If league does not resume FKF rules clear on picking winner
What you need to know:
- Being one of Africa’s sporting powerhouses Kenya has not been left behind with the Kenyan Premier League having been suspended indefinitely
- Assuming it’s a congested fixture then most definitely players are bound to experience unprecedented levels of fatigue which might not be healthy
- Besides fatigue, a congested fixture comes with huge travel expenses which most clubs might not afford as a result of lack of sponsorship coupled with the unfavourable economic times
The outbreak of the coronavirus which had killed 199,000 people by Saturday, has definitely affected sporting events across the world.
Many have been cancelled or postponed, the most significant one being the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that was due to take place in Japan this summer.
On April 12, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) announced the postponement of the two-leg semi-finals of the African Champions League that were supposed to take place in May.
In light of growing concerns and evolving nature of Covid-19 that has led to lockdowns in many countries, the Caf Emergency Committee has decided to postpone matches until further notice.
Being one of Africa’s sporting powerhouses Kenya has not been left behind with the Kenyan Premier League having been suspended indefinitely. This obviously negatively affected the clubs and players.
However, the league's suspension is in the interest of the clubs concerned and the country at large since the health of the athlete is more valuable than the sports.
On Saturday after President Uhuru Kenyatta extended the nationwide curfew and travel restriction in Nairobi, Kwale, Kilifi and Mombasa by another 21 days, FKF gave an indication that they may conclude the season based on the chapter 2.6.1 of the constitution by the end of this week. This would be very much in order because if we were to resume the league at the end of the next partial lockdown, there would be several complications, majorly congested fixtures.
Let’s take Bandari FC for example. They have to regularly do 1,000km round trips to honour league matches.
Assuming it’s a congested fixture then most definitely players are bound to experience unprecedented levels of fatigue which might not be healthy.
Besides fatigue, a congested fixture comes with huge travel expenses which most clubs might not afford as a result of lack of sponsorship coupled with the unfavourable economic times which has seen some clubs skip league fixtures. In fact, Sony Sugar dropped out of the league after missing three fixtures.
Further still, a congested fixture does not present an ideal level of competition which might have an impact on the eventual outcome with too many injuries coupled with fatigue lowering the level of competition. This may in turn lead to a situation where the winner may not be the best team of the season.
Thus I find it imperative to declare the season over and declare table leaders Gor Mahia winners according to chapter 2.6 of the Football Kenya Federation constitution.
