Hockey: Greensharks in turbulent waters as coach urges calm

After competing in Kenya’s top hockey league for more than two decades, Greensharks find themselves in an unfamiliar position.

With a few matches left to the end of the first half of Kenya Hockey Union Premier League, the team is rooted to the bottom of the standings, something that is worrying club chairman Lawrence Oduor.

Sharks are rooted bottom of the league standings with two points from seven matches and are staring at relegation from the 10-team competition.

Founded in 2003, Sharks competed in the lower-tier league and were promoted to the top league a year later.

Oduor reckons they have found themselves in an awkward position but his players are willing to give their all to escape relegation.

“It has been a tough season and as the first leg comes to an end, we hope to collect maximum points so as to give ourselves a fighting chance, and to come back rejuvenated in the second leg. We started the season poorly, and some of our players left. Again most members of our squad have full time jobs, so getting training time has not been easy but we are coming up with mechanisms to deal with that,” he said.

“We haven’t been in that (bottom) position before in previous seasons, and it’s worrying that we might be relegated after playing in the top league for more than 20 years.We are not giving up just yet, we will push to the last whistle and ensure we survive the drop,” he added.

Sharks are left with two matches to play - against Strathmore University and Wazalendo - before the first leg concludes.

Second-from-bottom Kenya College of Accountancy University, who were promoted to the top league alongside Sikh Union last season, have three points from eight matches.

At the end of the season, the top two teams from the second-tier Super League will be promoted to the top league, while the bottom two in the top league are relegated to the second-tier league.

At the top, leaders Western Jaguars, defending champions Butali Sugar Warriors and former champions Kenya Police remain in the race for the title. Jaguars have 19 points from eight matches, while Butali and Police are joint second with 17 points from seven matches, but Butali have a better goal difference.

In the women’s Premier League, former champions Blazers lead the rankings with 15 points from six matches, while Lakers and Strathmore University Scorpions both have 11 points, but Lakers have a game in hand.

At the bottom end, Kenyatta University Titans and University of Nairobi have two and one points from six and five matches in that order respectively.