Time ripe to ponder future of the game

With four matches to spare, Gor Mahia have already won this season’s league.

They are the champions after beating Ulinzi Stars Football Club one goal to nil at Kericho. The playing surface was very bad with the mud and unevenness which seems to be the hallmark of Kenyan football.

It was almost a miracle that the lads from both the teams actually managed to wade for ninety minutes in what looked like a pig sty!

In fact, the Kenyan players may be some of the best players on earth; especially considering the fact that they can play in such mire and even manage to pass the ball.

They deserve better. We do not know whether to praise Gor Mahia to the heavens for having clinched the 16th title or to examine the reason why they did it rather easily. Is it that K’Ogalo is too good or his height is due to the dwarfness that surrounds it?

Indeed, the Kenya Premier league has been widened to accommodate 18 teams but there has been no corresponding competitiveness that was perhaps envisaged.

The expansion caused a lot of acrimony; took us in and out of courts and in the end it was railroaded by Football Kenya Federation (FKF). The result of it is that many teams are really struggling to travel and honour their away ties.

This season, the Kenya Premier League is closing with some sanity. We lost the money from SuperSport and from January next year the betting companies are showing us their backs due to tax issues.

The next season shall certainly be a very dry one for most of the teams for lack of sponsors.

We are bound to see players going without pay; some doors will be closed due to rent arrears; some families will be put to financial strain that may split them up; there will be a lot of distress and it makes us fear very much about our football.

The talent of those lads will turn into curses if we do not find alternative measures to avoid that sure fate!

It is time that other corporate sponsors chipped in to save the situation by taking up the sponsorship of teams. The county governments too can help save the teams that hail from their yards; the sports facilities must be put in order to avoid the shame we felt over Chan.

At the same time we must take this opportunity to remind the betting companies that the added tax cannot kill them and as long as they still operate in Kenya, they should not give up on Kenyan sports all together.

They must remain on board. KPL and FKF must strive to get a new broadcaster or renegotiate the deal with SuperSport since the darkness that has befallen our matches takes away their allure.

These are just a few suggestions that may help us avoid a lot of stress next season.

Let us not sit pretty and await that dull fate; we must do something.