Mind your language: When English ‘hits the rock’ for Kenyan footballers

 Coach Bobby Williamson thick Scottish drawl is quite challenging for Harambee Stars players

English might have 'come by ship' for many local footballers who can hardly string together a logical sentence in one of our two official languages.

Poor mastery of the English give some players the creeps to the extent of avoiding TV appearances where most have been known to provide comic relief to viewers. The local league's broadcasting partners, SuperSport has several times switched to Kiswahili to make things easier for local footballers.

Now, it is emerging that some players don't even understand what foreign coaches are talking about during training. Two players in the national under 23 football players for instance have   admitted they are frustrated because they can't make head or tail of what Scot tactician Bobby Williamson is saying.

"I have given up on the coach because however hard I try, nothing makes sense and everything he says just passes over my head," confessed one of the boys.

The other, who has upcountry roots with modest education, fears the Scott may soon drop him.

"I have no idea what the coach says. It gets quite embarrassing when he calls me to the touch line during a match. However much I try, I just never get him and there is normally very little time to ask him to repeat himself during an ongoing game."

But Williamson does not consider his accent or pronunciations a problem. "I do not think this is a major problem because football is a universal language. I had many problems in Uganda and that is why I chose to work with local coaches. I always emphasise to the players to let me know if something is not clear so that Moses (Musa Otieno) can translate," says the coach.

Williamson is of the view that the language problem could be because some of the players did not advance their education. Some players who spoke to 'The Nairobian' said that they only follow what others are doing on the pitch during training because the coach 'swallows English too much.'

But the coach is not planning to change his mode of communication. He says that he is doing the best he can to pass his messages clearly in English to the players.

"I can tell when a player is lost. Many a times, I have seen players just nodding to instructions and agreeing to everything that I say even when I ask them a question. I had a problem with a lot of Ugandans and I have learnt to monitor players visually. If a player does not understand me, then there is a problem because we may end up employing someone who cannot play," adds Williamson.

Beyond the national team, a random inquiry by 'The Nairobian' revealed that over 70 per cent of footballers in the Kenyan Premier League have issues with English.

Most of the footballers  are used to Sheng, Kenya's street language, which some clubs use for instruction, and Williamson thinks is the wrong way to go especially should the players travel to Europe. "If the local boys have dreams of playing in Europe, then they must go to school and learn not only how to speak, but how to behave and relate well with others. If you cannot follow instructions, the coach will just drop you. I am Scottish and I do know that I have a heavy accent because I am from Glasgow, but so is Sir Alex Fergusson," he affirms, adding that at the national team level, he expects every player to be able to handle the media.

Some Gor Mahia players have also confessed that Williamson's departure to the national team was a welcome relief because "we won the league by the grace of God. A number of us only took cue from second-hand instructions from either the technical bench or our colleagues. It was a nightmare trying to understand what the coach was saying," confessed one of the players.

But Williamson attributes his success at Gor to skilled technical staff who were willing to adapt to changes. "I was at Gor and managed to win the league by working with local coaches. If I were to learn Kiswahili so that I can give instructions in the national language, what will happen if they move to Europe?"