Impact or vague complaints? The tale of former Kenyan players

The Kenyan football scene over the last few years has witnessed two contrasting groups of former footballers -- those who only appear in the public with a bag of complaints when the Football Kenya Federation is about to go to the polls, and the group that, in retirement, are now impacting the game positively.

The choice for players has always been whether they will actively engage in football development after hanging their boots or move on to other fields.

But there is a group of past footballers under the banner, Kenya Football Legends Association, whose only complaints is their lack of opportunity to get involved in football leadership in the country. That is their choice.

For those who have chosen to develop the game, success stories are all over with majority having moved on to take up different roles in the sport.

Every time, as FKF approaches the election period, a bunch of former players, who more often than not do nothing for the game other than complain, re-appear from the abyss.

They appear during campaigns and make statements, meant to make them look like they have been in the game, then disappear until the next FKF electioneering period.

These busybodies do not coach anywhere even in their villages. Sadly, some are experts in ranting on social media under the tag of former players oblivious of the fact that their peers, also legends who played at the highest level, have stepped up to attain coaching qualifications.

Some have entered football leadership at different levels, some are part of technical benches in different capacities (coaches, team managers, physiotherapists, goalkeeper trainers), technical directors, match officials, football analysts, video analysts, commentators and sports journalists.

Many legends have made the big step to undertake the coaching and instructor courses and are now positively impacting the game in different capacities.

Just recently, I was shocked to see some of the retired footballers seeking audience with the Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba demanding for FKF elections to be held immediately while we all know there is a process to the polls being held.
One of them said that they have no coaching licences and blamed this on the current FKF leadership.

They claimed that if you don't have a CAF C or CAF B licence you cannot coach a top flight or second tier team and that was affecting the growth of the game in the country.

How do you even start reasoning along that line as a "legend" of the game?

Close to 7,000 coaches from the grassroots level have been equipped with CAF-D to CAF-B coaching courses with two CAF-A classes scheduled before the end of the year since Nick Mwendwa was elected in 2016.

Today, almost every football team from the grassroots to top tier is coached by a qualified coach.

Most of this training has been free or at a subsidised cost especially to former footballers yet the complaining "legends" have been sitting pretty, waiting to make noise when elections are called.

The current FKF leadership knows that former footballers have a lot to offer to the game and that is why they have been offered opportunities to help build the sport.

The success stories featuring former footballers are endless.

From former Harambee Stars captain Musa Otieno (CAF-B licence) to current AFC Leopards head coach Tom Juma, who is a CAF instructor, legends are impacting the game in a transformational way.

Musa has been teaching CAF-D coaching courses across the country making a huge impact to the new generation of coaches.

Anthony "Modo" Kimani was at the tail end of his playing career at AFC Leopards when the current FKF leadership took over in 2016. Kimani took up coaching and has since acquired the mandatory CAF B that has allowed him to coach at Bandari and now Ulinzi Stars in the Premier League.

Zedekiah "Zico" Otieno has taken the same route. Being one of the senior coaches, he registered for the CAF Instructors course and is now among the CAF and Fifa instructors in country.

Zedekiah is among the few Kenyan instructors alongside Francis Kimanzi, Leonard Odipo, Twahir Muhiddin, Jacob 'Ghost' Mulee and Salim Ali who can offer Class D, C and B courses.

The empowerment has not stopped at the men’s game. Since 2016, Kenya’s first professional female footballer Doreen Nabwire has been taking coaching courses besides heading the women competitions at FKF among other roles.

Nabwire is now the head of competitions at FKF while Harambee Starlets coach Beldine Odemba, Florence "Kadwalo" Adhiambo and Jackline Juma are established coaches and instructors.

Bidco United coach Anthony Akhulia, Bernard Mwalala (KCB), Kenya Police assistant coach Salim Babu, Francis Onyiso, Francis Ochola, Elvis "Valdo" Ayany, Nicholas Muyoti, John Baraza have all climbed the coaching ladder at their respective clubs.

It is important to note that all these success stories have only been made possible because of the willingness of the former players to continue to grow the game in their capacities.

Kenn Okaka is a media and communications strategist.