By Brenda Kageni

Men and football are almost inseparable. Boys, at a tender age, want to kick a ball, even before they can walk. Women on the other hand, are more occupied with other familial issues.

A big part of the female folk will not lose sleep over a game of football. But there is a new breed of women who are captivated by football.

They love the game so much that they are saving up to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Ms Susan Winans, 27, is one such fan. Ever since she heard that the World Cup is going to be in South Africa, she has been salting away her fare.

There is a breed of women who love football so much, they are saving up to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Says she: "I saw an advert by UAP insurance on a scheme for saving up for the World Cup, and I have actively set aside some money. I am going to South Africa primarily for the game."

Susan was introduced to football by her brothers, but it wasn’t until 2002 that she became an official fan. Her favourite local team is Mathare United, while in the European Premier League she supports Arsenal. Every season, she acquires an Arsenal jersey and is an ardent reader of the sports pages in the dailies.

She has also played basketball and is learning golf. She nonetheless thinks that being a female football fan is different. "Guys are more emotional than ladies when it comes to football. If I support Arsenal and they lose, it won’t hurt so much."

Not every football lover can afford to attend the 2010 World Cup. Ms Judy Kamunyu would do anything to go down South. She is, however, happy the golden trophy came to Kenya and she experienced part of the fiesta.

Ms Judy, another football die-hard fan, owns a Chelsea scarf, a BBC Sport as one of the bookmarks in her phone, and the UEFA Champions league anthem as her message alert tone on her mobile phone.

She says she only reads the sports pages of most newspapers and magazines.

Her love for the game began way back when she was in primary school, where she would be thrilled every time she watched football. "I used to miss classes to watch AFC Leopards on TV. We would get into arguments with my classmates because of football teams. My favourite players were Morris Sunguti, Musa Otieno and Francis Onyiso."

The odd thing was that no one else in her family, not even her father, was a football fan. Up to now, they have not understood her strange love for the game. Quite often, she sits up alone till midnight watching a game.

Not that she hasn’t paid the cost or made crazy sacrifices for the game. When she was younger, it got her into trouble with everyone in the family. When her mother wanted to send her to do certain chores and her father wanted her to study, she was too busy watching football. She remembers an incident during the 1998 World Cup games, when she was in class eight.

"It was just the beginning of the World Cup games and I was glued to the screen while I was meant to be studying hard for my exams. My father was so angry, he banned me from watching TV for a month."

Sometimes, she has failed to honour promises she has made, because she is watching a game.

She has failed some college exams, because she stayed up late to watch a game instead of studying.

Ms Euphrine Kitula 26, can also relate with the football lovers.

She has missed meetings, and cancelled others just because they coincided with a game she wanted to watch. Though she will not be travelling to South Africa for the games, she plans to watch every match.

"I have often sacrificed sleep to watch a game. Even today, I can leave my two-month old baby — safe, of course — to go watch a game."

Euphrine, unlike Judy grew up in a home full of football fans and with so much interaction with the game, interest developed. She then happened to marry a big football fan though each supports a different team.

Says she: "I am an Arsenal fan and my husband supports Man U. Sometimes we argue so much over a game."

Her love for Arsenal was influenced by the fact that she felt they were more inclusive of the black community.

"At that time most teams didn’t have black players. Arsenal had so many black players. Arsenal however, does play a good game that is why I did not move or change allegiance even when a player like Thierry Henry moved."