Same old story on poor stadiums
Sports CS Ababu Namwamba (centre) together with other officials take an inspection tour of Kinoru stadium on December 2, 2022. He said the Sh915m stadium was substandard and could not host Fifa accredited matches.
What you need to know:
- A decade ago, we thought we were getting out of the murk and we even had midweek floodlit matches at Nyayo National Stadium
- The result is that the country has too many stadiums under construction in perpetuity
- The millions of shillings used is staggering
Sometime in the very early 80’s; there was a football match between AFC Leopards and their arch-rivals Gor Mahia at City Stadium. It was a semi-final clash in the Cecafa tournament. The emotion-laden match ended in a draw and the two teams proceeded to extra time which still failed to yield a winner.
They then proceeded to post-match penalties. The evening was getting darker. The Ingwe goalkeeper Mahmoud Abbas managed to save two K’Ogalo penalties while AFC converted their first two. A Gor player was preparing to take the third penalty but was stopped by the referee. The comedy had begun!
The match officials came to a decision that the rest of the remaining six penalties be taken the next day since it was getting darker by the minute. Gor Mahia wanted the match to be finished while Ingwe emboldened by the advantage agreed with the officials. The final decision was taken. The penalties would be continued the next day at 9am.
The following day, a sulking Gor Mahia never showed up. Leopards did and were awarded the win. The Daily Nation had an iconic black and white photo of the Leopards players leaving the pitch with midfielder Abdul Baraza jumping high, and frozen for posterity.
One would wonder why we take the liberty to delve so deep in the past and whether that past is of any relevance to us today!
Even today, darkness still rules our roost! The stadiums have become even darker than in the 80s. Entitled people have made sure the floodlights do not function at all. Those stadiums are still disregarded by CAF and Fifa. They cannot host any international matches.
A decade ago, we thought we were getting out of the murk and we even had midweek floodlit matches at Nyayo National Stadium. For some flimsy reason, those matches were discontinued and those who stopped them cannot even remember why!
A few weeks ago, this same newspaper boldly put up the photos of the suspects and the people did not even bother to answer or clarify their roles. Nothing will happen to them and they are still rising in the rungs of our political ladder. They are still in power!
The result is that the country has too many stadiums under construction in perpetuity! The millions of shillings used is staggering. We now have matches played in the midweek as early as 2pm. We shouldn’t complain of lack of fans because at 2pm people are still at work.
