RINGSIDE VIEW: A case of too many fans and very few supporters

Not too long ago, AFC Leopards, a club which by Kenyan standards prides itself of almost an unequalled pedigree, lost their newly-signed coach under the most peculiar of circumstances.

Serbian national, Nikola Kavazovic, had barely set foot at his port of entry when he unceremoniously left the club just days before the 2018-2019 season kicked off.

The guy, quite literally, stormed out of the den even before the ink on his contract with the club had dried up.

With an utterly bemused Leopards hierarchy at a loss of this strange parting of ways, several theories were peddled in the mainstream and social media as to the reason behind the coach’s acrimonious departure.

First, it was something about the coach himself explaining that he was taking leave to tend to an indisposed family member in his native Eastern Europe motherland.

Then the rumour mill went overdrive with allegations of a fallout between the coach and the club’s executive committee over a decision to drop a newly-signed foreign player.

But the most ridiculous, nay laughable, explanation has to be the one alluding to a tiff between the coach and the powers that be at the club over the delayed approval and processing of a Sh20,000 ($200) advance the incoming coach had requested for.

Seriously! Sh20,000. Is that even enough for a tourist to sample Nairobi’s exuberant nightlife for a single evening?

Which perhaps informed the coach’s decision for a hurried exit. Why take up a job from an employer who, of all things, can’t extend an advance far less than a tenth of your salary?

But Leopards’ perpetual misery is the affliction of nearly all Kenyan football clubs.

Their eternal rivals Gor Mahia is without doubt the most decorated club on these shores. But a mere scratch on the surface of that glamorous façade exposes a pauper dressed in royal garments.

In terms of sustenance, K’Ogalo isn’t any better than the local pub team.

It’s a tragedy that more than a half a century since their respective formation, the two oldest clubs in Kenyan football are yet to figure out how to monetise their huge brands through ticket sales, merchandising and active club membership that actually generate revenue.

Year in year out, we are treated to the same old charade of club officials trudging around town begging for alms to offset recurrent expenses.

Despite the ‘huge’ fan base that they boast of, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards only exist today by the grace of their ethnic Godfathers who often pass off as club patrons and wellwishers.

However, oftentimes this kind of club patronage is purely premised on advancing individual or collective political agendas disguised as philanthropy and goodwill.

That is why Kenya’s foremost community clubs Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards and Shabana, the latter who have recently launched a spirited campaign to end their long banishment from the top tier league, have forever been held hostage by the ethno-political class.

As a colleague with a legal mind rightly pointed out to me the other day, neither AFC Leopards nor Gor Mahia is a ‘real’ football club.

They are merely ethnic institutions which play football.

As if that’s not bad enough, for all the alcohol-induced braggadocio exhibited by their fans on match day, neither of these two teams can brag of having loyal supporters committed to their cause.

If these clubs indeed had true supporters, then a considerate monthly fee of Sh500 only from just 1,000 loyal supporters in membership fee would rake in Sh500,000 every month, which is just about enough to pay the salary of their often "tourist coaches."

Sadly, in Kenya there is a glut of football fans and an acute deficiency of supporters.