Nairobi County Queens up for the challenge

Nairobi County Queens Fc [Photo: Courtesy]

Newly formed Nairobi County Queens fc have set their intentions to become a soccer power house in the future after climbing up the ladder to Kenya’s women premier league.

During the team’s first training session of 2018 at Nairobi City Stadium on Friday afternoon in Nairobi; head coach Ann Wairimu Ngatia remained upbeat about their chances of establishing themselves as a resurgent and robust side in the league.

“We made our first steps last season at the lowest football league, the Regional women’s football league, and we made a great mark finishing fifth. With meager financial resources and training only twice a week, we still managed to impress,” said Ngatia who also urged more young women footballers to come out and try for her team.

The beginning of the team

The team was formed mid-2017 to contend for the Governor’s cup tournament. Former Mathare United fc and Kenya Pipeline fc shot stopper, Alex ‘mwango’ Mwangi, now a Nairobi County employee who runs another project ‘Shy fc’ is pin-pointed as the founder.

“It was challenging at first because I have never dealt with women playing league football. So I had to look for a volunteer coach who knew how to handle young women. The ladies that we have here are different because of their socio-economic back grounds,” said Mwango.  She added that the bulk of his players come from Kibra, Mukuru, South B, Makongeni, Kaloleni and Korogocho slums.

Ngatia on her part laments the poor organization of the women’s football league by the federation, adding that it demoralizes the players when fixtures are disorganized and dishonored.

“Majority of the young women that we have here are from poor families. We are trying to rehabilitate them and keep them away from societal vices such as early marriages, drug abuse, prostitution among many other criminal activities including armed robberies which nowadays young women are heavily involved in,” asserted Ngatia. She describes the program as a way of keeping young girls occupied so that they can be independent.

Mwango now plans to present a detailed proposal to his seniors at the County level. Her quest is to ensure that young girls within their ranks can go back to school as well as getting jobs and internship opportunities. A course that she believed can be feasible if the society comes up with ways of helping the girls. This is why the county government is her number one target.

They will be waiting for a response from the Nairobi County government to see if sports particularly those who participated in women tournaments will be sponsored. Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has also been accused of not pumping enough financial resources to the women’s leagues.