2011 KPL season kicks off in high gear

Thanks to KPL broadcasting rights holders Supersport, the new local football season promises to be even more exciting. First up is the season opener Supersport Super Cup match-up between 2010 FKL Champions Ulinzi Stars and Sofapaka, the 2010 FKL Cup Champions.

Winners of the cup will pocket Ksh 750, 000 while Ksh 500,000 will be pocketed by the losers. While these are modest prizes, they are a good start nonetheless, considering that previous Super Cups were contested for pride alone, with no rewards whatsoever.

When the first tie of the 2011 season finally kicks off in a week’s time, it shall herald an unprecedented feast of week-after-week live football for Kenyan football lovers, this after Supersport committed to screen close to 90 matches live.

According to Supersport’s head of Africa Service, Gary Rathbone, this will be made possible by the introduction of a second Outside Broadcast van, which will enable the company to broadcast live television matches every weekend, “some of them double headers”.

Additionally, the broadcasts will be spread to cover Mombasa, Mumias and Kakamega, besides the traditional coverage areas of Nairobi, Thika, Naivasha and Nakuru.

The only issue that continues to escape the attention of local fixture masters is that there exists a formidable competitor to the Kenyan Premier league – the English Premier League.

Where a local fan has to choose between watching Manchester United, or Arsenal playing on the one hand, or Ulinzi Stars or Western Stima on the other, which way would the loyalty pendulum sway? You can bet your last dime the English powerhouses would carry the day, any day.

A viable option out of this scenario would be to enhance the midweek match day offerings, and even consider introducing Friday evening match days as well, after all, the Italian and German leagues have been doing this for as long as I can remember.