ABDULRAHMAN: Fixtures congestion a headache

What you need to know:

  • Well, Bandari is doing great but I am a worried man. Especially about the fixture congestion that requires Bandari to travel long distances every week to honour league fixtures.
  • In the current league system, Bandari suffers because of the two-game a week menu requires them to play today and pack same day for the next game!
  • For the SportPesa Premier League to be credible, there should be need to offer a level-playing-field, no pun intended, to all participating teams especially where one team will likely be disadvantaged.

Bandari won 1-0 on Saturday and got their revenge against their fast rising bogey team - Kariobangi Sharks to go top with a game in hand.

Even though Bandari Coach Bernard Mwalala said it was about the three points, we the fans ruled Nairobi and savoured the win and ultimate revenge! At least for now, the SportPesa Super Cup pain, where Bandari lost 1-0 to Sharks, is felt a lot less.

Well, Bandari is doing great but I am a worried man. Especially about the fixture congestion that requires Bandari to travel long distances every week to honour league fixtures.

How can a team based in Mombasa play two games in one week that includes a trip to say Bukhungu Stadium or Awendo?

Aligning the league with the Fifa calendar was a good idea but someone should have foreseen that clubs like Bandari who are farthest in distance from the rest will suffer most.

In the current league system, Bandari suffers because of the two-game a week menu requires them to play today and pack same day for the next game!

The old system did not favour Bandari, either, and partly explains why they never won the league. It is the Nairobi teams that won the most largely due to the fact that the status quo favoured them. Like all victims, Bandari’s voice will always be drowned at any fairness meeting.

Forget about the good results they are posting at the moment as the league is in the infancy stage, my fear is sooner or later, God forbid, both physical and mental fatigue will catch up with the players.

A careful analysis, shows that the bulk of the games Bandari lose on an average season are those they play in the Western part of Kenya. In the elite leagues of the world, teams travelling distances more than two hours by road are required to travel by air.

For the SportPesa Premier League to be credible, there should be need to offer a level-playing-field, no pun intended, to all participating teams especially where one team will likely be disadvantaged.

It is within the league organisers’ capacity to negotiate with the sponsors to at least consider air tickets for teams that are bound to travel long distances just to play one away game.

Yes, The Standard Gauge Railway has helped us but still, it is not enough when going further than Nairobi. As I write, Bandari’s shortest distance is to the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos. To reach there, they must clock in excess of eight hours travel from Mombasa with a day’s rest before match day.

The farthest they travel is in western Kenya where distance travelled is astronomical – 18 hours of one-way travel and frankly herein lies the problem. For example, playing on a Sunday at Mbaraki Stadium followed by a quick trip to Western Stima’s Bukhungu Stadium is enough to scare even to the seasoned traveller leave alone Bandari!

Correspondingly, say for example the Nairobi teams of Gor Mahia, Tusker, AFC Leopards and Mathare, are to play against themselves home and away, their travelling distance equals to walking distances.

I am not a sports scientist to claim that there is a correlation between distance travelled and points gained. But surely, having your lunch in the team bus four times a week cannot be the new normal!