SportPesa’s return a sign of good things to come for Gor
Sportspesa CEO Karauri Ronald (right) and Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier with players at Sarit Centre Expo during the unveiling of their three-year partnership on September 23, 2022.
What you need to know:
- With the promised Sh80 million per year, I am sure Gor is on its way to its former glory days.
- I expect delayed salaries for players to be a thing of the past. I also expect us to retain quality players and the club stops being the rotating door it had turned out to be for players.
I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.
You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you,” says the Bible verse Leviticus 26:6-8.
Now the book of Leviticus in Dholuo is called Tim Jolawi. I suppose that is where my friend Jolawi Obondo got his name from. I will be back on that in a bit.
Three interesting things happened at K’Ogalo this past week — the forced leave of Jolawi, the signing of a new deal with SportPesa and the announcement by Gor Mahia and other teams that they will only take part in a Fifa-sanctioned league.
Now back to Jolawi. The last verse of the Bible that I quoted up there talks of God helping His people chase their enemies out of town.
From the book bearing his own name, the Gor Mahia team manager seems to be the victim of being chased away.
Jolawi was accused of many sins, but the darkest stain seems to have been the allegation that the TM was inciting players against the club management.
“I can confirm that we have sent him on leave but as the Executive Committee, we will not allow him back. Jolawi is part and parcel of the endless insubordination at Gor. I expect rebuttal from some of the senior players but as a secretary-general and club official spokesman, the leave is as good as letting him go,” Gor secretary-general Sam Ocholla was quoted as saying.
I have no evidence of whether Jolawi is guilty of the charges being placed at his doorstep, but if true, then it would be quite a humiliating exit for the man who has been at K’Ogalo for 20 years.
It would be what the military call dishonouraable discharge. My question to Jolawi, if indeed the charges are true, would be, but why?
Now to the good news of the sponsorship. I was thrilled seeing SportPesa chief executive officer Ronald Karauri join the club’s management when the deal was signed.
With the promised Sh80 million per year, I am sure Gor is on its way to its former glory days.
I expect delayed salaries for players to be a thing of the past. I also expect us to retain quality players and the club stops being the rotating door it had turned out to be for players.
It bleeds my heart that the mighty Mahia has turned into a pamby-namby which even journeymen and charlatans wearing uniforms and masquerading as football clubs would beat us casually.
In other words, I want my Gor Mahia back. Thank you Karauri and your organisation. I hope the management will keep its side of the bargain and have ‘Chuor Timbe’ (husband of teams) leave our opponents reeling on the canvas after receiving mighty body blows.
Finally, I am glad that our clubs are putting their foot down and demanding to take part in a recognised league.
I am one of those who was super excited when the Football Kenya Federation Caretaker Committee was formed.
Sadly, the committee has nothing to show for the time and money that has been poured into it.
I guess it is time they called it quits and go back to wherever they came from. Give us our football back! See you next month, folks!
