Clubs should stop worshiping poverty and enslaving players

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Silence. This is going to be followed by wailing, about poverty. While they are not used to silence because they are always shouting at each other, poverty is their lot, only that this time, it will get worse.

After the screens went blank, we were made to understand that the vans were driven to Zambia, or wherever there are level-headed football managers.

The SuperSport Outside Broadcasting vans that had become fixtures at playing grounds during Kenyan Premier League matches are gone. Probably never to return since the Pay TV channel decided to pull the plug on airing KPL matches citing a breach of contract or something of the sort.

We should not be bothered with reasons they advance for driving their Outside Broadcasting back to South Africa or to whichever countries they choose, but their absence will be felt for several months, or years, by officials of KPL and KPL clubs which had got used to pocketing peanuts from them.

So far, the clubs are quiet, but deep down their pockets, the pain is real, and the pain will be more excruciating when reality starts setting in and players start whining over allowances.

In the larger scheme of things, the clubs, and by inference the players were getting less than peanuts from the SuperSport-KPL broadcast rights deal, but the little they used to get could plug a hole, no matter how small, in their perennially empty pockets.

Those who used to benefit the most are known, but they are not talking, probably because they are still mourning the loss of their benefactor. It will not be long before they speak –- and they will be complaining about funds, lack of it thereof. Ideally, they will be praying for help; worshiping poverty as they always do because they have refused to embrace 21 century sports management skills, more so when it comes to generating funds.

That Kenya's football clubs are broke is no secret. Scratch that. They are poor, and their bosses seem to like them in that state because it gives them a chance to seek sympathy, and give excuses for their poor treatment of players and poor performances in regional competitions.

The poorest clubs, and the best worshipers of poverty are the two biggest clubs, in terms of fan base and trophies. Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. By any standards, these two are poverty-stricken, and they have accepted their fate because it is an excuse for them to pay their players poorly. These two clubs have refused to think outside the pitch and monetise their size or brand.

Times are lean for most of the 18 clubs in the KPL considering that four (Zoo Kericho, Kariobangi Sharks, Kakamega Homeboys and Muhoroni Youth) do not have (shirt) sponsors, and you can imagine how worse off their players are in terms of salaries and allowances. But are the players of those which have sponsors any better and what can they (the players) show for their sweat, blood and tears, and talent?

In the modern world, it is not possible for a football club worth its name to effectively run its affairs by relying on one (shirt) sponsor. That is why their marketing teams always work round the clock to secure other sponsors so they can stay afloat.

The ManUs, the Chelseas and the Barcelonas of this world have shirt sponsors that pay them billions of shillings but there are several other firms that they work with because they need funds to manage their affairs and play their players well so as to get the best out of them.

For instance, as early as last year, Barcelona had secured a shirt sponsor for next season when Qatar Airways will not grace their strip. That is possible because they have strategic marketing teams that not only understand the needs of the club, but which also know how to manage and take care and advantage of Brand Barcelona.

But even those who manage the leagues also work with club officials to find ways of improving financial standards of clubs and improving the stature of the league.

From next season, EPL clubs will be allowed to have sleeve sponsors, something that Spanish clubs already have.
Kenyan clubs and even KPL (Limited?) do not even have marketing teams and officials lack the wherewithal to come up with better initiatives for the clubs.

The biggest losers in this sad situation are not club officials, but the players and it is time Kenya's clubs embraced modern ways of managing sports associations and stopped worshiping poverty – and mistreating footballers.