AFC and Gor are victims of bad publicity

Both Ingwe and K’Ogalo have suffered bad publicity over the last three weeks due to despicable acts by goons masquerading as diehard fans.

Ingwe has suffered the most, from a Sh 500,000 fine for damages caused during its match against Sofapaka to being condemned to play in empty stadia for the remainder of the season.

FKF even went further and purported to order Ingwe to compensate Chemelil Sugar and Bandari for lost income as a result of the ban on fans.

Gor Mahia, too, appeared to suffer the same fate when a section of its fans – call them goons – disrupted their match against Sofapaka in Machakos after sensing defeat.

Machakos County governor Dr. Alfred Mutua came down hard on our noisy neighbours, fining them a hefty Sh10 million for damage caused at Kenyatta Stadium and its environs in addition to imposing a lifetime ban on K’Ogalo from ever setting foot in his county.

I’ve said before that hooliganism is not only despicable, it is a criminal act! And it is not unique to Ingwe and K’Ogalo fans alone as the football officialdom in the country would want the world to believe.

QUICK CASH
I must remind the football (mis)administration in this country that hooliganism will not be eradicated through the imposition of arbitrary fines on the two clubs neither of which have the capacity to identify, arrest and prosecute hooligans.

Not even the federation or KPL has that capacity. It is the sole business of the Police to control crowds and arrest and prosecute troublemakers, period!

Interestingly, the federation has transformed Ingwe and K’Ogalo into some cash cows to milk easy money from on the pretext that their fans unleashed chaos.

And whenever Ingwe and K’Ogalo fans are at their best behaviour, the federation can always turn to Tusker coach Francis Kimanzi and his assistant Leonard Odipo for some quick cash.

Last week, the two men were fined Sh100,000 each for their role in the incident in which Tusker fielded twelve players against Muhoroni Youth.

The federation also overturned a decision by KPL awarding Tusker three points for the abandoned match and handed the points to the sugarbelt team.

I wonder which Fifa rule the decision was based on. Whereas the penalty for fielding excess players is too lenient – a yellow card against the extra player – FKF must respect the rules or petition Fifa to amend them.