How the late Bob Munro formed Kenya Premier League

Casket containing the remains of Mathare Youth Sports Association founder, the late Robert Donald Munro during a Requiem mass at St Andrews Church in Nairobi on January 27, 2025. [Stafford Ondego, Standard] Bob Munro's body was cremated on Tuesday this week to mark the end of an era and open a new one for Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA). We will never know everything Bob did behind the scene but from the tributes that were shared, Bob was many things to people. One thing we will give him credit for is the creation of Kenyan Premier League Limited (KPL), the limited company that ran the league until Nick Mwendwa was elected Football Kenya Federation (FKF) chairman in 2016. Around 2012 I went to KPL offices on Brookside Drive to ask for a job. I liked the new approach and professionalism KPL was putting into running the league and I desired to be part of it. Someone at the office told me that my request will be put through to the chairman (Bob Munro) to decide. Like many misses I have had in life, nothing came from it. As much as the chairman of the club that won the league was designated to be chairman of KPL the following year, they were only mandated to lead their counterparts in running the league. The core of KPL was under Bob Munro because he was the brains behind it. Kenyan football is full of selfish cartels, nevertheless, Bob managed to work with some of them and out maneuvered others to move Kenyan football to the next level. Being a foreigner gave him an upper hand. Football attracts the common man who is always amenable to people of white skin. Secondly, what he was doing at MYSA spoke for itself and preceded him. Thirdly, he had resources which he used well to win over those who may have hesitated to work with him. The good thing is his focus was on football whose end was to uplift the well-being of players. How did KPL come to be? In the 2003 season, a group emerged from KPL clubs called the Group of 7 "G7" group. The clubs in the group were Tusker, Ulinzi Stars, Mumias Sugar, Thika United, Mathare United, Nzoia Sugar and Mathare United. These clubs as well as Coast Stars had finished top four in the two groups league format. They were to play in the play-offs to determine the league winner. Kenya Football Federation (KFF), now FKF, named the play-offs The Champions League while the Group of 7 called it Champions Cup. They declined to feature until their dues were paid by KFF and they released their own fixtures for the Champions Cup. After a tussle, they agreed to play and Nzoia Sugar FC won the league. Immediately after that, six of the clubs except Ulinzi Stars and Coast Star pulled out of KFF league the following season putting more clubs into their dispute. KFF announced that they had stripped Nzoia Sugar of the league title, with Ulinzi Stars playing Coast Stars in a rescheduled final which Ulinzi Stars won. Meanwhile, in the middle of the 2003 season, nine clubs formed the Inter-Clubs Consultative Group (ICCG); Tusker, Mathare United, Utalii FC, Pipeline FC, Nzoia Sugar FC, Gor Mahia FC, Sher Agencies, Mumias Sugar SC, KCB FC and Thika United. There was a dispute in the Moi Golden Cup fixtures where Tusker was tasked to play Thika United followed by Nzoia Sugar FC in the second round with the winner featuring in the quarter-finals. Tusker defeated both teams but ICCG wanted Thika United to play Nzoia so that the winner can proceed to the quarter-finals. KFF could hear none of it. Around this time, twelve clubs again broke away from the league, and KFF abandoned the quarter-final fixtures leaving only Ulinzi Stars to play rescheduled fixtures with clubs eliminated in the second round. ICCG invited Ulinzi to their quarter-finals but the soldiers declined, they called their fixtures the Transparency Cup. Utalii FC won it by beating Gor Mahia in the finals. Meanwhile, Chemelili Sugar FC defeated AFC Leopards in the Moi Golden Cup finals. These may look like confusion, but Bob Munro was leading the clubs in demanding transparency in running the league. The 2002 season saw Gor Mahia relegated, but no team was relegated and the league reworked to allow Gor Mahia to remain in the top flight. It is such incidents that Munro did not like. Soon clubs began to demand for better management of the league. Their determination was shown by how the Transparency Cup was managed and officiated. In 2004, two leagues were played and both ended in June, ICCG ran the Kenya National Football League while KFF ran the Premier League. The former had eleven clubs including the bigwigs like Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards, Tusker, Utalii, Nzoia Sugar, Mumias Sugar and Mathare United. The Premier League had thirteen clubs with Ulinzi Stars, AFC Leopards, Coast Stars as the bigwigs. Leopards were initially in the ICCG league but defected at the last minute. Ulinzi won the play-offs to clinch the league. It is the Kenya National Football League which was bankrolled by Bob Munro that was later converted to Kenya Premier League Limited. It was owned by sixteen football clubs. In the confusion that marred Kenyan football at the turn of century, KPL Limited was allowed to run the national league. The federation was left in charge of the other leagues and national team. The professionalism and transparency that they brought in led to South African pay TV Supersport coming in as league sponsors. Everybody agrees that KPL grew by leaps and bounds until FKF took over and serious sponsors pulled out. Bob showed us what good management can do to our football. RIP Bob!

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