We must invest in Kenya’s soccer to make it blossom

Walking down a Nairobi street on Friday, I overheard some Kenyans enthuse that at last “Kenya” was being “represented” in a Fifa World Cup final.

Utter nonsense! How can a nation bargain for so little? How can Divock Origi represent Kenya when he is not a Kenyan?

Both he and the American President are “Kenyan” only in terms of certain vague adventitious roots.

For all practical purposes, Barack Obama is as American as Juliette, my own daughter, who has never set foot on Kenya, and Divock is as Belgian as King Baudouin was.

You are automatically a citizen of the country in which you are born. Although Divock’s parents are Luo and Kenyan, Belgium is where he came into the world. Belgium, therefore, is the only place where, for him, poetry can raise any ripples in the pool of emotion.

I do not wish to alienate the lad from his biology. Indeed, as a Luo Kenyan, I am extremely proud to share so many vital genes with such a talent.

My only purpose is to wean both Luoland and Kenya from their perennial refusal to invest heavily in and nurture such talents existing right here at home.

What can we gain by purring over stars who — although bio-mentally rooted in us — are the products of investment in training by other societies?

When we have totally neglected to nurture all the potential Neymars and Matuidis in which Kenya abounds, what right have we to recite poetry over Divock?

Year after year after year, Kenyans fail to come anywhere near making it even to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Why do West and North Africa perpetually grab all the World Cup places earmarked for our continent?

Aren’t Kenya’s women capable of giving birth to any Abedi Pele, Yahya Toure and Jay Jay Okocha?

The chief problem, I think, lies in our official neglect of sports other than athletics.

There are ways in which one can go around Fifa’s ban on governmental involvement in soccer administration.

All internationally successful Third World countries are beneficiaries of heavy government involvement in funding and administration without breaking any Fifa rule.

Kenya reached its zenith of international performance only when President Moi made a point of attending every kidumbwedumbwe, occasionally

donating his own money, and only when certain other statesmen — dedicated former sportsmen like Kenneth Matiba, Job Omino and Peter Kenneth — were directly involved.

Of course, we cannot force UhuRuto, as individuals, to love soccer. But I imagine that some of their advisers recognise the prime importance of international competition in sports and can prevail on the President and his Deputy to pay much closer personal attention to the home development of the world’s most popular game.

As individuals, they don’t have to dote on the game. But, as heads of our political being, they have to invest heavily in it to ensure its healthy growth because, through Fifa, soccer has become a fundamental conduit to all the world centres of financial, educational, diplomatic, political and other social influences.

Those who want to play independent and powerful roles at those centres will find that they have to begin by investing money and other resources in the local game.

The reason Kenya’s soccer never grows is that, officially, we never put any resources into developing individual and team talents by, for instance, helping youngsters to play in more developed leagues.

Imagine where we would be if we had organised for Muhammad Abbas, Ali Kajo, Joe Kadenge, Charles Mukora, Daniel Nicodemus, Chege Ouma, James Siang’a, Allan Thigo, Wilson Wanyama, Steve Yongo and other maestros to play league soccer in Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay.

Nevertheless, we must cheer Divock because, for one thing, if he shines in Brazil, it might inspire Jubilee into intervening in soccer to steer Kenya towards the world’s galaxy of soccer states.

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