KENYAN FOOTBALL FAST GOING DOWN THE DRAIN!

From 1976 to 1989, Kenyan clubs won a total of 11 Confederation of East and Central African Football (CECAFA) Club titles, out of a possible 14! In 1989, Harambee Stars lost in the final of the All African Games football championship to Egypt, at a packed then Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) Kasarani! Our clubs ruled the region and our very own Harambee Stars matched the big boys of African football! Next between 1989 and 2014, Kenyan clubs won a paltry four CECAFA Club titles, out of a possible 25! Harambee Stars last played at the African Nations Cup in Tunisia, 2004. Since 2000, in lengthy 14 years, Harambee Stars have only managed to win the CECAFA Championship twice; in 2002 and last year, under the now fired, Adel Amrouche. We have never even qualified for the African Nations Cup meant for African players who are based in the African  leagues, better known as the CHAN Championship despite gloating about how high-flying the local football has been! This year, Gor Mahia, our representatives to the regional club championship in Kigali, Rwanda, miserable bowed out in the group matches, with only two draws, at the bottom of their group. Closely examine these facts and figures, and draw a compass of the direction our football has taken, and let me give you mine.

Going by the mediocre performances of our clubs and Harambee Stars in both continental and regional championships, our football has fast sunk and surely going down into oblivion. The eerie and frenzy that characterizes the local action has amounted to nothing, whenever we move out of our borders. Our clubs and very own Harambee Stars have somehow turned into the whipping boys! Global sports broadcaster, SuperSport has pumped money into our clubs and offers live coverage of the action. Regional beer manufacturing giant, East African Breweries Limited (EABL Ltd) has sponsored the league to a tidy sum and the incentives for the winners have only gotten better! The fans have stated streaming back into our stadia and sanity is back too.

But we have fundamental issues that must be addressed, lest we risk losing it all in football. The government’s policies about sports are wanting. This is not only about the Jubilee Coalition, No; it is about successive regimes since independence. Our football administrators politic more than they engage in management and running of the sport, and thus, corruption, nepotism, mismanagement and all sorts of evil characterize the beautiful game in Kenya. For the near-religious following that football demands, individuals in Kenya have used it to climb the political ladder. You remember, Kenneth Matiba and Ezra Sambu? For these two, football and politics were Siamese twins! The game played a key role in their rise up the political ladder. The trade of fusing politics and football in the country runs deep, and the perfect scenario is whenever we near the electioneering period. It is the game that most politicians use to bring the youth together and consolidate the vote, but after that, it is a painful wait of five years!!!

We have talent in the country, but we must wake up and match our regional and continental opponents as they improve the management and administration of the beautiful game. If we do not, too bad; Kenyan football will plunder into even deep misery and sink into the arms of football oblivion! We are already walking that path!