Okumbi should know that sportsperson's attire brings in money

Harambee Stars Head Coach Stanley Okumbi congratulate David King'atua of Bandari FC

Colourless is the adjective many of us love to use when talking about the personality of Stanley Okumbi, the Harambee Stars coach, but have we looked at how he dresses?

Have we been keen enough to realise that, more often than not, he looks like a busy billboard with several brands that confuse us since we do not even know whether the brands are paying him or he just chooses what he lays his hands on?

Of course, there is more to coach Okumbi on than just his sense of dress considering that he has surprised many, even himself, by putting the team back on a winning streak.

Even though his victories have not made Kenya qualify for any major regional or continental tournament, they have given hope to, well, a rather colourless side whose players had forgotten to spell the word WIN even in their respective mother tongues.

The successive victories and draws have also boosted the morale of players, many of whom have a few years left in their careers and cannot be banked upon to take Kenya to high level competitions with relatively young players, thanks to successful youth programmes made possible by robust policies of forward-thinking national federations.

To write that much more than just talk, either in baritone or shrill voices, and issuing fiats, is expected of and from national federations is an understatement. They are the parental authority and must provide the best form of leadership at all levels of football, something which at times seems to elude the local federation much to the chagrin of fans who want to believe in the national team and support it in all ways they can.

That is where Okumbi’s sense of dress comes in. A few weeks ago, when the national team was in a training session in Machakos, the coach was photographed looking like a confused billboard whose value cannot be discerned because his clothes were donations — unless the federation will clarify what it all meant, or means.

The coach had Puma sports sandals, Adidas socks, Uhlsport jersey, Adidas cap and he was carrying Adidas boots -leading many to ask, which kit provider does the national federation have a sponsorship deal with?

It can be argued that whether coach Okumbi’s clothes are donations or not, matters little as long as he is delivering, but this is 2017 and marketing is the buzzword in sports, and every space on a sportsperson’s attire brings in money.

Sponsorship is the name in plain language and federations do not implement useful (youth) programmes mainly because of their national economies, but because their marketing teams ink multi-million shilling sponsorship deals with kit manufacturers for a start.

Lucrative sponsorship deals also ensure that players’ pockets are deep because collective sponsorship deals lead to individual endorsement deals.

The Neymars, Messis and Ronaldos of this world may be receiving millions of shillings per week from their clubs, but they make more from individual endorsements brought about by sponsorship deals their national federations inked with kit suppliers.

I want to guess that Kenya’s federation bosses are fully aware of this, and probably know that while, for instance, Messi’s club is kitted by Nike (in another multi-billion shilling deal) the player himself endorses Adidas — and plays in Adidas boots while on club duty — and earns millions because the Argentina national team has a sponsorship deal with Adidas.

But I could be expecting too much from our federation which treats deals with kit suppliers as state secrets and even though Harambee Stars now wears Uhlsport jerseys, shorts and socks, it is not clear whether the German sporting goods manufacturer just donates them or adds any money either as a one off deal or in terms of bonuses when the team performs well.

Further, in a win-win situation for both the national team and the kit manufacturer, replica kits are made available for sale, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the federation to fund its programmes.

Last year, the federation promised that Stars’ replica kit will be available for sale this year, four months in the year, nothing is being said about where they are sold.

Europe and Latin America might be a long shot as good examples of proper marketing processes, but CAF members who were in AFCON this year are closer examples.

Save for Zimbabwe, which terminated its sponsorship deal with Joma and reportedly settled for donations from Mafro, the other 15 teams had sponsorship deals with Adidas, Puma, Airness, Errea, Kappa, Macron, O’Neills, Qelemes and Uhlsport.

The writer is an editor with the Weekend editions of Standard.