Kenya football and the Kenya Premier League need a lot of work to take it back to the glory days when a stadium would fill up with fans just like we see in the European leagues like EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue and also across our bordering countries like Tanzania.
Every season, for the last 3 years, I’ve physically attended live Kenya Premier league matches.
The Latest was yesterday at Kasarani. There were three league matches played; Gor Mahia won one nil against Bandari at the main stadium, at the annex, Ulinzi Stars beat FC Talanta three goals to nil.
Later at the same pitch, Kenya Police were managed by SofaPaka in a thrilling match that ended 1-1.
These are some of the reasons why I feel, fans no longer show up for these matches like they used to before.
1. Poor communication and timing
Many times, the location of these planned matches is done last minute and from time to time, there are switches due to unavoidable circumstances.
Also, the gate charges are not clear. Just check the team’s social media pages, you’ll see fans asking about the venue, time, and charges.
Most of the time, it becomes almost impossible to get a reply.
For weekday matches, most are played between 1 pm and 3 pm.
Kenyans are at work or their hustles during this time.
2. Pitch challenges
I will use the Karasani Annex football pitch as an example, because it hosts more matches than the main stadium due to, of course, the affordable booking prices.
The Annex has a very good carpet-like grass surface but there are no sitting arrangements done over the last 2 seasons even when fans have been showing up.
There are always a few chairs for officials, and special fans.
For the rest you either carry your chair, sit on the grass, on stone and stone surfaces available, the athletics hurdles that are left or you stand for the whole period, it’s unbearable under the scorching sun.
3. Payment challenges
Thanks you’ve arrived at the game, can I pay via mobile money? Your guess is correct- the officials will insist you pay on cash.
This is one avenue where team revenue can not be traced. You’ll get a ticket from, old matches already played and the charges are never clear but normally it’s Ksh. 100 or Ksh. 200.
4. Teams overall management
Many fans of local football teams will tell you.
They lost interest when their team became a joke of an outfit with mismanagement and wrangles like a madhouse.
Many times, players signed to these teams are never paid on time with or without sponsorship and for this, the fans over time have gotten tired, most of them will pray the players to get headhunted out of the country to get better remuneration and talent appreciation as we’ve seen in the last 2 seasons where Tanzanian teams have taken our best football talents.
I will not talk about access to teams’ original replica jerseys for fans…you all know the hassle to get them and the counterfeiters who hawk their merchandise on match days.
5. Government and football management challenges
As a result of friction and differences, among the top leadership, Kenya Premier League has missed huge opportunities for sponsorship and broadcast rights.
The last deal that came through was as dark as the night. The team rebelled because there was no black-and-white communication on what was agreed upon.
Eventually, the offer collapsed, and teams lost out on revenue to support their running.
Before we could even understand what was going on, FIFA was on our case, we had a ban until recently.
There are so many reasons, I can point out as a fan, who loves local football.
I have many friends who play for different teams in the top KPL teams. I show up to support and motivate them but these issues must be addressed.
For starters, can we please have sitting arrangements at Kasarani Annex; because more matches are being played there?
Security has been taken care of; now let’s make watching football comfortable first.
I’m confident, football fans-journalists, Carol Radull and Fred Arocho, who attend these games religiously will agree with me on this, ni hujuma, sisi mashabiki tunaumia.
Even Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, being the biggest football teams in Kenya, have noticed a huge reduction in fans attending their live matches.
The live-stream options available is a great addition, but can we win back the fans to the stadiums?
The funny goals that point, to blatant match fixing thoughts?
We have too many problems.
CS Ababu, has a million things to do in a short time, let’s see how much we can improve on this loved sport.
President William Ruto, Sir, can we please, have more stadiums since you are at the wheel now?
