SUPPORTING FOOTBALL IN KENYA…

This passed Saturday I was privileged to be in Nyayo Stadium to watch our Kenyan football team - Harambee stars thrash out the Mugabe in the Zimbabwe team. I hear that this passed game was more organized in terms of people not pushing down the gates & causing havoc - in a bid to see our stars at work. Last weekend the tickets were being sold at the stadium but this time round people had to buy advanced tickets that were sold out a whole 24 hours before the game started. So kudos to the organizers for learning asap from passed mistakes.

What really amazed me was the psyke, adrenaline & energy that was in that stadium. By the time the game started people were on a whole other level & by the time the first goal entered the net the noise levels went up by 100% as all 40,000+ people in the stadium rose to their feet in excitement. There was, however, a small tear gas scare that people brushed off their shoulders when they realized it was a canister shot from the outside rather than internally.

The second goal by the stars surely pushed the energy levels off the charts but were quickly brought down when our star goalie hurt his knees as he tried to rescue the ball from the determined feet of the Zim players. It was sad to see him being carried out in an Ambulance but the crowd chanting his name was enough to show the sympathy that all felt for him. Having over substituted the players the coach decided that Oliech was now to take up the task of being the goalie, this caused some ripples of nervousness but luckily he was barely there for 5 mins as the game ended with a 2-0 score in favor of Kenya. I’m sure he’d have made a great goalie but this wasn’t the time to find out.

Having attended my first ever live football match, I slowly started to realize that we need to support our boys much more beyond criticizing K.F.F - by simply attending any live matches, even at the league stages. It’s a good thing that in this year’s budget the Finance Minister mentioned that 1M is to be set aside for each constituency to bring up young new players & run football leagues at a professional level. I hope that budget is passed and more so managed well. It is also great to have DStv screen our league matches live on our televisions, so we have no excuse to not know what is going on in the football circles. Next live match is versus Namibia so watch out for that & buy your tickets early.

Now having supported Kenyan football, let’s all now get out in droves to do what we do best - Support Kenyan Rugby by turning up at the Tusker Safari Sevens this weekend from the 20th-22nd of June 2008.