Left Foot Sports: tale of brotherly passion luring the corporate world into football

It’s passion that only a select few can afford. For most of us, finding consolation by transforming a well discerned idea is a forlorn dream.

But not these two brothers — Aman and Amit Bhasin — who churned out their deepest desire into a multi-cultural league focused on people who love to play the game over weekends, even if they are not able to train on a daily basis due to their work or school schedules.

And the end product?

“Exercise, network, advertisement and talent growth that has given many corporates a competitive edge,” Left Foot Sports managing director Aman Bhasin, co-founder of the famous amateur football corporate and social leagues in Kenya, reveals as we settle down in his posh office in Westlands for this interview.

“My brother and I used to go to Murang’a where our dad was working as a doctor for many years, and during holidays we had opportunity to play football there and continued on Sundays when we moved to Nairobi about 10 years ago, so we came up with an idea of starting up a league because we had been playing same teams every six months, we came up with a small prize money and found a bigger ground at Nairobi school and the rest is history,” says Aman.

Having started in 2006 with eight teams, the amateur football league has grown each year.

This year has been the 13th season in Nairobi and the second in Mombasa with a total of 84 corporates comprising of about 5,000 registered players participating.

The league runs for a period of eight to 10 months for division one and two and for five to six months for third, fourth and fifth divisions.

The teams and players are comprised of different backgrounds from companies who sponsor their staff members to church and youth groups and friends who join together to enjoy the beautiful game invented by the English. Nairobi games have since been moved to Railway Club grounds while in Mombasa at Burhani Sports Club.

“We’ve entered into a partnership with Railway Club and are in talks to install floodlights and astro turf at the place. A lot of multinational companies now believe in pushing their staff towards a health living,”

“We got more corporates playing football and doing it for recreation purposes which creates an avenue that people get to believe in exercising and enjoying themselves in terms of football. For instance a single day can have 40 corporates facing off, at the end of the day, business is transacted from the networking.”

Currently, the Left Foot League is played in two major counties —Nairobi and Mombasa.

Nairobi has five divisions with 15 teams each and is played in relegation and promotion format while the Mombasa league commenced last year with six corporates but has since expanded to 19.

Apart from the eight-a-side men’s competition, Left Foot Sports have also riveted their skills into running children and women’s leagues, floodlight and futsal games.

They once ran a beach football tourney in Mombasa for seven years before it folded up. The good news is that plans are afoot to relaunch it in 2019 this time big and better.

The league also comprises of five age categories namely the under-nine, under-11, under-13, under-15 and under-17.

“The children are our future, we are just adding more value to them by offering an avenue for them to play,” opines Aman adding: “The more kids play the more experience they get and this happens to the ladies too.”

Floodlit games are staged at Kenya Hockey City Park Stadium situated in Nairobi’s Parklands on Thursdays. It features both wazee and open categories.

“We do not allow professional and semi-professional players here because for them, football is part of their livelihood. Here, people play for recreation, team building, motivation and networking,” offers Aman who operates with the blessings of Football Kenya Federation (FKF).

“We pay our affiliation fee on time and have also partnered with FKF in a couple of ventures.”

Nation Media Group is one of the beneficiaries of this league with Nairobi-based football team featuring in division five. They finished third on the 15-team standings with 31 points after 14 rounds in the just completed season. Out of 14 matches, the Nation FC, coached by veteran sports writer John Ashihundu and news sub-editor Mark Agutu, lost only once, painfully, in their very last game of the season.

“Nation has been given the same respect like other corporates, we expect to strength our partnership further,” says Aman with hopes of having the company’s Kisumu bureau forming part of their launch for Kisumu edition next September.

“We would like to go country wide but the challenge is that we don’t have a sponsor yet so our growth is slow but consistent although the future is bright due to the phenomenal passion for football in our country.”

“We don’t believe in starting a venture if we don’t have all boxes ticked, we’ve to get everything right on how for instance referees will get paid, find a good and convenient venue for everyone.”

The league has also featured former Kenyan internationals who occasionally show up to share the nostalgic moments of their good old day well documents in the Kenyan football archives in the 90s.

Former Gor Mahia stars William Odidi, Josiah Ougo and Victor Onyango as well as former AFC Leopards star Kepha Tasso are some of the celebrated stars that have appeared in the competition.

“We’ve people who play for fun but also upcoming players aspiring to be picked up by professional sides. Featuring ex-internationals for us is a plus because these youth get to inspired interacting with them,” shares Aman who believes a lot has been achieved since the league’s exception.

“We believe in quality and by having an organized football competition, we’ve made strides despite the challenges. It has helped youngsters abstain from social vices, some have got jobs from exhibiting their leadership qualities on the pitch and for those above the age of 35, have found happiness in keeping themselves active,

“The challenges one, are the costs because we’ve to book venues, we don’t have our own stadium yet but it’s part of our wish list. Also being a weekend, most people want to be with their families, finally, being self-sufficient, managing the costs is another tall order, with a sponsor on board, it will be easier to expand our routes.”

At the end of every season, best performing teams and players are recognized in a colourful award gala.

The previous season’s gala has been scheduled for February 12.

“We try to offer unique quality medals and trophies to best kitted teams, best goalkeepers, defender and most valuable player across all divisions totalling Sh1 million, floodlight leagues winner takes home Sh80,000” Aman notes.

In the professional side, corporates have continued to shy away from breaking banks to sponsor teams but through Left Foot Sports, Aman believes this will change.

“Our national team, Harambee Stars, for instance is battling to make ends meet during international assignments. The same challenge extends to other sports disciplines volleyball, rugby and athletics.

“Football is pivotal to our country, as corporates go ahead to play more, they will definitely get attracted to advantages of developing the game, we call more to come on board and have their staff gain by playing for fun and expanding their network,” he said. They’ve outlined a 10-year plan of spreading the passion across the region.

“We would like to get into Tanzania, Uganda and even Rwanda or look at offering franchise so that our business model is implemented in the said countries,” he concludes.

Over the last 13 years, there are so many players who’ve been picked up from the league due to the openness of the championship.

Just this year, youthful Isaac Ochieng' Agutu made SportPesa Premier League outfit Bandari's 24-man team for the 2018/19 season after successful week-long trials at the KPA Mbaraki Sports club. Ochieng' top scored in the Left Foot League in Nairobi with Nation FC.

“Ochieng' is a talented youngster and will be a great asset not only for Bandari as a club but also for national team Harambee Stars very soon,” said Bandari coach Bernard Mwalala. Left Foot Sports Operations Director Amit Bhasin seconds that the hierarchy formed from the juniors to seniors and retired footballers has aided this.

“Kenyan football is on the right track, our rankings are improving, we are here to partner up and help with the youth at grassroots level so that we can make better professionals in the future,” commented Amit.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Follow your passion!