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2015 AFCON action a low-key affair

Counties
AFCON game
 Equatorial Guinea take on Congo last week at the ongoing Afcon games

The biggest football bonanza on the continent is here with us, but sadly, the excitement that should surround such a tournament is not palpable.

That the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) has not ‘disrupted’ peoples’ lives as it happens with the World Cup is a travesty of justice.

Prior to the start of the games, we did not see major advertisers hyping the tournament with commercials, and opportunists have not printed T-shirts of their favourite teams to cash in as it should happen with any football bonanza, even if it is Gor Mahia meeting AFC Leopards.

Apart from the limited analyses on TV, in newspapers and on FM radio stations, the common football fan, who is always eager to engage in banter about Chelsea or Manchester United, has no time for Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Algeria.

When the common man can’t talk about continental football, you know there is a big problem.

The silence accompanying this soccer bonanza this time around is disturbing. It does not make things any better that the public broadcaster, KBC, has given the games a wide berth.

Well, Harambee Stars is not participating, and may never feature until after 2030, but does this mean that KBC gives the games blackout?

By failing to screen the matches, the public broadcaster has left them to the monied who can afford pay TV yet football is a common man’s game.

I figured out that the football fan has little interest in Afcon when I asked a friend rushing home what game he was going to watch and he barked, “Chelsea!”

Now this means two things. One is that the Man Utds, Arsenals and Chelseas of this world have firm grip on the football scene not only in Kenya but across Africa.

Second, the African Cup of Nations has lost its lustre because we do not value our own.

However, while we have local challenges that have made the tournament low-key, the confusion that surrounded the start of the games takes part of the blame.

It is worth noting that at one point, no one was sure the tournament would take place after Morocco, the then hosts, pulled out last minute due to the Ebola threat and Equatorial Guinea stepped in. By this time, the damage had been done.

Then again, what is Afcon without the old Drog Didier, Samuel Etoo, Vincent Enyeama and Kwadwo Asamoah? While some players like Drogba and Etoo have retired, Enyeama’s team (Nigeria) did not make it to tournament while Asamoah of Ghana has an injury. Who will give us the Afcon we knew and grew up watching?

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