Rivals Waa, Kaya Tiwi eye school games dominance

Bitter rivals Waa Boys High School, Ngombeni Secondary and Kaya Tiwi renew their rivalry in football when the Waa zone secondary school games get underway on Friday at Kaya Tiwi School.

At the same time, Robert Aran, Matuga Secondary Schools Sports Association chairman on Thursday confirmed that Waa zone was more than ready to stage the two-day event.

According to him, they had secured enough pitches ready to for the under-16 and under-19 football competitions, rugby 15s, netball, volleyball and cross country.

He said there will be no racquet games, heptathlon and decathlon which will be held at the sub-county games next week.

“FKF South Coast  branch have assured me that they have 102 certified referees which makes me believe that our games will run smoothly,” said Aran, who is also the principal of Kaya Tiwi Secondary School.

Schools will have to spend more to participate in the football championships following a directive by KSSSA that the under-16 and under-19 competition be held at different locations far from each other in an effort aimed at curbing cheating.

He said the two events will have different sets of referees and an independent match commissar at different locations to ensure they don’t interact when the matches take place on Friday and Saturday.

This means that schools will have to spend more on team managers accompanying the teams, coaches, equipment and medical staff to effectively field both categories of teams in the football competitions.

“We know that if these games are held close to each other some schools will use the under-16 players in the under-19 squads and vice versa thereby beating the main purpose of the championships. And this is not allowed," Aran said.

Waa  Boys high school will be defending the boys under-16 and under-19 titles, Kwale  Girls will be defending the girls under-16  crown while Waa Girls are the girls under-19 defending champions.

DEFENDING TITLES

Kaya Tiwi will be defending the netball title  while Waa Boys and Matuga girls will be defending the boys’ and girls’ volleyball titles.

Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association Secretary General David Ngugi had earlier said there will be challenges especially at lower levels of the championships and asked officials to find ways of improvising.

“We have discussed this at the national level and agreed that we want football under-16 and under-19 to run independently to avoid compromising quality  and cheating meaning we will have different sets of referees and match commissars  for each of the categories,” said Ngugi.