Is Kenyan football going backwards? Return of boardroom decisions by FKF and failure to follow rules soiling Premier League

AFC Leopards fans in a stampede after they caused chaos against Sofapaka during their GOtv Shield Semi final at City Stadium, Nairobi on Monday 20/10/14.PHOTO.BONIFACE OKENDO

The conclusion of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) is set for an anti-climax following a series of events that threaten to affect the very integrity of the competition.
For the first time a team has been awarded points in the boardroom and another decision is pending with just two weeks before the season ends.
It is a situation that threatens to return the country to the dark days when fixtures would be changed days before a match and on very flimsy grounds and more often than not, the champions would be decided in the boardroom.
It all started two months ago when Sony Sugar declined to honour their match against AFC Leopards on grounds that it had been taken to Nakuru instead of its original venue of Awendo Stadium that happens to be the home-ground of the sugar millers.
At the time, Awendo Stadium had been declared unfit to host high risk matches. After the match failed to take off, KPL went ahead and awarded points to AFC Leopards, but Sony lodged an appeal and the appeals body ordered for a replay.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Leopards lodged an appeal with the FKF appeals body which once again ruled that a replay should take place and that is where the matter should have ended.
But FKF disagreed with the ruling and insisted that it be ‘reviewed’ by the appeals body. Three weeks later no such thing has happened as members of the appeals body take issue with the decision to overturn their ruling and threatened to resign from the committee.
Then before the dust settled on that matter, a match between Tusker and Mohoroni Youth was abandoned as the brewers ‘fielded’ 12 players.
The match was called off after Muhoroni Youth players walked off the pitch in protest.
From the word go, it looked a straight forward case after Tusker were initially awarded the match by KPL who quoting rule 3 absolved the brewers from blame over excess players insisting that the matter was dealt with well by the referee and Muhoroni Youth should have continued with play instead of walking out.
The rule which deals with substitution of players points out that if a substitute or substituted player enters the field of play without the referee’s permission, the referee stops play and cautions the player before ordering him to leave the field of play.
FKF which later took up the issue seem to have interpreted the rule differently and instead decided to blame Tusker for fielding 12 players.
What is, however, shocking about this matter is how match officials allowed Tusker to play with 12 players even if it was just for one minute.
Elsewhere, the venue of the Sofapaka and AFC Leopards match remains controversial and the FKF has been forced to step and order that it be played in a ‘neutral venue’.
This is after Sofapaka complained that they do not feel safe travelling to Mumias for the fixture. But it raises the important question of whether a team that is in contention for the title can decide where to play in a match with obvious impact on the title chase.
Then there is the question of hooliganism which has been witnessed recently and the 2014 season risks to be remembered for the off-field events more than what happened on the pitch.