Former footballer, Arthur Okwemba, was recently operated on his leg which broke in the 1970's at the City Stadium while playing against the Ethiopia national team. In a Facebook post by an enthusiast, Okwemba was pictured showing the leg healing.
It is no clear why the player had to wait for almost 50 years to have an injury mended, but it all points to the fact that those calling for greater player welfare have a point.
It is imperative that delegates look into this issue with the seriousness it deserves as they elect a new Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president. The delegates converged on Nairobi on Saturday to come up with the roadmap for the elections.
Having seen and heard what those yearning to be elected president of the federation, I must say that it is indeed gratifying that these gentlemen (I haven’t seen any woman putting forward her name) all seem to agree that players’ welfare takes top priority.
It is a crying shame seeing men who had done battle for the national flag before living in perpetual penury once they hang their boots.
We have all see them, men battered by life, heads bowed low. When they appear in our local stadiums to watch a match, many of the scouts, being a largely ignorant lot, shove the former players away in the most embarrassing manner.
There have been talks about starting some sort of a welfare organisation to take care of these players. If it exists, then it must be conducting its affairs in the most secretive manner because from where I sit, I am yet to hear anything it is doing.
It is my hope and prayer - and I believe of anyone else interested - that the incoming president will treat this as a top item on his agenda one he settled in at Kandanda House.
The second thing that the incoming FKF president must look into is the number and quality of stadiums we have in the country. In an interview with this writer early this year, former FKF chairman Peter Kenneth said time was running out especially now that Kenya is soon hosting a continental competition.
That the national team Harambee Stars was forced to play its home matches in far away Malawi is something that should make every Kenyan hang their head in shame. How a country that is a sporting powerhouse can fail to have even one stadium to the standards fit hosting a continental match says a lot about the leadership we have in the country.
Talking to many football stakeholders, their major concern is the rampant match fixing which many agree is killing the sport and with it the future of many young men and women who seek to make footballing their sole source of income.
What is needed urgently is a serious fight against match-fixing by formulating policies that can be introduced in parliament for debate and adoption.
United Arab Emirates Kenyan sports journalist Francis Ngira believes that match fixing is cheating, an erosion of morals in an individual involved in it, whether an active sports, a manager, or a fan.
“Match fixing takes away the unpredictable nature of sports, the very reason why we love the game. While our leagues and competitions may not be according to practitioners enough or what they think they are worth, due to years of neglect and mismanagement, we cannot sit aside and watch that state used to excuse the vice. Match fixers as well as anybody who encourages inappropriate contact with the above miscreant gang must be called out and weeded out. Lastly, there’s need for a legislation to criminalize match-fixing and any form of manipulation of sporting events to gain undue advantage. The integrity of our sporting events must be protected to attract investors.”
