The
ugly face in the Kenyan football reared its ugly head once again, last weekend
in a league match pitting table toppers Gor Mahia against their bogey team,
Nairobi City Stars. The game ended in a barren draw and a section of the Gor
Mahia faithful decided to vent their anger in a manner that falls short of
sporting civility. About 600 seats, lighting boxes and flower beds were victims
of the latest act of hooliganism in Kenyan soccer. A stadium that had just been fitted with
world-class sporting facilities has once again been vandalized. But for how
long will football hooliganism go unpunished in the Kenyan soccer?
The
Ksh 2.1 million fine slapped on Gor Mahia may not be deterrent enough. A hefty
and severe penalty is urgently needed in order to contain this. What if the
club is forced to play some of its matches behind closed doors besides the
monetary fine? What if the club loses some points in the standings? My
footballing crystal ball tells me that these form of fines are what will scare
away these hooligans besides attracting more responsibility from the clubs
concerned In the world of football, fans are a responsibility of their club.
Just as the moral support that clubs get from their fans, then in the same
manner, the punishment should be whenever these fans flout sporting rules and
resort to hooliganism and acts of sporting incivility.
In
Kenya, Gor Mahia and their arch-rivals, AFC Leopards enjoy the greatest
following, never mind that this is yet to translate to football success in
recent years. The teams enjoy huge gate collections, unrivalled moral support
and a near-fanatical following. Sadly to say the two are the key culprits of
this football hooliganism as their fans have occasionally caused trouble during
matches. Displeasure at refereeing decisions, defeats and even draws in key
matches have led to fan trouble from this set of fans. But as a section of Gor
Mahia’s fans persist in violence, we must give thumbs up to their mashemejis
from the Ing’we den who have upheld peace in recent times.
Violence
in our football stadia should be decisively dealt with even if it means
severely punishing a club in a manner that will undoubtedly scare away
potential trouble-stirrers from our football matches. The Kenya Premier League (KPL) and the
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) should come out and decisively put deal with
football hooliganism before we learn a painful lesson in the form of Federation
of International Football Associations (FIFA) or deaths in our stadia. Worse
still, violence in our stadia can scare away potential investors and sponsors
of the beautiful game. All this can spell doom to our football prospects and
potential Mugubi’s, Mariga’s and Oliech’s may never live their dream.
Let us not test the depth of the waters with our feet. It can be
disastrous.
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