Cycling breakthrough in the tour of Rwanda as Kenyan shines

What can Chairperson Jackie Jan Mohammed and her team do to arrest this never-ending decline in the game? Well for starters they need to admit they have a problem!

Not accepting advice from stakeholders in the game doesn’t help, having the same washed out officials in charge due to ‘loyalty’ does the once vibrant sport no favours, and being openly arrogant to newcomers wanting to bring revenue into cricket just chases people away!

The result is reflected not only at the national level, but further down at the clubs, where a lack of proper competition and a comprehensive junior programme has resulted in league matches. The sad reality is that this scenario shows no signs of changing anytime soon.

UHURU  CELEBRATESTROPHY

It was a privilege to host the Fifa World Cup trophy gala with Caroline Mutoko on Wednesday night at the Kempinski Hotel, which was kindly sponsored by Coca Cola as part of its 2014 World Cup promotion.

The World Cup Trophy is always held under strict guard, with only the leader of a country allowed to touch it, this case being Uhuru Kenyatta – not surprising as it’s been stolen twice in its history, in 1966 and 1983 (England and Brazil respectively)!

Needless to say the trophy was kept in a case, in one place in the fabulous ballroom, as the VIP guests were allowed to pose next to it one-by-one.

The best of luck to the five African nations who’ve booked their tickets to Brazil, led by reigning African champions Nigeria.

CLASSIC SAFARI RALLY SHORT

The 2013 East African Classic Safari Rally has shown the world that Kenya can produce a world-class motorsports event with the highest quality entries from classic rallying participating in this biennial rally that takes the cars into both Kenya and Tanzania.

However one of the entrants Aslam Khan has accused the organisers of being ‘lazy’, claiming that they’re not making enough efforts to change the route.

He may have a point, as the route hasn’t changed much in this rally, along with the previous two editions. The organisers will have to gauge the usual problems in looking for new sections for the cars to venture into, including population growth and the ‘boda boda’ factor, if they want to keep the likes of Bjorn Waaldergard and Stig Blomqvist coming back – as they might seek other challenges in another country!

One disturbing story coming out of the rally was the issue of rocks deliberately being placed on the roads by spectators in Tanzania. Luckily this doesn’t happen in Kenya, but not only is it highly irresponsible for those concerned as lives of competitors are at stake, but they are also killing the goose that lays the golden egg. An event like the ‘Classic’ brings in thousands of dollars to the local economies, and if big teams like.

COUNTIES LEAD THE WAY IN STADIUM UPGRADES

    How refreshing it is to report that sports is being taken seriously by certain counties! Machakos County led by the trailblazing Governor Alfred Mutua and Mombasa County with Hassan Ali Joho, have shown the rest of the country that stadiums can indeed be upgraded when the image of the country is at stake.

With the GOTV CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup on at the moment, the pressure was on for the Kenya government to do something about the facilities that the international players and technical benches were going to use.

As it is, the Football Kenya Federation were lagging behind in the preparations, which is not surprisingly given several incidents and continuing allegations of corruption dogging Sam Nyamweya and his administration this year.

Looking at Machakos in particular, the changing rooms, VIP area, stands and football playing surface are world-class – and let’s hope this spurs other counties to develop their stadia.

The writer is a sport journalist and runs a consulting firm.