The farce called 2014 KPL Foya awards

The furore surrounding 2014 Kenyan Premier League Awards gala refuses to fade away, four days after the annual event - where the competition’s best performers of the season were feted.

This comes amid fresh allegations of bribery and coercion by “outside forces” to lock out “foreigners” from scooping the prizes.

Stakeholders have also questioned the selection criterion of the five shortlisted players in the individual categories alongside the formula used by the panellists in selecting the winner.

But the panellists - who were the 16 Kenyan Premier League coaches - have defended their decisions while claiming that the non-tacticians do not understand “technical decisions”.

Sources close to the nomination team have revealed to Sunday Nation Sport that a number of club administrators asked the club coaches to “reward local talent” when choosing the winners so as to build the league.

“Some club administrators asked us to consider rewarding homegrown talent.

“They resonated that there is no way a Kenyan player can be voted amongst the best in Uganda or Tanzania,” a local coach, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Nation Sport.

This move could perhaps explain best why a number of fan favourites including Sofapaka’s Felly Mulumba and Sam Timbe, alongside Gor Mahia’s Dan Sserunkuma never made it past the runners-up positions.

Sunday Nation Sport has also been informed of an incident where a club official stormed the panellists’ meeting and displayed a message on his phone that showed a cash transaction between a football player and coach.

“The club official claimed that our coaches had been compromised by players to nominate them, and requested us to try and be independent,” our source said.

AFC Leopards organising secretary, Timothy Lilumbi, also claimed that the whole nomination process is shambolic.

“I complained about the awards last year but everybody thought I was mad. You cannot say, for example, that no player from our club has played well within the last two seasons to merit the overall prize. Besides, there are players from small clubs who play well and consistently but have never been considered.” Lilumbi opined.

DEFENDED THE NOMINATIONS

But the coaches have since come out to defend the whole process. City Stars coach Robinson Ofwoku claims those complaining do not understand the “technical side” of football.

“The public views and understands football differently compared to the tacticians, who are technicians. For example we look at the input of a player, personality, the number of times he was substituted, assists created, goals scored, number of yellow cards, etcetra, when nominating the best of the lot,” the Nigerian coach claimed.

Leopards assistant coach, Juma Abdalla, admitted that coaches faced challenges in shortlisting the nominees.

“It is at times conceivable at times that a coach would want a player from his team to win an award.

“So downsizing the nominees from 11 players to five, and then the overall winners was no mean feat.” Abdalla claimed.

Abdalla is, however, against the idea of including other stakeholders - such as journalists and supporters - to participate in the nomination of winners.]

“The world over knows that I cannot do your job at Nation Media Group, so why do you think even for a minute that you can do mine?” the former KCB coach posed?

The winners at the KPL Awards each receive a Sh100,000 bounty, with the first and second runners up each taking home Sh75,000 and Sh50,000 respectively. The Kenyan Premier League body has to date shied away from contributing to this subject.