Gor and AFC should be banned for giving Kenya a bad name

Gor Mahia FC team during first round match of the CAF Champions league against Esperance of Tunisia on March 7, 2018 at Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos County. The match ended in a barren draw. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Last weekend, many Kenyans missed sleep or went to bed early to wake up in the wee hours to watch the Sevens Rugby team play in the Vancouver Sevens leg of the World Rugby Series.

Despite the challenges the Sevens team — and probably all other national teams — face, largely due to problems not of the athletes’ own making, the Sevens Rugby team, did, as Kenyans are wont to say, the country proud.

It was almost an honour to watch them dispatch the Big Boys of World to the sin bins of Sevens Rugby to finish second in Vancouver.

While fans of Kenya rugby can praise the team on behalf of all Kenyans, those who swear by the beautiful game must be a disappointed lot because there is nothing to be proud of, both on and off the pitch, as it were.

After watching the mouth-watering encounters between Shujaa and the four teams they floored and the one that they lost to in the group stages and in the finals, Kenyans who love sports generally were left with a bad taste in their collective mouths after watching local football clubs play against each other in the Kenyan Premier League.

Two of the teams that played in the past week are special in Kenya’s footballing history because they are not only big in terms of fan base but in trophies too, considering that between them, they have more trophies than all the teams in the league combined.

Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards are probably also the oldest clubs in the league, and that actually men they are seniors — and should be accorded some respect, and reciprocatively should behave their age and do things the right way and set a good example to teams yet to make their bones on and off the pitch in Kenya, in the region and on the continent.

Sadly, that is not the case. There are no football clubs that give Kenyan sports fraternity and sorority a worse name than these two clubs. Even if you forget the fact that they are always begging, they love wallowing in disorganisation both in the dressing room and in the boardroom.

You can blame the economy but are they really trying to reach some level of respectability that can attract corporate sponsors and partners?

If one were out to help the club raise funds by buying their merchandise, where is it sold — where are their official shops? If fans were to decide to pay to watch them during their practice sessions, where are their training grounds? If local fans and tourist fans wanted to pay to tour their property and see the several trophies they have won, where are their club houses or stadia? In which buildings are their trophy cabinets?

If fans who are also fitness freaks want to “promote” them by paying to work out in their gymnasiums, where can they go? Gor and AFC, where are your fixed assets in the form of training equipment?

Okay, if someone needed to help these two clubs secure sponsorship, where are the offices of the marketing teams and other officials? Do they even have officials in charge of marketing, and above all do they, if ever they exist, consider these clubs are brands?

Truth be written, the peers of AFC and Gor Mahia on the continent are pulling themselves up, and are not sitting on their backsides carrying begging bowls and seeking sympathy whenever they have matches.

Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards are shameful and are continuously giving Kenya a bad name. It would be wrong to call them a national shame not only because they are worse, but because they should have officials who should have learnt from other clubs and put their houses in order.

But are they interested? Nope. They love disorganisation — and begging, and in other climes where the national federation was not all about barking and not biting, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards could have been punished. And they ought to be banned — even if for turning the beautiful game in to a boring one.

 

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