Youth systems outside FKF ambit way to go

African champions Cote d’Ivoire are notable for running one of the continent’s best youth systems. One academy, Asec Mimosa, which takes in kids from the age of 13, has given the world an incredible number of talents, including the Toure brothers, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Emmanuel Eboue, Aruna Dindane and others. FILE PHOTO | ALEXANDER JOE |

What you need to know:

  • The way to solve the problems afflicting the national game is to work around the federation with a long-term strategy focused on the youth.
  • Kenya needs to borrow a leaf from countries such as South Korea, Japan and Denmark.

Kenya truly announced itself as an emerging sports superpower at the 1968 Olympics.

Kipchoge Keino took gold in one of the most prestigious events, the 1,500 metres final.

Naftali Temu won the 10,000 metres race, considered the ultimate test of endurance outside the marathon.

And through Amos Biwott, Kenya began its decades-long domination of the steeplechase.

There were also three silvers (one was won by a certain Daniel Rudisha in the men’s 4x400m relay) and two bronze medals including a creditable performance by Philip Waruinge in the boxing ring.

So thrilled was Mzee Jomo Kenyatta by the performance, a senior Kenyan who also happens to be a sports fan tells me, that when the victorious Kenyans returned to Nairobi, the president went up the stairs and into the plane and walked out arm in arm with Kipchoge Keino and the other heroes. It was a great moment which electrified the nation.

Sadly, Mzee Kenyatta was the last Kenyan president who appreciated the power and potential of sport to advance national goals.

Athletics is the discipline which has made Kenya famous around the world but football is the game which attracts a spiritual devotion among the people.

As events of the recent past have shown, football is unfortunately in the firm grip of thieves, extortionists and bandits (sijataja mtu). Fifa President Sepp Blatter can’t help us because federation chiefs are his main constituency and their loyalty has made him the life president of his corrupt fiefdom.

FOCUS ON YOUTH

The way to solve the problems afflicting the national game is to work around the federation with a long-term strategy focused on the youth.

Few initiatives were more important in bringing football to the grassroots and in ultimately feeding the national team in the 1990s than the Coca-Cola Under-17 football championship.

It started all the way at the village level, going up to the divisional and district level and ultimately the provincial, national and regional level.

As a young teenager playing in Eastern province, the competition helped me to see other parts of Kenya and offered a chance for youth to play real competitive football in Maua, Meru, a corner of the world previously untouched by such intense competition outside the high school game.

The initiative sadly fell by the wayside with time. One of the things anyone wishing to save the game in Kenya can do is to revive this competition which, unlike the Premier League, can comfortably be handled without the approval of the federation.

My view has always been that Kenyans are not as talented at football as some others, such as the West Africans.

Small countries such as Togo and Cameroon have managed to qualify for the World Cup despite their federations not being models of excellence.

To compensate, Kenya needs to borrow a leaf from countries such as South Korea, Japan and Denmark, which don’t boast a lot of skilful players but are regulars on the world stage thanks to rigorous coaching and training and well established youth systems.

The President or Minister of Sports or, if the national government is unwilling, the Council of Governors should re-examine the template of the Coca-Cola Under-17 tournament (one of the federation chiefs at the time, Peter Kenneth, or the likes of Hussein Mohammed who has experience running youth tournaments can help in this regard) and establish a nationwide youth football system.

This can be used to seed talent for an Under-17 and Under-23 side, which can take part in World Cup qualifying once the current rotten leadership of the game is weeded out.

CHANGE LEADERSHIP

In the meantime, Kenya should borrow a leaf from Rwanda which changed its federation’s leadership through mysterious extrajudicial methods and set the nation’s game back on track.

Such a change, which can be effected at the next federation elections if the executive really wants it, will provide the necessary template to help revive the national game.

Examples of countries which have used an efficient youth system to bounce back to glory are numerous, not least the French national team which calamitously failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1994 before pouring money into youth schools including the Clarefontaine football academy and claiming the next World Cup anchored by products of the system such as Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.

Cote d’Ivoire, champions of Africa, are notable for running one of the continent’s best youth systems.

One academy, Asec Mimosa, which takes in kids from the age of 13, has given the world an incredible number of talents, including the Toure brothers, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Emmanuel Eboue, Aruna Dindane and others.

Ghana and South Africa, too, are very serious about youth football and are regularly competing from the Under-17 level on the global stage.

Success does not come without investment. To rescue the people’s game, we need to invest in a youth system and that can only be done outside the formal channels controlled by the jokers in charge of the federation.

Ultimately, the leadership at the top must also be changed and that can only come about if those in power can appreciate the power of sports to improve society, as Mzee Kenyatta did, when he met the heroes of 1968 at the airport and thrilled sports lovers.