MIGHTY GOR MAHIA

He is a very amiable old man. He is often kind enough to return calls. And on this day, it was not different. I offer to call him back and once he answers, I venture to pick his brain.

“Orifa Jaoko,” I call out. “Bor Ber,” he answers.

“Laban Otieno.” “Anyango Bilima,” he says before bursting into prolonged laughter.

“Masai Moja.” Hahahaha he laughed. “Sasa wewe Toskin unajiribu nini?” (So, Toskin what are you trying?)

That is Maurice Ouma ‘Ole Tunda’ for you. Having joined Gor Mahia in 1971 as a precocious talent, he would later help the club achieve the unbeaten run in 1976. Even with his advanced age, his love for the game is jaw-dropping. Nowadays, he coaches Kiwi FC.

His voice, when he names his then teammates, conveys an unmistakable evidence of a people so united. The gusto and zest with which Ole Tunda refers to his teammates, some alive and others departed, tells more than half the story of players at peace with themselves despite the age-old problem of “unpaid allowances.”

“Unfortunately it is the same story till today. However, for us back then, we did not play for the money,” Ole Tunda says. “We got allowances only. Sh20 per match until the last five matches when Peter Anyumba, the chair said that if we won the league unbeaten we would be given Sh100."

Albert Oketch, then of Luo Union and Peter Odera of Kenya Breweries remember vividly the mighty Gor Mahia of 1976, and they say it was an extravagantly talented side.

“It was quite a fantastic squad. With players such as George Yoga, Festus Nyakota, Allan Thigo and many others, it was inevitable that they would win the league,” Oketch, now a member of the Cecafa Technical Committee, says.

“Winning it unbeaten, however, was a feat they really worked hard for since at Luo Union, we were their greatest threat. And after we drew both home and return legs, it was down to Gor Mahia to finish the job,” says Oketch.

Odera credits team work among Gor Mahia’s players as their greatest asset. “Their fans were fantastic. It is during this season that fan groups sprung up and rallied behind their team,” Odera opines.

“They were not playing for incentives because most of them were employees of different quasi-State bodies.

“Officials of Gor Mahia would secure employment for the players. ExTelecoms, Post Office and National Survey of Kenya employed most of them thanks to influential club officials who were working in those corporations,” Odera says.

Incredibly, footballers of that generation are united in the view Gor Mahia had an unstoppable team, but which equally needed a firm general to prosecute the campaign.

In “Field Marshall”, the 90-minute-man, Allan Thigo, Gor Mahia had a no-nonsense leader — he would unite the team and at the same time maintain discipline.

“As a player-coach, he brooked no indiscipline. Besides, he was a hard worker himself. He always wanted you to give your all. He ran tirelessly for 90 minutes. So you had no option, but to follow what the leader did,” Ole Tunda says.

“For 13 years, he distinguished himself as a true Gor Mahia son."