Postponing games is a normal league activity

For a whole week, anti-Gor Mahia crusaders have been making noise all over social media hitting at the Football Kenya Federation and Kenyan Premier League for postponing a league match to allow Gor Mahia to play English side Hull City.

Curiously, all the attacks seem to be coming from followers and/or officials of clubs that have previously benefited from their matches being postponed for them to put their houses in order or to participate in other competitions.

In his blog, Francis Okello Ngira, a gifted cameraman by all standards but at the same time a supporter of mid table fallen giants AFC Leopards wrote on his blog “The World of Tow Tow” that postponing league matches for the Gor Mahia versus Hull City friendly game was disrespectful.

He went on to say: “There’s nothing to warrant postponing the Gor Mahia and Ulinzi league game for the Hull City friendly.

“It is not only disrespectful to think of rescheduling a Kenyan league game for that encounter, but also against the KPL rules of competition, which every club subscribe to by virtue of agreeing to participate in the top-flight league.”

My question to Ngira and his ilk is, what rules have FKF or KPL broken to allow Gor Mahia play this game, and who has been disrespected in this case.

I dare remind this AFC Leopards fan that the club he dearly loves played Gor Mahia in a one off knock-out to get a chance to play Hull City. Assuming, and in the unlikely event that AFC Leopards beat Gor Mahia on that occasion on May 1 at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru, would he be making the same noise as he is now?

Then there is the Ulinzi Stars chairman Eric Oloo who said nobody had informed them that their match scheduled for May 13 against Gor Mahia had been postponed to allow the friendly against Hull to be played.

Ok, maybe Oloo was late to check his pigeon hole, but when SportPesa, the league sponsors and also the sponsors of Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards and Hull City made a return to finance the league, there was an announcement that a big match against Hull would be played on May 13, where was Oloo on this date.

KPL as a matter of fact informs clubs of any change in fixture within time and Oloo’s assertion that he was not informed is what I can term as a “pure lie”.

It is on record that AFC Leopards and Ulinzi have been beneficiaries of league postponements to allow them engage in other non-league activities.

AFC Leopards, who perennially have management issues have in the past had their matches put on hold so they can sort their incessant internal squabbles.

Ulinzi on the other hand have had their matches postponed so they can participate in military games, why do they feel pained by this one game?

On the flipside, Kenyan football stands to gain a lot from games like that played on Sunday between Gor Mahia and Hull.