Hassan Wario, stand your ground and save the game

What you need to know:

  • FKF keeps on drumming the fact that they are the only group recognised by Fifa and Caf. That is true even when that recognition is stifling and choking the country. Let Fifa ban us but this time around, we shall clean our football with laser beams to kill all
    the vermin. A two-year ban is welcome relief...
  • The Sports CS should not give them peace till they tone down.

The silly season is with us again and at this moment every foolish deed seems to attract applause.

The madness of football management usually hits a crescendo in December just as the season ends.

Of course the league ended without the match between Sony Sugar and AFC Leopards being decided.

The main issue has been the Football Kenya Federation (FKF), which has consistently and in bad faith, thwarted every move towards completion.

The managers of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL had slated the match to be played this month and true to their word, the posse at FKF has already warned all referees not to umpire the match and that any who disregards this sad directive shall be suspended from all ‘footballing’ (sic) activities. That is the latest spanner thrown into the works.

The beef between FKF and KPL is still raging and it seems the people who have been bequeathed the duty of managing football in the country are hell bent on killing it.

FORCE THINGS

The issue of a 16-team league and 18-team league has intensified and both sides have not given any reason why they want to force things against each other.

It is a showdown fuelled by greed for sponsor money even though it is clothed in rhetoric and power struggle. Don’t be fooled, these people are salivating in the most pitiful manner possible and football is the furthest thing in their money fevered brains.

FKF has demanded that the Kenyan Premier League, which is also known as the Tusker Premier League (TPL), be renamed into a mouthful monster called Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL).

Since they have kept mum on the sponsors, it is logical to assume they want it renamed Football Kenya Federation Tusker Premier League (FKFTPL). What they smoke in those offices is very potent.

Name aside; they demand that they run the Premiership just as they run all the lower leagues. The mess in the lower division leagues is only screened from view by the tidiness of the Premier League. In that jungle, which is ‘managed’ by FKF, everything is possible.

Docking of points to favour some teams is very normal; not paying referees is very commendable; disappearance of match commissar and referees’ reports invites shouts of approval. It is a harsh world in that crowded realm.

That is what FKF wants the Premier League to become; tidiness is something too foreign to their way of thinking if they ever indulge in the luxury of thought.

On Thursday, President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted the GOtv Shield winners Sofapaka at State House.

The President, angered by recent events, urged FKF and KPL to stop wrangling and nurture talent. He said: “Football managers are responsible for mismanaging our national talent. Football managers, stop wasteful squabbling. Our sports investors are here to help us grow our football let us allow them and let us not interfere with those supporting us grow our sports.”

FKF keeps on drumming the fact that they are the only group recognised by Fifa and Caf. That is true even when that recognition is stifling and choking the country.

The Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Hassan Wario, who has kept mum over the saga, broke his silence and supported the President. His view is that FKF stop meddling in the league affairs.

That stirred our posse into a tirade of word slamming the CS in the silliest manner possible. They even accused Mr Wario of never having attended any match.

They said: “As a federation, we do not remember the last time the cabinet secretary for sports ever stepped foot in the stadium to watch a local premier league match which puts him in a situation whereby he is not in touch with what is going on in the top tier league…” So, FKF is the only one in touch with what is going on?

They threatened the CS with the stock in trade statement that Fifa will ban Kenya if there is political interference. Harambee Stars is lackluster but if you talk about it, you are courting Fifa ban; Accounts are not kept transparently and we should all keep mum for fear of a Fifa ban; the lower division leagues are a slum but Fifa may ban us; FKF wants to disrupt the Premier League but Fifa may ban us if we try to save the league: Fifa may ban us for all we care but this time round we must save our football.

The Sports CS should not give them peace till they tone down. Let Fifa ban us but this time around, we shall clean our football with laser beams to kill all the vermin. A two-year ban is welcome relief hoping they may fade away.