What makes one a true football fan? Is it loutish behaviour and a total disrespect for the rule of law? Can one be a true fan of a leading football club without resorting to actions that can only be described as criminal?
We ask this question because of the actions of a few supporters of a famous football club that express their feelings — whether happiness or disappointment with the exploits of their club on the field — by intimidating the public and destroying State monuments.
They illegally take over roads on their way from city derbies and adopt a menacing stance towards motorists. Kenyans have been seriously injured, and incurred huge hospital bills because they found themselves in the midst of such marauding fans.
This kind of reckless and criminal behaviour has given the club a bad name.
There are better ways for fans to celebrate the heroic exploits of their club before, during and after matches than destroying public property, insulting and intimidating rival fans, endangering lives and disrupting traffic.
After every match by this club in Nairobi, the repair bill for the monument in the city centre to Thomas Joseph Mboya, one of Kenya’s most brilliant politicians, goes up.
Rule of law
For some strange reason this monument to an individual that some of the fans see as a community hero has become a rallying point for others to celebrate victory in very bizarre fashion: by breaking off bits and pieces of the monument.
True fans are not hooligans and they respect the rule of law and rights of those not in their circle.
It is about time Football Kenya Federation and the Kenya Premier League took a more robust approach to get such clubs to change their fans’ behaviour.
