Hockey: The untold tale

By JOHN LUSHA

A handful of spectators at the City Park Stadium terraces watching Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) league matches portrays the sorry state of the local sport, and a fan cannot help but wonder in retrospect the days when the venue drew in mammoth crowds.

The days when fervent hockey adherents would throng, not only the stadium, but also other venues, in particular at the Jamhuri High School.

In the build-up to the famous and historical Fourth All Africa Games that Kenya hosted in 1987, many local sporting disciplines went full throttle in a bid to outdo each other and attract attention of the Games Organising Committee. The men’s national hockey team was not left out as they were among the frontrunners.

National team regulars — Peter Akatsa, Lucas Alubaha Michael Omondi, Chris Otambo, Ranjeev Doell, Simi Goyal and Paul Omany, among others, — were household names. They were outstanding in their respective clubs which in turn resulted in a competitive league and ultimately a strong national team yet to be matched.

The national hockey team enjoyed the status of heroes from mid to late 80s and were ranked among the best in the world. Their record on the continental front spoke volumes.

Hockey players, like track athletes and boxers, had since pre-independence days represented Kenya at major international events including the All Africa Games, Olympic Games, Indira Gandhi Cup, continental and world championships. For instance, to qualify for the Olympic Games from the African continent, all a country needed was to prove their worth; and the men’s national team did it a record seven times, the last being at the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea.

Maiden appearance

Available records indicate Kenyans made their Summer Games’ maiden appearance in 1956 and finished in tenth position. In 1960 they settled for seventh, 1964 were sixth, 1968 eighth and in 1972 they dropped to 13th slot. Kenya skipped the 1976 and 1980 games due to international politics, but came back in 1984 to finish ninth.

However, they seemed to have reached their zenith at the 1987 Pan-Africa Games when they dismissed their perennial rivals, Egypt, in the final to book their last appearance at the Seoul Games.

Since 1988 the men’s national hockey team have never qualified for the Olympic Games.

Inspired by their male counterparts, former female stars at national school championships convened a meeting in 1988 under the supervision of the late Tobias Oduor and the idea of forming the Kenya Ladies Hockey Association (KLHA) was mooted. The association’s popularity grew in leaps and bounds and within a short period it overshadowed the KHU thus putting the two bodies at loggerheads.

However, efforts to register KLHA as a separate entity and have powers to operate with autonomy were thwarted by the union officials who cited the Societies Act that two federations cannot be registered under one sports discipline. Almost one year later Oduor died before he realised his dream of elevating the status of the women’s game to international standards.

Fully sponsored

And one of the pioneers of KLHA, Hellen "Chemo" Chemtai, relieved those moments with nostalgia: "It was wonderful. We used to have fully-sponsored tournaments in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kitale, Mombasa, Thika, Nyeri, — name it. We didn’t have drawn-up fixtures, sponsors just kept calling in and we would have tournaments almost fortnightly," she recalls. She talked to FeverPitch a few days after delivering twins at a Nairobi hospital.

Interestingly, the tournaments comprised all categories — secondary school teams, colleges and self-supporting clubs — spread out at all the towns, recalls Chemtai.

Available records show Kenya participated only twice at the Hockey World Cup championship — in 1971 when they finished fourth and in 1973 they settled for the 12th place. They are yet to qualify for the event to date.

With the emergence of a third force on the continental hockey scene in the form of South Africa after being admitted to the world sports arena at the end of apartheid rule Kenyans have found themselves playing second fiddle to either the Pharaohs or the Mandela warriors.

As hosts of the Fifth All Africa Games in 1991 and enjoying the partisan home crowd, Egyptians vanquished Kenyans to book a berth at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Their only threat, therefore, comes from down south.

In the 1995 and 1999 Pan-Africa Games, Kenyans settled for the third slot, in 2003 they did not qualify, but at the 2007 games where the Africa Olympic qualifier was held to pick a representatives at the Beijing Games, Kenyans again finished third.

In the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, Kenya settled for the runners-up position in 1974, 1983 and 1989; were third in 1993 and second in 1996. Why they have never featured in the subsequent championships — 2000, 2005 and this year — only the KHU officials are in a better position to explain.