I hope we don't suffer the pain of 2012 again

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

As soon as I am done writing this article I am rushing to my church, International Christian Centre Nairobi to say a passionate prayer. My prayer will be that the Lord God Almighty saves me from the pain I suffered in 2012 over my beloved Gor Mahia.

I am a bit afraid as I head to church because nearly all the factors lining up today have a unique resemblance to the factors that were at play in that year. However, as I am going to the House of the Lord, I am strengthened by this verse from Psalms 20:7: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”

You see folks on that 11th November of the year of our Lord 2012, the Kenyan Premier League went down to the wire and the winner was to be decided in the last day of the league. Gor Mahia and Tusker were breathing down each other’s neck and one of them was going to earn the diadem.

At the end of the day, Thika United held us to a 1-1 draw at our iconic City Stadium, while Tusker went ahead to thrash City Stars 3-0 and clinch the title. Eleven years later and the pain is still as fresh as if it happened yesterday.

Pictures of grown men breaking down, drenched in tears and crying their hearts out went viral. Some of us too stunned to think straight, stood at the stands at City Stadiums long after the match had ended and players gone home.

As King Solomon tells us in the Ecclesiastes verse I started with up there says, there is nothing new under the sun and so today we find ourselves in similar, yet strange territory. Gor Mahia and Tusker are in a tight embrace heading to the floor for the dance of death.

One of them will lift the title before the sun sets this evening. As in 2012, Kogalo and the brewers are the protagonists. City Stars who played a role in the 2012 high octane drama, are also back, playing the supporting but seriously critical role.

I have spoken to many fans and the feeling of anxiety is way above normal. Going online, I saw a number of Gor Mahia fans were unable to sleep last night. it was that British military genius Duke of Wellington who famously said that It is the night before the battle that is usually most miserable or something to that effect.

He should know better for he is the man who handed the marauding French conqueror the beating of his life at the Battle of Waterloo.

Meanwhile, we are agreed that our boys have not been the picture of class especially in the last days of the KPL campaign. Apart from losing easy matches we should have gladly glided through, the boys have at times taken to the pitch with an amazing sense of casualness.

I understand the ire of the fans who last week threatened to commit grievous bodily harm to the players after their match against Kakamega Homeboyz.

I would also like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to coach Johnathan McKinstry for being with us. But I would advise him to seek mutual separation.