Football Godfathers

BY JOHN LAWRENCE
AND GILBERT WANDERA

Top European leagues have in recent years been associated with wealthy club owners like Roman Abramovich (Chelsea), Malcolm Glazer (Manchester United) or Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan (Manchester City) without whose financial support, the elite clubs would strain to survive.

The Kenyan Premier League (KPL), now in its seventh year, may not boast any injection of dizzying sums of money. However, most top KPL clubs would have collapsed years ago were it not for the material and moral support of determined individuals, some of who have used their personal resources to single-handedly prop their teams.

And with the ballooning costs - including salaries and allowances, team kit, training, travel, accommodation, stadium charges, match-day security and numerous miscellaneous expenses - running a football team is obviously not a cheap venture. The relative financial stability of KPL, with the attendant sponsorship from SuperSport, is apparently not enough for the dedicated individuals - many of who are club chairmen.

Hard to run a club without funds

One of the most interesting stories in the local football involves the Onyonyi brothers, who were at the helm of Gor Mahia with Allan Kasuja as treasurer and his elder brother Vincent as the chairman. The club may now have found stability under the leadership of top lawyer Ambrose Rachier, but Allan recently told The Nairobian the experience was torturous.

“Running a community club without proper resources is like jumping into shark-infested waters without proper swimming skills,” he says.

He gives an example of a trip in 1999 when Gor was to travel to Eldoret and the club had no money. He was forced to sell his Nissan Bluebird salon car at Sh300,000 to fund the team.

“I sold the car because I was desperate. Nobody was willing to help finance the team. All the fans could do was to exert too much pressure on the officials,” he said.
This week, we profile individuals whose wealth in spirit matches the tonnes of cash Abramovich & Co have invested.

Bob Munroe (Mathare United and Mathare Youth Soccer Academy)
He has been in the business far much longer than the rest and says this was inspired by a desire to give back to the community for what he himself received while growing up in Canada.

“As a young man growing up in Canada, I got an opportunity to play ice hockey because someone made it possible. This is what drove us to start Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) in 1987”.
Munroe, who declined to reveal how much fortune he has spent on the club, insists it is quite huge, and as a result, the only notable asset he owns is a 17-year-old Land Rover. Besides, he still lives in a rented house.

“However, I am very fulfilled seeing the kind of impact this has had on the less fortunate. Today, at least 20 per cent of all the players in the KPL have their roots in MYSA,” he says.

“For a team to compete in the top four, one would require at least Sh30 to 50 million if not more.”
Under Munroe, MYSA has nurtured more than 25,000 young talents - both boys and girls. MYSA is today a struggling club, but Munroe is confident revival is nigh.
 
‘Prezda’ Elly Kalekwa (Sofapaka)
In 2007, the Congolese businessmen changed the way football was run in Kenya when he became the first man to set up a fully functional secretariat to run Sofapaka.

Before then, even established clubs like Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards were still running their affairs haphazardly with club affairs being managed from the private offices of their chairmen. Kalekwa instilled a sense of professionalism that resulted in huge salaries for players - again a first good package for players in the country.

It is estimated that Kalekwa spends a personal fortune of Sh20 million every year to support the club, although the club’s budget stands at Sh55 million per year. They currently receive Sh30 million in sponsorship from East African Portland Cement and another Sh5 million from broadcast holders, SuperSport. The balance comes from Kalekwa’s pockets.

For Kalekwa, it is all about business and giving talented youth an opportunity to make money out of their passion.
“All over the world, football is run as a business and so we keep investing. Hopefully, one day we will be able to recover this money through the sale of players,” he said.
 
Peter Jabuya (City Stars)

Nairobi City Stars are currently one of the two clubs in the KPL without a shirt sponsor, and therefore, the responsibility of managing the team is always left to the chairman.
 

Jabuya took over the club two years ago and has since spent quite a fortune from his pocket to keep the club alive. The club’s annual budget is Sh20 million. Out of this, they receive Sh5 million as a grant from SuperSport. It means Jabuya has to somehow raise the balance of Sh15 million every year to keep the club running.

“It is not easy spending such a fortune on the club, but I do it because of my passion for the sport and help young talented players achieve their dream of building a career in football,” he says.

But things look rosy for Jabuya and the club if three players they nurtured make a big-money move.
David Gateri was recently invited for trials at English side Sunderland and his move will fatten the cash coffers at City Stars. Another player, the club hopes, anticipated to make a big move is Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama, a former City Stars player.  Part of the transfer fees would benefit the club.
 
Ambrose Rachier (Gor Mahia FC)

Ambrose Dickens Otieno Rachier is a household name in Kenyan football due to his unrelenting support for Gor and KPL as a legal adviser.
“My stake at Gor is nothing but an act of giving back to the community. The talented young boys who play for the club hold the keys to the future of the sport in Kenya,” he says.
For a long time, Gor has been regarded as the most successful club in the history of Kenyan football. However, with all the rich past, the club has nothing to show of it in terms of structural development.
Despite the massive following, with its huge potential of making millions, the club still almost lives from hand to mouth.
Early this year, Rachier used close to Sh4 million just to honour the four preliminary matches. According to the club’s 2012 financial report, Gor owed Rachier more than Sh6.1 millions in arrears by January this year.
 
Prezda Ongeri (Rangers FC)

At the start of 2011 season, a little known newly promoted team Posta Rangers shocked giants Gor Mahia by humiliating them 3-0 at the Nyayo National Stadium.
That would mark the beginning of what turned out to be a season of mixed fortunes for Yobesh Abed Ongeri, the president of the team that would later be renamed Rangers FC after losing the sponsorship of the Postal Corporation of Kenya.
Ongeri single-handedly formed the club in 2006 in Eastlands.
“I stay in Eastlands and when the muggings and robberies were too much in my neighbourhood, I decided to give the young men a chance to do something different,” Ongeri told The Nairobian. However, his problems would begin just months after being promoted into the top-flight league.
“That moment (when the team lost its corporate sponsorship) was one of the most trying in my life. The players and the coaches suffered and I ended up selling all my four PSV Nissan vans just to help keep the team intact,” says Ongeri.