KPL, FKF supremacy FIGHTS hurting flavour of football

From Left- Sofapaka FC Chairman Elly Kalekwa, FKF President Sam Nyamweya, CEO KPL Jack Oguda and Ambrose Rachier Chairman Gor Mahia consult after emerging from a meeting with FKF National Executive Council to discuss the violence that engulfed the KLP match against Gor in Machakos last sunday on Tuesday, October 28th. 2014. Photo/Jonah Onyango.

What has been a thrilling, generally well organised Kenya Premier League (KPL) season is ending in controversy with decisions and results being made in the boardroom rather than on the field.
The Kenya Premier League management and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have been experiencing an uneasy and tense relationship.
The KPL has actually existed longer than the FKF.
The FKF was formed in 2012 while the KPL has been around since the mid 2000s. Clubs feel more affiliated to the KPL, which is settled and has been bringing in sponsors.
The FKF won their protracted case with Fifa, and since then there has been a marriage of (in)convenience between the two parties.
The issues have now boiled to the surface, with poor officiating this season being one of the major points that has brought out ugly scenes between various stakeholders.
This weekend sees the start of the last 2 rounds of the Premier League. AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia are now allowed to have their fans attend their matches.
financial windfall
Gor will play Muhoroni in Kisumu, with the latter looking at making a financial windfall in what is their best season ever.
In the meantime K’Ogalo have stood their ground and will play with their fans in attendance while ignoring Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua’s fine incurred for damages in the county during and after their game last weekend.
AFC Leopards are in Mumias for what will be a highly charged match against league contenders Sofapaka.
Ingwe have also had their ban on fans reversed, although the team has been on a go-slow over allowances and bonuses since their last game against Chemelil.
This will definitely affect their match today, which will be tense due to the fans expecting a positive result.
Sofapaka had requested the match to be played in Nairobi due to security fears, but both teams have been assured that there will be adequate security.
In other matches, Ushuru play the 5th place chasing Chemelil, while Ulinzi clash with Bandari who’re having a bad season and are lucky to still be in the KPL.
Ulinzi have gone five games with a 100 percent win record and are 6 games unbeaten. Ulinzi are also chasing third if Tusker have a meltdown in their final matches.
KCB play Sony Sugar, and the former need two more points to stay in the top flight while Sony are still awaiting the verdict for their game against AFC.
Other matches are Mathare/Western Stima, Top Fry/City Stars (Top Fry are playing for pride and are looking to deflate Stars’ chances of remaining in the league), and Tusker/Thika United (Thika are in danger of dropping out of the Top 8 if their results remain negative).
In the Nationwide Super League, in Zone A Posta Rangers is the top team with one round remaining, while in Zone B Zoo Kericho lost their midweek game and Shabana won.
That leaves Zoo with 47 points and Shabana 46. The top teams from both zones will be promoted with the final matches scheduled for next weekend.
MARATHON CHAOS
I attended the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon last Sunday after eight years.
I was involved in the first few marathons as the emcee before moving overseas and was pleasantly surprised how big it’s grown.
However despite the event growing in leaps and bounds, the organisation of the race itself left me disappointed in many ways.
This was the first year without founder John Velzian as race director, and I can’t help feeling that his meticulous touch was missing. Also this is the time when you saw how out of touch and archaic Athletics Kenya (AK) were in such an important event.
Now I’m going to lay the blame on both the organisers and AK for the myriad of issues that marred what would have been an excellent series of races on the day.
I’ll start with the media centre: why was the race not been followed in real time on the website? Where was the list of elite athletes competing in the race?
When I asked for the list, there was none available, and the volunteers offered to print me the entire entry of 17,000 athletes!
Also to get the names of the winners and winning time took about 10 minutes because they were waiting for AK to give the official time, which came on a piece of handwritten paper. This is inexcusable in this day and age.
What happened to the clock on the official marathon car? Why was it not working during the race? Why were the athletes not using ankle chips in the main marathon?
Then the times would have gone instantaneously back to the nerve centre and then we would have got real-time updates throughout the race.
There were also reports of athletes being led onto the wrong course in the 10km event.
Also the motorcycle riders carrying photographers reportedly broke protocols in order to get better pictures during the races, according to Velzian.
For an event of such magnitude that’s been running for 10 years these issues should not be arising, but with AK having such prominence at Nyayo Stadium, it proves what I’ve mentioned in this article that it’s time for a major shakeup within the ruling body.
The majority of the officials are out of touch and need to go. As long as they are around, the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon will continue to suffer from the same problems.
MUYA LAID TO REST
Kenya international cyclist John Njoroge Muya was laid to rest in Kinangop on Thursday.
This was a huge blow to his team the Kenyan Riders, but I hope the team as a whole can rise from this tragedy and win races in his honour.
The team has big ambitions, the Tour de France being their ultimate aim.
Every cyclist has a dream, but the journey will be long and arduous to reach the pinnacle of world cycling.
As long as the foreign owners keep faith in the young boys and can bring in sponsors than the sky is the limit.
The South African team MTN-Qubeka recently competed in the Vuelta a ?spana and is looking at qualifying for next year’s Tour De France.
Can Kenya provide a strong enough and financially capable team to qualify for le Tour? Only time will tell.
––[email protected]

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