Veteran footballer Ingutia breathes his last

Former Harambee Stars player Jared Ingutia during interview with the Standard in Kakamega while he was still a live, Ingutia died on Tuesday 4 November 2014. By Benjamin Sakwa

Veteran footballer and Kakamega Homeboyz tactician Jared Ingutia (top) is dead. The former Harambee Stars and Kakamega’s Ministry of Works (MoW) player died on Tuesday morning after a short illness.

The 59-year-old succumbed to a short illness at the Kakamega Provincial General Hospital.

In his heyday in the 70s and 80s, his excellence earned him the monicker Platini, likening his prowess to then French maestro Michel Platini, currently the president of Uefa.

Football lovers mourned him as a long serving player who was never red-carded in his long career.

“He exhibited a lot of discipline on and off the field. He carried these traits into his coaching career. He has left a huge gap in Kenyan football,” Western Stima coach Henry Omino said.

His first call-up to the national team came in 1976 then under the tutelage of Coach Eckhard Krautzun.

He was quickly slotted into the team’s first squad.
“He was more than a coach but also a father who spoke and everyone listened, Homeboyz has lost an icon,” said Bonny Imbenzi, Homeboyz club manager.

West Sugar Kenya Coach Hezborn Nyabinge described Ingutia as a mentor and a man who would always lend his support to young talents in Western Kenya.

“We had a lot of respect for him, he understood the ins and outs of soccer and through his hands many  talents have been born,” noted Nyabinge.

Ingutia had guided Homeboyz to second place in the National Super League Zone B. His last league assignment would have been the much anticipated local derby against West Kenya slated for next week.

He is survived by a wife and will be rested next week at his Rosterman home in Kakamega.

According to fostats.com, Ingutia was capped 46 times for the national team, scoring seven times.

He was first capped on November 12, 1976 by the late Jonathan Niva as Kenya lost 2-0 to Zambia in a Cecafa Cup game in Zanzibar. He played his last game for the national team on October 13, 1985 under Marshal Mulwa as Kenya fell 2-0 to Zimbabwe in the 1985 Cecafa final.

He scored his first of seven goals for Harambee Stars via an 89th minute penalty in Kenya’s 1-0 win over Somalia in a Cecafa contest played on November 11, 1978 at the Kamuzu Banda Stadium, Malawi.

Additional reporting by Rodgers Eshitemi