James Siang'a: A great goalie and coach like no other

One day in mid 1960s, Luo Union Football Club travelled to Mombasa for a league match against the local home boys Feisal FC. This day, the gods of football looked upon the visitors with some kindness and the fearsome Feisal striker Ali Kadjo was out with an injury meaning they had the chance of winning the match.

However, the fortunes were to change miserably for Luo Union when Feisal were awarded a penalty kick. The coach decided to bring in their penalty expert Kadjo to take it to the dismay of Luo Union players and the technical bench.

The visitors’ fate was now lying in the safe pair of hands of their star goalkeeper James Siang’a. But the goalkeeper had other ideas. Fearing the deadly shots by Kadjo, Siang’a ran to the middle of the field, picked up the ball and high tailed out of the stadium with some of the Feisal players in hot pursuit. Both Siang’a and the ball could not be found and the referee had no option but to end the match prematurely.

As he later told veteran journalist John Nene in the book “Joe Kadenge: The Life of a football Legend”: That was how things were back then. A lot of rowdiness.”

Nene’s book captures another poignant moment in Siang’a’s career. West Bromwich FC, a leading team in the English Premier League then came visiting in 1968 and Siang’a who was in goal for the national team Harambee Stars put on a dazzling show which stunned the visitors.

Siang’a’s performance was more the spectacular due to the fact that he was by then still a student at Sharda High School in Nairobi. At the end of the match the West Brom technical bench offered Siang’a a contract to go play in England. As he later said, his family would hear none of it.

As it were, Siang’a was the only boy in a family of girls and to his traditional father, letting the young lad go to the far away land was akin to cutting him off from the family.

Thus in that stubbornness of a father, Siang’a who passed on yesterday in his Bungoma home after battling diabetes for some time lost the chance of being the first Kenyan to play in the European paid ranks and make tonnes of money.

Siang’a played as a goalkeeper and featured at international level for Harambee Stars and was part of the team that made history for the country by being the first to take part at the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations.

He also coached Kenya between 1999 and 2000. Siang’a then moved to Tanzania, where he was manager of the national team, Taifa Stars in 2002. In addition, he also coached Tanzanian club sides Simba SC and Moro United as well as Express FC in Uganda.

In October 2004, while at Moro United, Siang’a was approached to take over as manager of Harambee Stars but he refused probably due to earlier mistreatment.

(READ: End of an era: Legendary James Siang'a dies)

He would later coach Kenyan giants Gor Mahia, and here he was credited with forming a solid team of younger players who would later play a very big role in the team’s campaigns.

Those who watched him play were uniformly agreed that Siang’a was one of the best goalkeepers this country - and the world if the opinion of West Brom officials is anything to go by - has ever seen.

This was reinforced last October when he was inducted into the prestigious Kenyan Football Hall of Fame at the International Hotel and Tourism Institute (IHTI) in Kileleshwa, Nairobi.

By that decision, Siang’a became only the third Kenyan to join the league of extraordinary footballers. After hanging up his boots, Siang’a headed to the dugout proving his mettle as a good coach. However, and in a repeat of what has become the sorry state of former players, Siang’a used the occasion of his feting to lament the misery of his comrades, those who literally gave their all in the service of the country.

He was quoted decrying the neglect he had been subjected to despite his rich credentials as, especially, a coaching instructor.

“One, this reward has given me some recognition, two, it has made me remember my days back as a player, three, the fact that I played and coached, and off course now being an instructor, I have never been rewarded by my country and even my local football association,” he lamented.

“I was like a dumped object somewhere, forgotten, but with this one I was even surprised how they found out about me, and I am very happy,” The messages of condolences that poured in from both within and outside the country were a testimony to the man’s prowess both on the field and the dugout. Fare thee well ‘keeper, and as the Scottish would say, auld lang syne!