WHO WILL BAIL OUT KENYAN FOOTBALL?

WHO WILL BAIL OUT KENYAN FOOTBALL?

By Collins Ogolla

@gentlenique

Gor Mahia are the Dstv Super Cup champions, the curtain raiser to the league. That is what is up.

There has been a struggle as to who is mandated to run football in Kenya which culminated into FIFA consultants visiting Kenya and holding a meeting with both KPL and FKF officials to solve the impasse. Among the recommendations of the consultative meeting was that the league in Kenya be comprised of 16 teams and that FIFA will support its affiliate federation only if it is doing the right thing(s).

Despite all these both FKF and KPL have stood their ground and have gone as far as releasing their separate fixtures with FKF factoring in 18 clubs while KPL maintaining 16 clubs. FIFA president has called for a quick solution to this stand off or else Kenya face international ban. This makes me and the entire football community fret. It has been a steady rise for football in Kenya in the recent years that the news of a ban is not what most fans and genuine football stakeholders will not want to hear.

Football in Kenya was for a very long time in comatose until KPL emerged. They managed to rope in Supersport to televise the games and local radio stations followed suit in popularizing the local game to football fans who had fallen out of love with the local game preferring European football instead. Together they managed to bring back the fervor once witnessed in the heydays of Kenyan football domination with fans trooping back to the stadia in numbers.

It has been a herculean task which has taken the sweat out of most football stakeholders to bring back Kenya into the football map. The hitherto popular Tusker Premier League has managed to export its products every year with the exposure occasioned by live transmission of matches as a major factor. David Owino, Teddy Akumu, Francis Kahata, Paul Were, Allan Wanga, Peter Opiyo, Clifton Miheso have been some of the most notable beneficiaries of the professionalization of football in Kenya of late. We have also managed to attract footballers from far and wide countries with Uganda being the outright beneficiary.

We have come a long way to throw our hard earned efforts into oblivion and start all over again. Sobriety, voice of reason and love for the game should take precedence to solve this stalemate. Many souls depend on football in Kenya and if we attract a ban then thousands of people ploughing their livelihood through football are going to suffer.

Why don’t we borrow a leaf from other football associations who are doing well in the running of their games? Bundesliga stands out in this respect. They are in the top three leagues in Europe and have huge commercial revenue but still they have maintained a lean league of only 16 clubs. Our Southern counterparts, South Africa also boost a total of 16 teams despite their relatively huge commercial income. English premier league have just signed a humongous TV rights deal in the tune of 5 billion pounds but there is no talks of expanding the league because of this revenue windfall.

It begs the question, is money the only thing that determines successful management of football? Obviously not. There are very many factors that come in no matter how negligible they may be.

 If the visit of FIFA president Sepp Blatter comes to fruition, I sincerely hope that it comes with the blessing of sorting this mess we are staring at.