenyan Premier League carrying passports with falsified dates of birth. De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-45679759090360667472010-07-15T03:22:00.000-07:002010-07-15T04:25:16.810-07:00World Cup 'madness'... the aftermath...Rarely does the work of a policeman entail quelling a sanctioned riot disguised as a football match in the full glare of an estimated 700 million worldwide viewers.<br /><br />That's exactly what one English police sergeant by the name Webb Howard found himself embroiled in last Saturday as the first World Cup on Africa soil came to an end.<br /><br />What football pundits had billed as a would be greatest final of all time imploded into badly scripted play, the main protagonists being the thuggish Dutchman against the petulant Spaniard. <br /><br />The was the ultimate show-stopper and Webb was only meant to play a supporting role. But in strange twist to the tale the chief members of the cast connived to thrust him into the heat of the spotlight.<br /><br />Fate having placed him right at the center this farcical, yet comical show, Webb, who took a break from law enforcement duties 2 years ago in favour of the whistle, flashed a record 14 yellow cards and a red a card, just for good measure. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TD7nXRWBBdI/AAAAAAAAAG4/XSA_p9mTEzE/s1600/Howard+Webb.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TD7nXRWBBdI/AAAAAAAAAG4/XSA_p9mTEzE/s320/Howard+Webb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494082982417335762" /></a><br /><br />Suffice to say, in so doing the South Yorkshire Police officer unwittingly earned himself an eternal place of infamy in a Dutch folklore that will be told and retold in many years to come. <br /><br />But then again, what other options did good old Webb have given that the Dutch hoodlums – the once highly acclaimed inventors of 'Total Football' - seemed more intent in clattering down and flattening the spineless and soft-pithed Spaniards? Something was bound to give in, at some point - and it did.<br /><br />Having displayed a remarkable degree of restraint, Webb's patience finally ran out deep into extra time. The eventual jettisoning of Johnny Hetinga - the de facto leader of the triangular 'axis of evil', that included the repulsive Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong, was indeed very long in coming. <br /><br />In the immediate aftermath of the ill-tempered final match, anger took the better of fans of the jinxed Oranje, with mounted police called to break up 200 rioting Dutch fans in The Hague of all places. <br /><br />Funny that in a mere 120 minutes of total anarchy, the hunter - Webb - turned into the hunted. That's the irony of life.<br /><br />Not so far away from the setting of this well choreographed charade, this whole business of a man and his many cards must have left the millions of Kenyan viewers with a sense of deja vu. <br /><br />Kenya is known be a very political state and in local parlance, these are indeed the times of the 'Greens' and 'Reds'. In typical Kenyan speak, the two 'primary colours' have taken a whole new dimension ever since they were unveiled as they official colour codes of the looming plebiscite. <br /><br />Absurdly, this whole colour fad bears the remotest connection to the beautiful game. A 'Red Card' is no longer connotative of a players expulsion from the field of play nor does a 'Green Card' refer to the once much coveted license to the 'land of opportunities' - President Barack Obama's birthplace. <br />Still, you have to marvel at the Electoral body's ingenuity in cashing in on the spirit of the game by running an advert in between live match coverage with a tag line that went like this … “Red or Green, we are Kenyans.”<br /><br />Yet the greatest tragedy to this episode is that one section of the ever-feuding Kenyan football (mal)administrators had the audacity to laud our hands-on Premier's attempt to do his own version of a 'Jonathan Goodluck' coup. Perhaps a case of political-correctness taken a bit too far.<br /><br />On whether Howard Webb, failed either by acts of omission or commission, the jury is still out there. But there can be little doubt in the mind of the majority that the first World Cup held on African soil, by the Rainbow Nation, was one big success story; whichever side of the colour scheme you choose to look at it from.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-88585700049911603702010-06-14T09:17:00.000-07:002010-06-15T01:19:11.703-07:00Time to go gaga!!!Every time my colleague Ayumba from the Daily Nation jumps to his feet to cheer and shout himself hoarse as Bafana Bafana lay surge on the Mexicans, the elderly white man perched on a high stool at the bar behind us reacts with spontaneous fits of anger.<br /> <br />He keeps fluffing his hands wildly while mouthing some inaudible protests which are duly drowned by the frantic fan's persistent din. At first I mistake the old man’s livid reaction as his unique way of cheering on the South Africans. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TBZeWQTw5yI/AAAAAAAAAGA/zAxCS6QF2n4/s1600/madiba.bmp"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 281px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TBZeWQTw5yI/AAAAAAAAAGA/zAxCS6QF2n4/s320/madiba.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482673332798154530" /></a><br />It’s only much later that I realise that the poor fellow is actually aghast by my partner’s perceived insolence in denying him a view of the crystal clear HD LCD screen that has captured the attention of all and sundry in the house.<br /> <br />Am tickled, but I don’t bother to alert the apparently oblivious Ayumba who is too engrossed in his cheer-leading exertions to take any notice. <br /><br />It’s a Friday evening and we are at Kengeles, right in the heart of the blissful suburban Lavington Green to catch the historic kick-off of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, courtesy of MultiChoice Kenya. <br /><br />The bubbly party mood at this placid joint that is popularly patronized by clientèle from the upper scale of the social class is uncharacteristic of the establishment. <br /><br />With us on the same table is another colleague from the print, Ateka. This brother is, as usual, calm and collected as he slowly sips his Tusker baridi.<br /><br />Behind us, at the bar, is a young couple. The man - a lanky Caucasian - is taking a Tusker too while his ‘very’ pregnant companion seems content with a glass of bottled water. They are hardly speaking to each other but seem quite comfy all the same. <br /><br />A few minutes before half-time, a middle-aged gentleman settles on the empty table across ours. He is soon joined by another man in a grey suit and the two immediately order their drinks. <br /><br />But wait a minute! Isn’t the latter of the two a clergyman; an ever observant Ateka discreetly nudges me. Sure enough - you can’t be wrong with the unmistakable white collar. And isn’t the man of the cloth downing his Tusker Malt baridi! <br /><br />A mystified Ayumba quickly posts this lewd observation on Facebook via his cell phone to trigger a flurry of subversive comments from the ever eager online netizens of social network.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TBc0g1Izm0I/AAAAAAAAAGI/byjhIRyZ5yQ/s1600/WC+Ball.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 123px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TBc0g1Izm0I/AAAAAAAAAGI/byjhIRyZ5yQ/s320/WC+Ball.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482908809971342146" /></a><br /><br />The back lobby, where the live action is being projected of four giant LCD screens is the preferred section for the rest of the media 'gang'. The placed is packed to the rafters!<br /><br />There is a buzz about the place but the surround HD commentary somehow muffles the animated conversation of the vuvuzela-brandishing fans donned in assorted team shirts. <br /><br />Perhaps this convivial sense of camaraderie explains our ‘Mzungu’ friend’s indignation and frustration at having his privacy so rudely intruded. <br /><br />Unfortunately, there is no reprieve for him: the height of this madness is when Siphiwe Tshabalala lets fly a rocket that nestles with a bulge on the top corner of the Mexican net in the 55th minute.<br /> <br />Goal number one of 2010 Fifa World Cup is greeted by cacophony of sounds... the noise from the blurring vuvuzelas, honking car horns, and wild cheers is deafening.<br /><br />Inexplicably, when Rafael Marquez equalizes for the Mexicans with just 23 minutes left on the clock, a few rounds of cheers are heard from some overzealous fans who seem to be just happy to savour the moment.<br /><br />The game is soon over and the first person I turn to is the guy next table who identifies himself as Gaitho, a Nairobi businessman. The drinking pastor has since left. “Am not much of a football fan. I only came here to meet my pastor friend . I noticed you guys were startled when he walked in, but then....” he stutters and stops.<br /><br />Your favourite teams? “Italy and Nigeria”, he quips without any further elaboration.<br />Next, I move to the bar where the indignant Caucasian man - by now as high as a kite from his tipple - is still sitted with a slightly drooped head.<br /><br />But when I introduce myself he quickly grabs my Press Card and gives it long hard dreary look. “ Am not a ‘Mzungu’, I’ve lived in Kenya for 12 years”, he snaps at me in a drunken drawl when I ask for his reactions to the World Cup kick-off.<br /><br />The next minute, he's warmed up to me and goes ahead to confess that he is not so enthusiastic about football but has a liking for rugby. “I don’t support any team but I hope South Africa does well” he mumbles with a half smile.<br /><br />Inspite of my spirited coercion, the guy simply wont reveal any more. “Am simply known as Terry, that all you need to know ”, he says curtly before clasping my palm with a firm grip. End of interview!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TBc0vsmEZpI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/L7X1iNU08Zo/s1600/Zakumi+2010.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 119px; height: 140px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TBc0vsmEZpI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/L7X1iNU08Zo/s320/Zakumi+2010.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482909065376196242" /></a><br /><br />On my way out, I bump into the premises owner Garvin Bell (Bell translates to Kengele in Kiswahili) and Stella Ondimu of MultiChoice Kenya. Garvin, who like the rest of his staff, is sporting a red t-shirt and black track slacks, seems highly energized by the carnival mood.<br /><br />“Am so excited to be part of this communal goodwill event which has brought all these wonderful people together with the common purpose to support their teams and generally having fun”, says Garvin.<br /><br />And what's with the number 7 on the back of the shirts? “Its the presumed lucky number here at Kengeles ”, he further confides. <br /><br />Its 8:00pm and music from the lobby is now a few decibels higher. Outside, more cars are pulling over into the already jammed parking lot. The party has just began... time for me find my way home for the second match of Day 1.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-776925557544098502010-05-23T05:50:00.000-07:002010-06-03T05:39:00.509-07:00Shame of the Naked Prince<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/S_kp1ikExlI/AAAAAAAAAFY/wn74ejz0IE4/s1600/ronaldinho1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/S_kp1ikExlI/AAAAAAAAAFY/wn74ejz0IE4/s320/ronaldinho1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474452821833467474" /></a><br />The die has been cast. The long journey to the 2010 FIFA World Cup has turned the final corner. Much water has passed under the bridge since 2006 when South Africa made history by becoming the first African nation to successfully bid for hosting the world football showpiece. Skepticism, especially by European nations, over South Africa's 'below par' infrastructure, security concerns and doubts over the Local Organizing Committee's (LOC) ability to successfully stage the event have all been the major talking points at one time or the other during this period. <br /><br />The stage now is set for what might just turn out to be the most memorable edition in the tournament's history. The end of the European football season in the last few days has set the right tone to the final countdown to South Africa 2010. Mid-last week, national coaches for SA-bound teams for the penultimate time took centre stage in naming provisional 30-man squads that will eventually be trimmed down to 23 on June 1 ahead of the June 11th - July 11th excursion down South.<br /><br />Its a well know fact that an appearance in the FIFA World Cup is the ultimate objective of virtually all football players. In almost all the world football powerhouses like England, Germany, France, Brazil and Argentina, donning your national colour at the greatest football bonanza carries almost the same weight as the honour of receiving a national medal from the Queen or the President. It of matters little your country pedigree in the 'beautiful' game; the sheer fact of merely doing national duty at the biggest competitive stage of the game expressly earns you a permanent place in the annals of national folklore. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TAeh_tEJCkI/AAAAAAAAAF4/VJyOy6p4mww/s1600/Ronaldinho-Gaucho.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/TAeh_tEJCkI/AAAAAAAAAF4/VJyOy6p4mww/s320/Ronaldinho-Gaucho.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478525587520293442" /></a><br /><br />That explains why many a professional football player endlessly toils to achieve this lifelong dream of playing in the World Cup. Not even the sweet taste of success at the showpiece helps in satiating this hunger. Its for that reason that every World Cup year, quite a few players a left distraught after failing to earn their places in their national squads. The furore and public outcry, both at home and abroad that, surrounded the exclusion of Brazilian national icon Romario's exclusion from the 2002 Japan/Korea contingent underscored the single-mindedness and great awe with which virtually all footballer regard the World Cup.<br /><br />Little wonder then the shock that greeted Brazilian coach Dunga's decision to take an unpopular stand by not drafting in his South African-bound squad two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira aka Ronaldinho. The talismanic former Barcelona play maker once mesmerized the global audience with uniquely skillful way of playing the ball coupled with sudden burst of great speed, balance and an unmatched ball control . Ironically, only a few years ago, the ever smiling Ronaldinho was enjoying the form of his career. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/S_6bGBwWkqI/AAAAAAAAAFo/jSAEcmHxPQo/s1600/Dunga1.bmp"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 171px; height: 196px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vbfSszrWTFs/S_6bGBwWkqI/AAAAAAAAAFo/jSAEcmHxPQo/s320/Dunga1.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475984724781863586" /></a><br /><br /><br />His great vision on the field of play the and a knack for scoring outrageous goals certainly endeared him to many football fans. Notably is the jaw dropping overhead kick that he executed in the 2006-07 la Liga match against Villareal. Still unforgotten also, is his audacious free kick that completely fouled former English goalkeeper David Seaman at the Quarter final stage of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea. It is in rumoured in some quarters that that blunder which costed England a place in the Semi final brought tears to Seaman's eyes long after the conclusion of the event.<br /><br />How times have changed. Ronaldihno will now join a long list of players that will miss the action in South Africa in just a matter of days. That the pragmatic Dunga actually chose to name his final 23-man squad as opposed the stipulated one of 30 players dealt a final severe blow any hopes that Ronaldinho might have haboured in sneaking into the Selecao. But Ronaldniho is not only. Along side him in this the sad company of 'rejects' are fellow AC Milan and former Brazilian teammate Alexandre Pato, former French captain, the often combative Patrick Vieira, and the Inter Milan duo of Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso both Argentines. Other big names in this growing list of yesteryear's heros include Italians Francesco Totti and Luca Toni, former Dutch goalscoring machine Ruud van Nestelrooy as well as former English captain David Beckham.<br /><br />The latest addition to this list - who many neutrals will probably empathize with - is German captain, the indefatigable Michael Ballack who for some strange reason always prefers to pull on the pressumedly 'unlucky' no.13 jersey both for club and country. While it would be preposterous and superstitious to draw a parallel to the many sad endings that Ballack has endured in his illustrious career, ill-fate certainly seems to endlessly dog him, especially when it matters most. <br /><br />Ballack's injury however is not intriguing. The tragedy lies behind the story of the player responsible for his injury. 23 year old German born Portsmouth player, Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has uncannily evoked the wrath of German fans actually has some German blood in his veins. Boateng who is of mixed parentage - his father a Ghanian and his Mother a German- has only recently been cleared by FIFA to be legible to play for the Ghanian national team. Up till Ballack's fateful injury occasioned by a tackle from Boateng during last Sunday's FA Final, the possibility of showdown between the two players on June 23 in a Group D clash in Johnnnesburg's Soccer City had been very real. A bizarre twist in the tale is that Boateng's half brother Jerome has been named in German coach Joachim Loew's provisional 30-man squad, meaning the two brothers could face-off in South Africa wearing two different national colours. <br /><br />Suffice to say, the injuries of Ballack and Beckham were most unfortunate for the two players who had hoped make their final bows in South Africa. However, the exclusion of other younger and ambitious players like the much maligned Italian teenage prodigy Mario Balotelli, the French pair of Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, Machester United's Brazilian midfielder Andersson and Real Madrid's Fernando Gago will most certainly leave their teams - and indeed the 2010 FIFA World Cup - more the poorer.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929629514733594227.post-23971905845042347322010-03-23T07:01:00.001-07:002010-03-23T07:01:53.918-07:00Will the Mariga Factor Spill Over?With just five minutes remaining on the clock and Inter Milan comfortably coasting to a would be famous victory over Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, TV pictures beamed a footage that will forever remain etched in the memory of many Kenyan football fans. A boyish smirk plastered all over his face, a nervous-looking MacDonald Mariga responded to coach Jose Mourinho's last minute touchline instructions with rhythmic nods of the head.<br /><br />That was the night of 16th March 2010 and history was in the making. A minute later, the lanky attacking midfielder strode into the hallowed grounds of Stamford Bridge as a replacement of Dutch cross-master Wesley Sneidjer. It can only be left to the figment of one's imagination the immense swelling of emotion that must have been bubbling inside this young lad at that historic moment.<br /><br />And this outpouring of emotions for the unprecedented achievement by 'one of our own' was just too infectious. At my Eastlands humble aboard, Mariga's cameo appearance was greeted with a spontaneous round of rousing applause from the many adjoining dingy video showrooms. Even in the studious of a local TV channel, FKL Technical Director Patrick Naggi was visibly besides himself with pride as he heaped superlative upon superlative on Mariga - his one time protégé at the defunct Kenya Pipeline FC. <br /><br />It was while we were all wallowing at the apex of that dizzying height that it somehow occurred to many of us that the furore over Mariga's botched move to Manchester City only a few weeks earlier had been misplaced after all. Inter Milan was definitely a blessing in disguise!<br /><br />With that single act, Mariga had singlehandedly put Kenya on the world map in a sport that we are still considered lightweights. Many years from now (or perhaps just a few), many other Kenyan players will follow in Mariga's footsteps and don the famous colours of some of the best European clubs. Its not a question of if, but rather when this prophesy will be fulfilled. And that in itself portends another question; which way forward now that Mariga has broken all barriers for us? <br /><br />While it is in order to acknowledge Mariga's accolades, it would be be foolhardy to connotate this great achievement as rocket science. There are certainly many more Mariga's and Olieches waiting to be discovered.<br /><br />Though its common knowledge that the root course of our football's near death is chronic maladministration of the game by selfish football officials, it would be pointless to dwell on these sideshows here. <br /><br />For now, it is imperative that we quickly get over this “feel good” effect occasioned by Mariga's exploits. The sooner the better (“hatujafika bado”). Of primary significance now is how to land many more Marigas in the Italian Serie A, the English Premier League and even the lucrative Spanish La Liga.<br /><br />A good starting point is through tournaments like the just concluded Super 8 and Pepeta Ball football tournaments as well as the ongoing Copa Coca Cola. We could even engage a latter-day “Bernard Zgoll” to revive and revamp the defunct Youth Olympic Centers across the country. This personality would be mandated with the responsibility of using such tournaments in identifying raw talent from the grassroots. Thereafter, a sound follow-through program would be set up to nurture and develop these young players.<br /><br />Football is all about continuity; with time these players would mature and step-up into the big leagues both locally and internationally when the big boys call it time. As they say, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. This is the way all the other continental powerhouses like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Egypt have gone to achieve their degree of success. Kenya can only do itself a big favour by aping our 'big brothers' from the West and the North if we ever hope to see many more Marigas doing us proud in European Leagues.De' Stefanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13342382972600808324noreply@blogger.com0