When Nationwide league has to follow KPL example

By Omulo Okoth

It is down to sound and professional management. That is the secret behind the success of the Tusker Kenyan Premier League (KPL). That is how it is able to attract multi-million shilling sponsorship from blue chip companies like East African Breweries Limited and MultiChoice.

With a three-year Sh170 million title sponsorship of the top league, the biggest beer makers in this side of the world effectively gave the local league a shot in the arm.

Add this to the Multichoice’s Sh160 million annual sponsorship, the KPL is spoilt for choice for innovative measures of improving the league, if making it more attractive.

No wonder, these days, when I wake up in the middle of the night to catch up with the latest happenings in the Atlantic coast, and the remote control touches off accidentally, I will oftentimes stumble on Kenyan Premier League on SuperSport, complete with live commentaries.

That is a positive development. And it something that Football Kenya Limited (FKF) would wish to emulate to bring to the lower Nationwide League.

Doris Petra, the FKF ‘iron lady’ in charge of Leagues and Competitions agrees that 40 teams are too big a number for a league, especially when they are divided into two zones, each running 20 teams.

Petra says they have plans to downsize the league ultimately to 18 teams, a process that, she confides, will take up to three or four years.

Unfortunately, no companies have come up to take up the title, organisational or media sponsorship. That ought to be the first step towards making the league more competitive and appealing to potential sponsors.

The brewers must have shown interest in the KPL after its increased viewership across the continent.

Its viewership increased because of SuperSport’s involvement. SuperSport became involved because of sound and professional management of the league. They did not just have some surplus somewhere to splash on the football body.

In England, The League Championships, the second tier league competition behind the English Premier League is the wealthiest non-stop flight football division in the world and the sixth richest division in Europe.

It features clubs like Wolverhamption Wanderers, Crystal palace, Nottingham Forest, Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday etc.

Similarly, our Nationwide League can be competitive with some clubs that will be relegated from the KPL and others promoted from the regions.

The idea is to make football appeal to as wide a spectrum as possible, so that the net for top clubs and national team selectors can be cast as wide as possible. In the process, the youth will engage in some productive work.

FKF can make this possible by setting up strictures for effective engagement of corporate firms like Safaricom, Airtel, Mumias Sugar, Sameer Group and the region’s media giants like The Standard Group, The Nation Media Group, Zuku, among others.

It was good hear that the FKF have considered reducing the teams from 40 to 18 and from two zones to a single league.

One hopes that with focus moving towards the regions in the new devolved economic structure, there will be more football down there to sustain the Nationwide League. Over to you, Doris Petra and Co.

— The writer is The Standard Sports Editor [e-mail]