Tokelezea na Jalee- NMG shows the way

Nation Media Group has stepped into the local football arena is style. What a wonderful way to do it; July went into August, so the cold is well taken care of. The leading East African media house has partnered with the two most popular clubs in Kenya; the self proclaimed BIG clubs- Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards to bring us a one in a kind promotion.

The Green Army, as K’ogallo fans are called and Ingwe fans, them of The Claw Trust fame have a chance to step out in style to watch their teams in this cold weather.  The proceeds from the sales will be shared, where the two clubs will get 12% of the amount sold. This is a boost to the kitties of these two clubs.

Thanks to Nation Media Group, other corporate entities can take a cue and partner with our football clubs. This is a win-win for both parties as despite the marketing opportunity for the media group, the club benefits and the fans also take home merchandise. Other corporates should follow suit and take our football to the next level.

I can’t wait for the mashemeji derby to see a sea of green and blue jackets around the stadium. The in-laws can face each other in style and respect, knowing very well that as they keep warm the clubs are walking to bank whistling. Sirkal will dance in green while ingwe fans will do the isokonde dance in a blue strip; the glamour is back in our football.

They say green is the colour of life while blue is the colour of truth and moderation. So this is a chance to people who would like to be identified with these two teams to TOKELEZEA NA JALEE and represent their clubs.


HOW?The Daily Nation in the next three weeks will carry a discount coupon, fans must collect and present seven of these to be able to buy an exclusive jacket at KSH. 3,500. Then send an sms to code 5428 and book a jacket in advance. Hurry while stocks last.

To other clubs, don’t feel left out- NMG is planning to bring jackets for Sofapaka, Ulinzi then other clubs will follow; I can’t wait.

So book your jacket and tokeleze mtaani in style….

TOKELEZEA na JALEE

Sofapaka will be one of the Biggest Clubs in Kenya

Football is more than just a sport; it is an art, a language and to some extent a war in which every match is a battle. The world governing body FIFA tries to maintain sanity in a sport that generates emotions all over the world. Football was invented in England, thanks to colonization it spread all over the world and the English must be wondering what happened to ‘their’ game.

There are many dynamics in football in every country and culture. Kenyan football clubs took a tribal dimension while the Tanzanian clubs went the social class way. Simba is a club for the middle class while Yanga is for the working class. The community clubs in Kenya have had a tribal following; Gor is mainly supported by Luos while AFC Leopards by the Luhyas. The other clubs in KPL are institutional, formed by employees and sponsored by a corporate body.

In 2009, an unknown club called Sofapaka was promoted to the KPL. It had metamorphosed from a men’s ministry pass time at M.A.O.S church into a professional outfit in five years. They spent a year each in the Nationwide two and Nationwide leagues before the promotion. In their first year in the league, the club was fully sponsored by business man Elly Kalekwa and they clinched the title- a world record.

Then the old teams woke up, they were shocked by the new kids on the block. K’ogallo and AFC fans began to cheer Sofapaka’s opponents in the 2010 campaign where they finished fourth. Mathare United came into the league with a bang but took time to win it while ‘watoto wa mungu’ as they are known won it in their maiden appearence.

I have many reasons to believe that we have not seen the best of Sofapaka yet. While arguing a case in court, a lawyer will quote authorities; these are related cases whose judgments give weight to his arguments. I have my authorities as well.

Two English men Herbert Kilpin a lace maker and Alfred Edwards from Nottingham found themselves in Milan, Italy towards the end of nineteenth century. Being foreigners, they must have been bored after work due to limited social ties. They formed AC Milan in 1899, after a row the Italians broke away to form Internazionale of Milan in 1908. The rest as they say is history, the club has won eighteen officially recognized FIFA and UEFA titles. It is now owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

In the Catalan province of Spain, a twenty year old business man from Winterthur Switzerland arrived in Barcelona in 1898 and formed FC Barcelona in 1899. Hans ‘Joan’ Gamper had formed FC Zurich just before he left his native country. Barcelona has morphed into one of the biggest clubs in Spain and just like AC Milan, it was founded by a foreigner.

Argentinean club Boca Juniours is known as the club that ushered Diego Maradona into the world of football.  In April 1905, five Italian boys met in one of the boy’s home to form a club. The father to the boy was not happy and he threw the boys out. They went to a nearby house called Plaza Solís to continue with the project and Boca Juniours was founded.

These are just a few examples of football clubs started by foreigners in their adopted countries. I believe it is not only in football, foreigners tend succeed where the natives fail. I believe there are other foreigners who took charge of many clubs and raised their profile even if they were not the founders.

Football elicits great passion, especially among the working class who form the majority of any society. This attracts influence from the political class who are in pursuit of votes. A local administrator will definitely have political leanings. This will work for some time until he falls out of favour with his allies or they are thrown out of power. I talked to Elly Kalekwa a few years ago and he was very categorical that his politics is football. Foreigners will avoid getting directly involved in politics hence concentrate more on their private business.

Kenyan clubs are more inclined to tribal and regional loyalty. AFC Leoprads has signed most players from the Luhya community except Congolese import Jonas Nahimana and Ugandan Jimmy Bagaye. Gor Mahia has tried to move away from this trend and has several players who are not from Luo Nyanza. Sofapaka having a Congolese owner has a few refugees but the bulk of Kenyan contingent is a mixture of many tribes. This is another factor that will endear more people to ‘watoto wa mungu’ in the near future.

The foreign touch has spiced many leagues in the world. The great Pele came out retirement to play for New York Cosmos and American Soccer (not football) grew by leaps. Arsene Wenger brought the French finesse into the English Premier League. The Dutch invasion of Barcelona led by Rinus Michels and later Johan Cryuf transformed football in Spain. The Congolese invasion of KPL may just trigger a transformation in our football.

The entire France contingent that won the World Cup in 1998 were descendants of immigrants. Already we have Bob Mugalia in the national team, who knows who will be next. If we embrace more foreigners we are bound to see growth in the quality of our football.

History repeats itself, so it is prudent to learn from it so as to repeat the good and shun the wrong aspects of it. The current supporters of the clubs I have mentioned above may not know the foreign hands that shaped them. Like mercenaries, these men made the best of their love for the beautiful game in a simple way and many people are benefiting today. Sofapaka may be a Kenyan club owned by a Congolese businessman today, but I see a trailblazer in many fronts. Time will tell. 

Carol Radull; Give Akhwana his dues

Early last year Sofapaka had a half decent run in the Confederations Cup but still failed to make it to the money stage. This was despite Sofapaka having such a strong squad and one of the most qualified coaching teams around. Francis Kimanzi may not have physically been in Sofapaka yet, but he was pulling the strings already; from buying players in December 2010 to selecting the squad that beat Ismaily 4 – 0 here at home; a result that Ezekiel Akhwana still takes credit for.

The paragraph above is from Carol Radul's blog on www.supersport.com We must save our league , she talks about raising the standard of Kenya Premier League. I agree with her in almost everything she wrote except- the paragraph above.

It is good she noted that our best players are far away from football as they can get simply because Kenyan football does not pay. How do you expect clubs to pay players well when KPL gives clubs a paltry 8% of the total sponsorship from Supersport? No wonder our best players would rather go for careers in other fields, but that is for another day.

Carol Radul with all due respect tries to allude to the fact that Sofapaka had a half decent run in CAF Confederation Cup last season. I don't know what she means with a half decent run when the club was bundled out for allowing Club Africaine of Tunisia to score an away goal at Nyayo Stadium. Yes they failed to make it to the money bracket, does that amount to half a decent run?

Sofapaka had a strong squad compared to local clubs but regionally the squad was not the best. She also mentions that the coaches were most qualified. Sam Ssibwa left early before the tournament began, the burden was left on the inexperienced shoulders of Ezekiel Akhwana.

Yes, Kimanzi had a say in the purchase of players like Simeon Mulama, John Njoroge and may be Humphrey Mieno from KCB at the end of 2010 season. These players were not the best in Sofapaka, Sam Ssibwa had brought in Musa Mudde from Uganda earlier, a great talent on deed. Herritier Luvualu had come in from Congo and I doubt if Kimanzi knew him.

To claim that Kimanzi selected the squad that beat Ismaily 4-0 is an abuse to the person of Ezekiel Akhwana. If you ever talked to the Sofapaka players, you got players who had just been freed from the vice grip of Ssibwa and so Akhwana offered a breath of relief. They rallied behind him to prove Ssibwa (another 'special one') wrong.

Akhwana is a maverick, I doubt if he could accept to take Kimanzi's instructions when Kimanzi was reading theoretical football in Netherlands. The way Akhwana managed the team against Ismaily; the substitutions he made and how the team responded was the work of a man who utilized what he got well. I believe if he could get half the exposure Kimanzi has got, you will be writing a different story about him.

Ezekiel Akhwana deserves the credit for leading the team to victory over Ismaily. Even when Kimanzi claimed sabotage and he got Akhwana out, what did he do with Sofapaka? Francis Kimanzi is a good coach, but please give Akhwana the devil's dues. Your comment above is an abuse to a man I believe still has a lot to offer the local game.

The problem with KPL is so complex, almost a spaghetti like situation. You have to pick out each at a time, but with a good team with a common agenda, it is possible to sort out the mess. We need to look into building the capacity of our coaches to handle teams in major competitions. They will in turn prepare our players to match the challenges of playing at higher levels.

My two cents....

Tusker's exit from Kagame Cup a Blessing in Disguise

The Ruaraka based Tusker FC can now breathe again after a dismal performance in this years edition of CECAFA Kagame Cup in Dar-es-salam Tanzania.

They were held to a barren draw by debutants Mafunzo of Zanzibar then got the same results against Azam FC two days later. Sammy ‘pamzo’ Omollo was upbeat of a good show when the team departed but he will have to look at his attack.

Looking at it further, the longer they stayed in Kagame Cup, the more they Tusker was likely to lose the KPL title. “Now that you are back home early for the league, Pamzo- break a leg.” History has proved that Kenyan clubs to the regional tournament (the reigning KPL champs) fail to clinch the title upon return.

Sofapaka won the league in 2009 and represented Kenya in 2010 Kagame Cup that was hosted by Rwanda. This is the tournament where TP Mazembe’s Tresor Mputu caused drama in their match against APR and got a ban from CAF. Sofapaka lost to eventual winners APR of Rwanda in the semi finals.

They returned and stuttered in their title campaign eventually finishing fourth behind champions Ulinzi and runners up Gor and Tusker. They finished 12 points behind the leaders and I can bet the two week tournament in Rwanda had a lot to do with it.

Ulinzi went out to Dar last year and failed to defend their KPL title as well. Though Ulinzi also spent another two weeks in Brazil for the World Military Games. Several of their players were injured in Dar where they reached the quarter finals coming back home with more problems than fortune. They finished second one point behing winners Tusker.

There is more to CECAFA Club Championship for Kenyan clubs than meets the eyes. While other leagues in the region have ended and teams are preparing for the next season later in the year, KPL is at a climax. The other teams are using the tournament as a build up and test ground for new signings.

They get into it having had a month of rest and preparation for it unlike Kenyan clubs who always go to the tournament straight from league fixtures. They also have to contend with getting back to a crowded league action to catch up with the rest on return.

Looking at it in this way, it is always a lose-lose situation for our clubs. They will fight hard like Sofapaka and Ulinzi but will end up losing to mentally prepared teams. Upon return, KPL waits them with the rigorous challenge of a league that has grown in the last few years.

For Tusker to have left the tournament after playing only two matches may just be good for their KPL title defense. It is sad though that Kenya keeps loosing in both club and senior challenge championships. We need to look at the clubs that go out to represent us as a nation. FKF must support these clubs if we are to improve our rankings in world football.

Then we have to stop and normalize our league to the FIFA calendar. This is not only good for clubs going for the regional championship but also for the national team and foreign based players. We are the odd country in the region so we have to change and not the other way round.

Meanwhile, we will watch how the championship unfolds in Dar-es-Salam from the comfort of our homes. I hope FKF has started serious preparations for the Senior Challenge that we will host in November. We need to reclaim our lost glory in regional football.

An Open Letter to Sam Nyamweya

I wrote this artcle for The People Daily immediately after  Sam Nyamweya was elected; I have not met him, so it still holds. By suspending S. Sholei and D. Shikanda, he has not surprised me, I had a low opinion of his election. I have noted he also took FIFA to court, what is wrong with the two taking FKF to court?

Congratulations are in order Mr. Sam Nyamweya. You have fought a good fight and your efforts have been rewarded, you now sit at the helm of Kenyan football. We have waited for long as you tussled with FIFA and FKL, now you have the full loaf. Your efforts to take the untouchable FIFA to court came to naught, we thought you were out but here you are. You truly have nine lives like a cat so just get into business.

I watched you walk into City Stadium just before kick-off of Gor Mahia versus Sony Sugar match. You must have been shocked when you tried to greet the fans and the handful who tried to wave back were shouted down. You are a fighter-  that might not have caught your eye, if it did you were not bothered. It was a bad welcome, especially for a warrior coming back home after a victory. It spoke a lot about our fears as football fans, so please as you take office do not confirm our worst fears.

The ten officials elected last Saturday have a huge task ahead of them if you have to win the hearts of football fans. Only three were not in your pre election camp so we don’t expect much internal noise to stop you from working. The KPL representative for second vice chairman may not have been in your camp but the Executive Secretary is from your side. You have a good team or rather an army or band for the job. You will know why I refer to the officials in those three words.

The lukewarm reception last weekend may be a blessing in disguise. You know who most of us were rooting for so I won’t go there. Most fans have a low opinion of you, your history may have something to do with it but the future of football has a lot to do with it. We have a low expectation of the next five years you will be in charge of the game we love so much. This may be good for you because one mantra of customer care is under promise and over deliver. If go slightly above our expectations, you will win over most of us.

I know you have received a lot of unsolicited advice so It will not hurt if I add mine to it. Football is more than a sport that is why you have been fighting to take charge of it all these years. It elicits passion across all social-economic divides. It is a language, players and coaches express themselves through it. It is an art; the genius that takes us to the stadium and keeps us glued to our TVs is out of this world. It is a war- we are always going at each other strategically on the pitch, changing room and board rooms. Lastly, it is a sport, a beautiful game to be enjoyed for entertainment purposes.

For the next five years, try to speak to us in the football language, though it was invented in Britain and perfected in Brazil, I believe you understand it so well. It is a beautiful language and beautiful languages are simple. Football is a universal language with many dialects.

 Learning a new language is challenging in terms of the kinds of sounds that combine to form words. To learn another language therefore involves thinking in the language you know and translating it in your mind before you pronounce a word.  You won’t have the trouble of learning it, you have spoken the football language at all levels. You are at home with the idioms, sayings and proverbs. Let us hear you speak it to us often and clearly Mr. Chairman.

The art of football is beautiful to the artists and the beholders the world over. Like sculptors the managers and coaches shape a players mindset and physical ability. The players are like painters and weavers; they create patterns on the pitch daily that leave spectators yearning for more. Artists do not operate from the streets; they work in hibernation then exhibit their works to the highest bidder. Provide our football artists with a good environment to come up with and exhibit their wonderful artwork.

It is war and every match is a battle. The strategic lengths people go through to win a match and a title can make good fodder for ‘the art of war’ re-loaded. Before you pitch your camp, make sure your army has blended well. Sun Tzu writes in ‘the art of war’ that one is fit to lead an army on the march only if he is familiar with the face of the country—its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. None of the people you beat comes close to you in regard to knowledge of Kenyan football landscape; you have your job cut out for you.

We have been and will still converge in our stadia however dilapidated they are because football is an entertaining sport. Football fans will not expect you to be a comedian or to ask your committee to be a music band. What we would like to see is our monies, emotions and time spent worth. Entertaining football is played by happy footballers on good playing surfaces. Good football is simple football; simplification is not a product of simplistic minds but genius. For goodness sake surround yourself with great minds.

Lastly we don’t expect miracles from you anyway, you don’t always win every match in football so enjoy as well. Football has become a multibillion business but it is still a sport. Now you know why I said that your committee must be a team to play some good football, a band to entertain us and an army to fight the war that football has become. Amidst all these, it is still a beautiful game, the ball is at your feet. When you meet me let me know how it is going. 

City Stadium is an accident waiting to happen

Watching Harambee Stars play in the past few months has been devastating to those who love and know football. Kimanzi is a good coach but he is out of touch with reality on the ground. I will not go into the announcements by FKF after the loss to Togo; it is inconsequential and more of activity with no productivity.

As people waited for the results from Togo, I took time to watch Kariobangi Sharks play visiting Coast United at City Stadium that morning. I have been to City Stadium on several occasions but this day I saw more than I needed to see. The oldest stadium was screaming at me; I won’t be surprised if Harambee Stars lose to Togo, is all I could say and they did lose.

This is the oldest stadium in Kenya built in 1930s by colonialists. You will never write Kenya’a football history without mentioning the great City Stadium. The stadium was originally known as African Stadium, then Donholm Road Stadium and later Jogoo Road Stadium at independence in 1963 and finally Nairobi City Stadium.

It has been home to Gor Mahia whose fans proudly refer to it as tok K’omwanda. This just goes to tell you the place it holds in our football history. Very few people today can give you the true story behind Omwanda in relation to 15,000 capacity City Stadium. From what I have heard he was a business man in the neighboring Kaloleni Estate.

When you step into the VIP area of the stadium you are met with a stench that reminds you how Kenyan football smells. I bump into the match officials; I greet them and move on into the path of a player running past the officials into a changing room. I walk in and turn to look up for a vantage point to sit on the concrete. My eyes end up at the rusty old colonial steel structures holding the roof.

I walk up to the right, look down at the dirty concrete then at my pair of trouser and I decide to sit anyway. I gaze at the green artificial turf which is the only perfect piece in the whole stadium. I look across and see some toilets behind the terraces side better known as Russia. The last time the toilets worked may be Omwanda was alive.

Looking up I see the eye sore that the flood lights masts are and my heart feels for Harambee Stars in Togo. How do we expect them to perform when our facilities are this dilapidated? Kariobangi Sharks are warming on one side then Coast United step into the other side and I get distracted from my assesment. It is a cold morning so I decide to go and catch a mug of coffee sorry if you thought of Java, just go and try it out for yourself.

I bump into Kariobangi Sharks players as they run back to pick something from the changing room. If I was a Coast United fan out to make news I would just pour my hot coffee on them and run away very easily.

That is City Stadium in brief, the stadium Gor fans adore and cherish. I have not mentioned the car park on one of those afternoons when it rains in Nairobi. If it rains the VIP stand leaks so badly that you can’t enjoy the comfort of the hard concrete.  The perimeter fence around the pitch is also a mockery to the type of fans who come to City Stadium.

FIFA gave us the artificial turf when they wanted the whole of Africa to feel the effects of 2010 World Cup. When the turf was laid and the athletics track done away with, Nairobi City Council also decided to lie down and sleep. The playing surface and the former track is a stark contrast that screams to your ears.

Back to Basics

We are out of South Africa AFCON 2013 show and the 2014 World Cup is a long shot if the two qualifier matches we have played are anything to go by. We cannot dream big if we cannot master the basics. City Stadium is screaming, if we cannot do something about this facility then let us forget about our football ever growing.

The ‘Elephants’ of Ivory Coast trained in this facility in 2010, I would like to hear their take on what they saw. It is so unfortunate but now I will not suffer heartache if Harambee Stars lose if City Stadium will still be how it is.

Sports Stadia Management Board has banned Gor Mahia from its two facilities’ Nyayo and Kasarani for security reasons. This has left Gor with only City Stadium as their only option in Nairobi. If Gor Mahia fans are a security risk to opposing teams, their fans and match officials at Nyayo Stadium then sending them to City Stadium is a big risk on the safety of these people.

If you cannot contain K’ogallo fans at Nyayo, then there is nothing you can do at City Stadium. This is an accident waiting to happen. It is sad but an accident is the only language we understand because we cannot hear lung bursting screams.

 It is a shame that except the artificial turf everything else is the same way we got the stadium at independence. We have added no value to it five decades later, no wonder we cannot beat Togo.

Kariobangi Sharks went on to beat Coast United 2-1 in a very entertaining match. They have been tipped as the FC Barcelona of Kenya and they did not disappoint. My only problem was that such good talent will get swallowed and killed in the mire that is Kenyan football. I can’t wait to see Sharks in KPL but meanwhile, I will plug my ears to these head splitting screams.

Chemistry test for Kimanzi

I wrote this article a while back, I have decided to post it as it was, so don't mind if I have not mentioned the recent results of Harambee Stars, though I am not shocked...

It takes courage for a coach to admit that qualifying for the next World Cup is a long shot. Francis  Kimanzi knows that to take a team to Brazil in 2014 we need to have started at least by 2006. Zambia took six years to form the team that won the African Cup of Nations in Gabon. Unless we have a new untested formula, I will go with Kimanzi’s word.

Time is relative and neutral, what you do within the time is what makes the difference. You can do many things with players in six years but the main team dynamic you will build is chemistry. Zambian palyers know each other’s weakness and strength. They may not have been the best team in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon but their ability to gel, blend and flow made the difference.

This is what Kimanzi will have to make sure Harambee Stars achieve to make an impact in next year’s AFCON. Saying we have talent is an understatement- we are a country endowed with enough gifted football players. Structures or rather lack of the same has failed us in the past and it is time FKF walked their talk.

With all due respect, Denis Oliech and Mariga (Macdonald) will not be of much help in the long term. Kimanzi should start building a team around Victor Mugabe and the likes of Agwanda and Musa Mohammed. It will take courage to leave out the two experienced players in one of the qualifiers but it is tough and radical decisions that will give us results.

I keep referring to FC Barcelona when writing about football- we all agree they are in a class of their own. It is chemistry that makes all the difference at Camp Nou. Italy and Spain have also tried to build this in their national teams. Italy won the 2006 World Cup with a majority of players from the Serie A. Spain won the 2010 edition with all but three players (in English PL) based in Spain. Fabregas, Torres and Reina all started on the bench in the final against Netherlands.

The chemistry between Xavi and Iniesta is out of this world, they look programmed. It is the product of hard work and playing together for almost fifteen years. It takes more than just a good team to beat their combination with Messi in the mix. They have a policy that fifty percent of the first team will be home grown. Thirty five percent will be the best from Europe (mainly Spain) and the rest the cream of the world. This goes to just cement the clubs point of strength- chemistry.

When the national team picks most players from the domestic league,it means that most players have played against each other regularly. Though they will not be in the same team they will know each other’s strengths and weakness easily. This could be Kimanzi’s good starting point; he doesn’t need to call a legion of foreign based players. He can bring a few, only the ones he knows are crucial to his game plan.

Uganda is building their Under 23 side under their Scottish senior team coach. They have stuck with him for a while now and I can put my money on the Cranes making next year’s continental meeting. The youngsters get a chance to play in friendly matches which will make transition rather seamless. Unlike us who assemble the Olympic team for qualifiers or when some agents pay us good appearance fees. We then give a coach one day to prepare a team, and then we still expect good results. When the players perform, like they did in West Africa recently it is to market themselves to scouts.

Football Kenya Federation can set aside resources for Kimanzi to assemble local players for training and friendly matches at least twice a month. This should be organized on the days when most players are not training with their teams. Until we set up an elaborate youth structure, we have to find a way of getting the best players even out of the top flight league.

The Zambian team that won this year’s AFCON was disastrous in 2006 under Kalusha Bwalya as coach. The coach left to join the Federation but the team was left intact to play in Angola two years later. It is good if we identify a good youth team and gave Kimanzi time to build a team, even if he steps aside, the next coach should be briefed on the long term plan.

When average local based players can play as a unit, we are better off than a star studded team that is malfunctioning.  In building chemistry I don’t recommend the out of touch local trainers.  Not the kind of team builders who will take players through drills on a random day in some remote place.

Africans have a way of building social bonds and it is time we exploited these methods. The idea is to create pre-thought forums where these players can interact with each other. A good start is for them to visit and mentor secondary school players or the UNICEF sponsored centres of excellence.

It is time FKF put in the hard work of thought in our national team or else the Tusker sponsorship will leave us with a hangover. Interests abound but the mother of all these interests is our football. If it blossoms, even the woman who sells peanuts in the stadium will blossom as players and everybody else blossoms. It takes work and time, two factors of production that you will never substitute, not with anything I know of.