After thrashing Sony Sugar 2 - 1 and stretching their points tally to 55, Ulinzi's march towards the 2010 KPL championship is surely unstoppable, or is it? only Gor are within striking range of the Lanet based military side and K'Ogallo have only two matches remaining to close up the gap. If Ulinzi collects four points out of the remaining six, they are home and dry.
How this team manages to perch themselves atop Kenya's soccer pedestal amazes me. They play, honestly, one of the most boring football in the country. Anyone doubting this only needs sample members of the current national team - why did Twahir Muhiddin ignore them? Why has 'Ghost' Mulee continued this trend?
Whenever I watch these soldiers play, I see eleven men moving around a spherical weapon with a single minded aim of finishing their opponent by all and any means possible - yet, despite their dour style, or lack of it, they have managed to stay ahead of the chasing pack of Gor Mahia, Tusker, Sofapaka, Mathare United and Sony Sugar, all of who play better football.
So what is this that makes Ulinzi so unstoppable? Could it be the military discipline instilled at the training school, or 'the no retreat, no surrender' determination cultivated to win wars, or is it that the military men are physically fitter than their opponents?
My humble request to Ulinzi is this, please if you win the league, incorporate some stylish play, or stylish players? in your squad. When you take the field in 2011's CAF Champions League, remember that you are playing for all of Kenya. I hope you will make Kenya proud. Good luck!
31 October 2010
Gor v Leopards derby stampede - a postmortem
The 2010 KPL season second round clash between giants Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards generated real derby tension in its buid up, which was exciting because for an extended period of time, local fans had not witnessed the raw passion, dedication and energy of a derby.
When the final whistle was blown, K'ogallo having bagged the bragging rights with a 1-0 skinning of Ingwe, mourning replaced celebration as Kenyans came to terms with the tragic deaths of eight innocent lives. If everything had gone according to plan every one would have gone home happy.
Gor would have rejoiced for sustaining their assault on Ulinzi's championship march. Leopards performance was quite decent on the night and they almost shared the points but for that penalty. The entire Kenyan fooball family would have celebrated the rebirth of passionate football support- a full stadium of ecstatic fans dancing and singing as a high octane football duel unfolded on a floodlit pitch is not something anyone would have placed a bet on just two years ago.
The icing on the cake should have been the record gate collection of Ksh 2.5 million, which bettered the Ksh 1.5 million raised in September when Gor played outgoing champions Sofapaka. The stampede ruined this atmosphere and instead Kenyans were left wondering why innocent Kenyans in search of fun should be returned to their loved ones in caskets.
I have watched with awe as stadiums in Europe filled up or emptied in minutes - like clock work. Why is our organisational capability so wanting. Why don't we ever plan and implement effective disaster responses? Why is it so easy to shift blame in Kenya? Football Kenya Limited said it was Kenya Premier League Limited, who in turn blamed FKL and Stadia Management Board, who blamed everyone including Gor, who blamed the Police and Stadia... what a circus!
It was sad to hear the head of the KPL medical department, Dr Andrew Suleh lamenting that the young woman, one of the eight dead, died because she could not receive emergency medical attention as there was no entry nor exit through a maze of parked cars and a mass of people. Hopefully, the loss of human life will shame football managers enough for them to take stadium safety and security seriously.
The importance of emergency exits must now be recognised and embraced by all concerned stakeholders. The sad revelations that an emergency exit remained closed as people died and that a public officer charged with opening stadium gates could not be traced during a tragedy must never be entertained again.
In an interview with a local daily, Gor Mahia's custodian Jerim Onyango remarked that they found long queues when the team arrived for the match at 5.30 pm. His remarks took me back to 2005 when I found myself on a similarly long queue full of impatient and rowdy fans, who kept on pushing and shoving, their desperation worsening as kick off of the Kenya versus Morocco tie rapidly approached.
I was lucky to enter the stadium through gate three in time for the start and tirelessly cheered Harambee stars throughout the match. It was only when I left the stadium after the match that I learnt that a fan had been trampled to death at Gate two, a few metres from the gate through which I had squeezed into the stadium ninety minutes earlier.
A stampede on any day in Nairobi is deadly but throw in a dose of rainfall and it becomes especially fatal. Anyone familiar with the disorientation that is visited upon Nairobians by rainfall will quickly appreciate how serious an already bad situation must have become upon the opening of the skies, with it's contents emptying into a roofless Nyayo stadium and pouring on rowdy and impatient fans.
Out of this unfortunate occurrence, a transformation must emerge. Impunity must end. No longer should we tolerate such casual admissions like the one attributed to an anonymous FKL official, who revealed that FKL had knowingly used Nyayo Stadium for international matches in contravention of FIFA's safety regulations.
Political expediency scuttled the last serious attempt to refurbish the stadium, whereby the Coca Cola company had struck a deal with the Stadia Management Board to fit the stadium with seats and construct a player's tunnel to link the pitch with the dressing room for security reasons. However, disagreements between politicians and the company over naming rights ensured this plan became a non-starter.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, The Government must initiate a comprehensive programme to refurbish our stadia and promote effective disaster preparedness to ensure that these venues remain the arenas of enjoyment they were meant to be and not the death traps they have become.
When the final whistle was blown, K'ogallo having bagged the bragging rights with a 1-0 skinning of Ingwe, mourning replaced celebration as Kenyans came to terms with the tragic deaths of eight innocent lives. If everything had gone according to plan every one would have gone home happy.
Gor would have rejoiced for sustaining their assault on Ulinzi's championship march. Leopards performance was quite decent on the night and they almost shared the points but for that penalty. The entire Kenyan fooball family would have celebrated the rebirth of passionate football support- a full stadium of ecstatic fans dancing and singing as a high octane football duel unfolded on a floodlit pitch is not something anyone would have placed a bet on just two years ago.
The icing on the cake should have been the record gate collection of Ksh 2.5 million, which bettered the Ksh 1.5 million raised in September when Gor played outgoing champions Sofapaka. The stampede ruined this atmosphere and instead Kenyans were left wondering why innocent Kenyans in search of fun should be returned to their loved ones in caskets.
I have watched with awe as stadiums in Europe filled up or emptied in minutes - like clock work. Why is our organisational capability so wanting. Why don't we ever plan and implement effective disaster responses? Why is it so easy to shift blame in Kenya? Football Kenya Limited said it was Kenya Premier League Limited, who in turn blamed FKL and Stadia Management Board, who blamed everyone including Gor, who blamed the Police and Stadia... what a circus!
It was sad to hear the head of the KPL medical department, Dr Andrew Suleh lamenting that the young woman, one of the eight dead, died because she could not receive emergency medical attention as there was no entry nor exit through a maze of parked cars and a mass of people. Hopefully, the loss of human life will shame football managers enough for them to take stadium safety and security seriously.
The importance of emergency exits must now be recognised and embraced by all concerned stakeholders. The sad revelations that an emergency exit remained closed as people died and that a public officer charged with opening stadium gates could not be traced during a tragedy must never be entertained again.
In an interview with a local daily, Gor Mahia's custodian Jerim Onyango remarked that they found long queues when the team arrived for the match at 5.30 pm. His remarks took me back to 2005 when I found myself on a similarly long queue full of impatient and rowdy fans, who kept on pushing and shoving, their desperation worsening as kick off of the Kenya versus Morocco tie rapidly approached.
I was lucky to enter the stadium through gate three in time for the start and tirelessly cheered Harambee stars throughout the match. It was only when I left the stadium after the match that I learnt that a fan had been trampled to death at Gate two, a few metres from the gate through which I had squeezed into the stadium ninety minutes earlier.
A stampede on any day in Nairobi is deadly but throw in a dose of rainfall and it becomes especially fatal. Anyone familiar with the disorientation that is visited upon Nairobians by rainfall will quickly appreciate how serious an already bad situation must have become upon the opening of the skies, with it's contents emptying into a roofless Nyayo stadium and pouring on rowdy and impatient fans.
Out of this unfortunate occurrence, a transformation must emerge. Impunity must end. No longer should we tolerate such casual admissions like the one attributed to an anonymous FKL official, who revealed that FKL had knowingly used Nyayo Stadium for international matches in contravention of FIFA's safety regulations.
Political expediency scuttled the last serious attempt to refurbish the stadium, whereby the Coca Cola company had struck a deal with the Stadia Management Board to fit the stadium with seats and construct a player's tunnel to link the pitch with the dressing room for security reasons. However, disagreements between politicians and the company over naming rights ensured this plan became a non-starter.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, The Government must initiate a comprehensive programme to refurbish our stadia and promote effective disaster preparedness to ensure that these venues remain the arenas of enjoyment they were meant to be and not the death traps they have become.
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