HOOLIGANISM IN KENYAN FOOTBALL MUST BE CONDEMNED AND EQUALLY FOUGHT.

Hooliganism is fast becoming the face of Kenyan football. We are getting used to violence in our stadia. As a football fraternity, it seems as though we are socializing violence as a way of the Kenyan football. A fiery Gor Mahia - AFC Leopards derby at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday 18 March was temporarily halted for close to 20 minutes, after a section of Gor Mahia fans turned chaotic as they disputed a red card issued to one of its team players, for dangerous play. In the corresponding fixture in the 2010 season at the same venue, seven fans died after a stampede ensued at one of the entrance gates.

A month later, the Independent Disciplinary and Action Committee, IDAC,  ruled that K’Ogallo, as  Gor Mahia is fondly known to its fans, was to play three matches, behind closed doors; soft punishment for a team whose fans have caused chaos in the past, especially in games against its fierce rivals, Afc Leopards. However, in a quick twist of events, Football Kenya Federation suspended the ban, on the grounds that Gor Mahia Fc had appealed against the ruling.

Violence from the premier league scene has spilled over to home games involving our national soccer team, Harambee Stars. Not once, but this has repeatedly happened, most notable was in a cup qualifier against Morocco at the Nyayo National stadium, where a young man died following a stampede.

These are just some of the ugly incidents that have happened right inside our stadiums. It seems that as a country, we have not learned from a painful past. Innocent lives have been lost, property destroyed and roads barricaded by unruly fans, who have continued to derail the development of the beautiful game.

Despite all these ugly incidents, soft punishment has been handed to the culprits. Perhaps, this explains why these incidents have continued to occur, much to the detriment of the Kenyan soccer. This has placed us under the watchful eye of the world football governing body, FIFA, and far devastating consequences may soon follow.

Gor Mahia, whose fans are the main culprits of these shameful acts that do not befit a civilized population, must ensure that their fans do not cause any more violence in our stadia.  Football is a game of wins and losses, and whenever a team loses, it should swallow the bitter pill, accept defeat and go back to the drawing board to deliberate on the way forward. Otherwise, no one rejoices in defeat, but sportsmanship demands that you accept defeat as a fair result and congratulate your opponent for winning. Otherwise, whenever the referee rightfully punishes your team, according to the rules of the game, you should not extend your dissatisfaction to the Uhuru highway and unleash havoc on innocent motorists, some of whom may not even be passionate about soccer! The fact that these shaming images are beamed to the whole world, courtesy of pay television channel, SuperSport, does not make matters any better.

Football Kenya Limited, FKF, and Kenya Premier League, KPL, should crack the whip and set a precedent to warn against the narrow minded who may think of bringing violence to any football game, in the future. That said, those responsible for providing security at these matches should be more vigilant. Otherwise, how do you explain huge stones and all sorts of missiles being hurled to the pitch! That our stadia are in deplorable conditions is no secret. We should be ashamed that as a country, we got only two stadiums that we pride in as being international, yet there are doubts about it, should serve as a wake-up call to the government and all football stake-holders. We should have more modern stadiums, good enough to host top of the table international matches.

As a country, we are still reeling from years of football mismanagement and all efforts should be made to ensure that we safely get out of this footballing quagmire. Hooliganism is threatening to let these efforts down the drain, if not well addressed in its early stages. Innocent blood that has been shed in our stadia should have already precipitated the necessary response. We cannot afford to sit back, watch and casually attend to casualties from football matches turned ugly.

We all need to come together and help instill civilization in our football fields. Football administrators should wake up and walk the talk, before it gets out of hand.