Officials should be more open

We have many community teams in the Football Kenya Premier League (FKF-PL) and the most visible of them all are the two giants — AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia. These two clubs can serve as the best example of the malaise that bedevils fans and poisons their minds against the people tasked with managing the clubs.

The main issue is usually finances— that is obviously the club’s income and expenditure. Not everybody can do that work, and if all fans were to have a say, then we would have the worst kind of chaos ever witnessed in this country. The officials are usually elected by registered members of the club who pay their dues regularly.

Not all fans of these teams are registered as members. In fact, it is true to say that, for example, Gor Mahia FC have only around 5,000 paid up members. Those elected to manage the club are expected to run it professionally and be transparent financially to all the registered and unregistered fans. This is because the unregistered members are the most important component that keeps the clubs afloat.

The noise after the last week’s “Mashemeji” derby between Gor and AFC about the gate collections should not have taken place at all if the officials were serious about watching their reputation. They were politely asked to just announce how much was collected but they kept mum. They had to be cajoled, coaxed, inveighed against, sweet talked, wheedled, abused and generally be dragged in the mire by being labelled cartels out to feed on the club!

Five days later they announced some Sh2.5 million as the entire gate revenue from the derby. By this time, antennas were high and doubts had been cast in the suspicious minds of the fans. They had multiplied and used square root tables, they had used all formulas learned in schools and their figure was much higher than what was announced officially. Some wide-eyed fans were almost reaching Sh10 million from their private computations. Gor’s Facebook page was very interesting this past week!

It is rather incriminating that with the great developments in pay services, these clubs that are riding on their past history of greatness, striding confidently with simulated strength that masks their real present weakness can be this arrogant to the same fans who they need the most! That in this age and time they still sell hard tickets and collect money as if they are stuck in the 1970s!

Those of us who had paid for VIP seats found ourselves blocked by the largest goons we have ever seen. The bulk of their muscles were at inverse proportion to their cranial capacity and their pushed when they ought to have directed fans, they shouted where they ought to have explained, they rebuked where they ought to have shown some respect! They brusquely threw us out stating that all the seats had been “reserved”! Those weak enough gave them some cash and the seats were immediately unreserved!

Gor Mahia management can do better than what we saw, or else, there could be cartels pilfering the club’s gate collection.

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