tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-608353271536996622024-03-13T04:52:59.983+03:00SportsKenyaIt’s the Final Countdown!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger726125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-42004890053984026422016-06-04T16:00:00.000+03:002016-06-30T22:27:02.245+03:00Muhammad Ali, truly Greatest of All Time<i>Circa 1980</i>: Unease is building across the globe while countries are busy preparing for the Summer Olympics to be held in Moscow. The then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) invasion of Afghanistan a year earlier in 1979, has US engaging its top foreign officials in diplomacy to object to the USSR's actions. It is decided that the Carter administration would procure the services of its biggest sports icon <a href="http://muhammadali.com/">Muhammad Ali</a> to convince African countries to boycott the Olympic Games.<br />
The then Pres.Jimmy Carter hurriedly cobbled up an African Tour for Ali to visit 5 African states including Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya. His reception in 2 of the states - Tanzania and Nigeria was lukewarm given the countries were quietly supporting socialist ideals and did not take Carter's shuttle sports diplomacy kindly. Tanzania's Julius Nyerere <a href="http://gidabuday.blogspot.co.ke/2013/08/muhammad-alis-africa-tour-and-1980.html">refused to meet</a> Muhammad Ali and almost ruined the February trip to Africa. Nigeria's Shagari also gave a cold shoulder to his sojourn.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Muhammad Ali and Pres. Moi at State House, Nairobi, Feb 1980</b> - <i>Image courtesy of Associated Press</i></span></td></tr>
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For Kenya, it was the first and only time they came close to seeing the 'Greatest of All Time' - Muhammad Ali. Then Pres. Moi and his emerging role in the Cold War turf wars in Africa, restored some decency and surety by supporting the US boycott.<br />
The Kenyan trip gave the US some impetus and won them an ally when Kenya's athletes eventually boycotted the Games in Moscow later in 1980. The 3-day trip to Kenya included a visit to the Starehe Boys Centre, as well as an exhibition fight with Kenya's Muhammad Abdallah Kent. Though the African trip did not score a major victory for Ali, it still endeared him to his adoring fans across Africa and other developing countries.<br />
Later that year, he would lose his title to Larry Holmes in his second last year before retiring in 1981.<br />
<br />
<i>Humble Beginnings</i><br />
Ali's walk into the ring started in Louisville, Kentucky where it is rumoured to have found his bicycle stolen. In his anger, he swore to thump the thief and a cop found him and enrolled him to a local boxing gym. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr as he was christened by his parents quickly learnt his art and became an amateur boxer winning the Golden Gloves (6 in Kentucky and 2 National) awards. This led to his selection into the US boxing team for the 1960 Rome Olympics Games, winning light-heavyweight gold medal.<br />
For this young boxer who's unorthodox style of dancing around the ring and speed previously unknown of boxers his weight, he indeed announced his arrival onto the scene. His style would have a spice of his bounce as he sought to tire his opponent and deliver his punches with precision much to the delight of the crowds. He often called out his opponents in the ring, driving them mad and in essence making them lose their minds before delivering the <i>coup de grace</i>. Indeed his was more like a calling to change the way boxing was viewed and seen then.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Ali and The Olympics </i><br />
1960s were a defining era for Clay. Winning the gold medal in Rome was among them. A story is told of how he became angry after being denied service at all-White restaurant resulting in him throwing away his gold medal in the Ohio River. He turned pro in October 1960 amassing an impressive 19-0 fight ( 15 of these being TKOs). In 1964 in Miami, he got his chance to fight the reigning world champion Sonny Liston scoring one of the biggest upsets in the sport.<br />
<br />
In the same decade, he joined the Nation of Islam thanks to the <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/02/25/467247668/muhammad-ali-and-malcolm-x-a-broken-friendship-an-enduring-legacy">influence of Malcolm X</a> and its founder, Elijah Muhammad appropriately giving him the name Muhammad Ali. Having being subjected to the<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Ali & Malcolm X's family</b>- Image Archives</span></td></tr>
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segregation and oppressive forms of social living in some of the States had made him become conscious of his place in society and his role in coming up and speaking out of these social injustices.<br />
<br />
Later that decade in 1967, Ali was forced to retire from the sport thanks to conviction of a federal court which stripped him of the heavyweight titles (WBA, WBC among others). This was after he refused to enlist in the US Army to join the forces in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
<i>Moscow 1980 (again)</i>:Ali's entanglement with the Olympics movement would come again in 1980 when the US Government sought to enlist his services to engage in shuttle diplomacy among African states. His statement on the USSR (now largely Russia)'s invasion of Afghanistan buttressed his role. (In Ali’s estimation of the invastion);<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... the Soviets were:
like a bad child who you’ve told to stay out of the kitchen, stay
out of the cookie jar and if you threaten to strike him, he’ll see
that you’re not really serious and tomorrow he’ll go take another
cookie, or he may break the jar. The Russians have made a move
that we should do something about. So we got to do something to
show them that we’re serious and if we go play ball with them, go
boxing with them, run track or swim with them it just don’t seem
that we’re so serious</blockquote>
<i>Atlanta 1996</i>: The US IOC got the chance to host the Olympic Games in consecutive decades in Atlanta. Come Summer in ATL, and the Games organisers kept everyone guessing who would light up the Olympic Torch ( lit at the start of every Games and put off on the last day of the same). And when the spotlight was shone in the night of 19th July,1996 in Atlanta. It is often noted as one of the Games enduring moments and one of the Olympics of triumph over physical challenges. This ceremony would also mark the last of the major public appearance of the legend.<br />
(<i>He was also re-awarded his 1960 gold medal having lost his original medal</i>)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Ali at Atlanta '96</b> - <i>Image courtesy of www.olympics.org</i></span></td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Africa and Ali</i><br />
Having been a vocal supporter of social injustices, it would only be a matter of time before he connected with the 'motherland'. Well, that may not be entirely true...his African journey came around thanks to the genius of one Don King. Starting out in his role as boxing promoter, Don King had been tasked with securing a venue and money for the fight dubbed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/29/rumble-in-the-jungle-muhammad-ali-george-foreman-book-extract">'Rumble in the Jungle'</a>. The bout also coincided with a music concert organised by Jerry Masucci. As if by fate, the two events were quickly picked by Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo)'s Pres. Mobutu Sese Seko who paid for hosting the fight to shine a spotlight on the state at the River Congo. The music concert dubbed <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/movies/05pare.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">Zaire '74</a> featured among others, Miriam Makeba, B.B King, Bill Withers, The Spinners, Celia de Cruz and King of Soul, James Brown. Local acts include Tabu Ley and his Afrisa International Band, Franco's TPOK Jazz and Cameroonian Manu Dibango.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rumble in the Jungle - Ali vs Foreman Ticket -</span><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image courtesy of www.julienslive.com</span></i></td></tr>
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The fight scheduled for September 1974 was pushed by a month to October, further complicating the logistics for Don King. The Zaire government also refused to pick the music festival's tab prompting new investors to be sought. In the end, all these were forgotten when in the sweltering humid conditions of Kinshasa, Muhammad Ali knocked George Foreman on the morning of 29th October,1974, truly one of the Fights of the Century! <br />
The fight achieved many first being that both boxers were paid in excess of US$ 10 million. Consider too the fight was broadcast across the world (in Africa at some ungodly morning hours), it made the commercial possibilities for pay-per-view which in effect has also led to the diminishing interest in the sport among younger audiences.<br />
The fight also launched the career of Don King who would dominate the boxing promoters' world for the next 2 decades before his <a href="http://grantland.com/features/don-king-faces-end-career/">influence diminishing in the 2000s</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>Ali and the US Govt Hate-Love Relations</i><br />
For his stand and vocal nature, he was always at crosshairs with the US State officials. His first encounter came when he joined the Nation of Islam and associating with the maverick Malcolm X. Though these early encounters were not as often quoted and publicised, they did form a basis of his love-hate relationship with the authorities. Initially following the teachings of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, he did convert to a Sunni Muslim in the 1970s.<br />
His second encounter came in 1966/67 when he refused to be inducted in the Army which was engaged with the communist elements, VietCong in Vietnam. He had been drafted in the Army in 1962 and classified as fit for the mandatory draft in 1966. His defiance represented a first for a sportsman and person of his status refusing to bow to so-called nationalism or patriotism.<br />
His third part is the aforementioned shuttle diplomacy in Africa representing the <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/02/carter-olympic-boycott-1980-103308">Carter administration's proposal of Moscow 1980 Olympic Games boycott</a>. This again was met with mixed feelings both within the US administration and world. While it didn't yield much given 3 countries ended up at the Games, he did play his part in advocating for non-aggression among states.<br />
His fourth and final act of diplomacy with the US Government was in 1990 when he was sought to negotiate with the Saddam Hussein establishment to release US hostages before the Gulf War. By this time, the authorities acknowledged that in Muhammad Ali they had a Citizen of the World who would best serve as a negotiator to a fellow Muslim. He did secure 15 hostages - a less known but significant triumph in the world of diplomacy.<br />
The awards by the Bush administration among others were a foregone conclusion to a career worth noting.<br />
<br />
<i>Louisville Lip:Ali's Quotes</i><br />
A trailblazer in trash-talking, getting into the opponent's head as well as giving press conference journos a wealth of words to note for their stories. Here are but a few of the many;<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion"</blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm so mean, I make medicine sick"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I am the greats, I said that even before I knew I was"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The man who has no imagination has no wings"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up"</blockquote>
<br />
...Truly the <i>Greatest of All Time</i>!<br />
<br />
Find two great pieces of his career and legacy first published by the Daily Nation and The Guardian respectively;<br />
1. <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/weekend/sportsman-becomes-a-cultural-icon-Muhammad-Ali-story/-/1220/3035698/-/f0gj8b/-/index.html">When a Great Sportsman becomes a Cultural Icon</a> by <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/authors/-/1959272/2242834/-/view/asAuthor/-/yjh9tvz/-/index.html">Joyce Nyairo</a><br />
<br />
2. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-sp-fighter-joker-magician?CMP=share_btn_tw">Muhammad Ali: fighter, joker, magician, religious disciple, preacher</a> by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/kevinmitchell">Kevin Mitchell</a><br />
<br />
Sources: <i><a href="http://www.muhammadali.com/">www.muhammadali.com</a></i>,<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali">Wikipedia</a>, www.time.com, Getty Images, Daily Nation, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/us/muhammad-ali---fast-facts/">www.cnn.com</a></i><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-47147279890082357262016-05-24T17:30:00.000+03:002016-05-24T17:30:26.976+03:00With IRB 7s 2015/16 season done and dusted, can we conquer in Rio?<b>IRB 7s Series 2015-16</b><br />
The 3rd weekend of May 2016 was always going to be a momentous one for Kenyan rugby fans, more specifically for the 7s game. Well, after the Singapore and Paris rounds of the <a href="http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series" target="_blank">HSBC 7s IRB Series</a>, the expectations would only get higher. Unfortunately the Kenyan 7s team, affectionately known as the <a href="http://shujaapride.com/" target="_blank">Shujaa Pride</a>, seemed to have run out of steam in the final outing in London's Twickenham Grounds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Bh75bItR50/V0PlaNYACMI/AAAAAAAAE7I/gZJhpc_Ht00LhoYJtt6uzx4nOG0BkONCgCLcB/s1600/Collins%2BInjera%2Bcourtesy%2Bof%2BArigi%2BPhotography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Bh75bItR50/V0PlaNYACMI/AAAAAAAAE7I/gZJhpc_Ht00LhoYJtt6uzx4nOG0BkONCgCLcB/s320/Collins%2BInjera%2Bcourtesy%2Bof%2BArigi%2BPhotography.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collins Injera - <i>image courtesy of www.osbke.com</i></td></tr>
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One <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_Injera" target="_blank">Collins Injera</a> had other ideas though. The winger who is celebrating 10 years since making his debut to the Kenya 7s team topped the tries to become leading try scorer of all time. After passing the previous record of 230 tries, he went on to add 4 more tries on the last day to increase his tries at 235. Below is a list of the top 5 leading try scorers;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Collins Injera (Kenya) - 235 tries;</li>
<li>Santiago Gomez Cora (Argentina) - 230 tries;</li>
<li>Ben Gollings (England) - 220 tries;</li>
<li>Dan Norton (England) -210 tries;</li>
<li>Fabian Jurles (South Africa) - 179 tries.</li>
</ol>
{<i>Special mention too to Humphrey Kayange, Collin's elder brother who is 8th on the rankings with 159 tries</i>}.<br />
Congratulations to Collins Injera and the Kenya 7s team for achieving this feat! Commendable job by the team finishing 7th in the log of IRB 7s teams with 98 points , 1 point less than the highest ever points.<br />
The team came of age this season winning at least 1 of the circuit series in Singapore though they featured in less Main Cup action than would have been anticipated. The team has also been able to withstand initial woes of delayed salaries (though not fully resolved yet). They have also had a fairly common front with the team management. This stability has ensured less rocking and more focus on the team's deliverables.<br />
With the IRB 2015/16 circuit coming to an end, the second half of the tough year starts almost immediately. These include;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Rio Olympics Games </li>
<li>Kenya 7s circuit in the 3rd and 4th Quarters of 2016 (<i>to be reviewed in Sep 2016</i>)</li>
<li>IRB 2016/17 Circuit (<i>to be reviewed in Oct 2016</i>)</li>
</ul>
<b>Rio Olympics Games</b><br />
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Having qualified among the last slots as Africa representatives, the Kenya 7s team saw its resurgence which formed the basis of the current success. However this will be banished first due to its sterling performances making them marked by the bigger teams.<br />
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The success too has meant the team has kept within its current players utilising a minimal number as substitutes along the season. This may again work as double-edged sword as the experience will serve them well. The negative though is the exhaustion from a tough season and the harsh weather in Rio.<br />
<br />
Again the limited pool of players (sic) may hurt the team going from the circuit to the Olympics and onto to the new season 2016/17. No belittling the achievement of the Collins Injeras and Humphrey Kayanges of the team, it is also time new talent gets to step up and take the place.<br />
<br />
The more realistic target would be for a medal bracket - Bronze medal at the worst. Gold and Silver would be ideal but you can lest assured the big boys in Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, fellow African reps South Africa as well as Argentina and USA will be no pushovers for the summer festival of Games.<br />
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Preparations will also be key to how the team performs. Here we invoke the GoK and the sponsors who first need sort out the payments to ensure players are fully remunerated. Being one of the few semi-professional sides in the top 10 of the IRB circuit, the players make heavy sacrifices. Its only fair they get rewarded their hard-earned monies.<br />
<br />
Still relating to preparations, the pre-Games camp will be integral to ensure the team doesn't run rugged in the humid conditions of tropical Rio. Ideally a few days in Mombasa or such a location would mimic the conditions down in Brazil.<br />
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Finally the Olympic team for Kenya under GoK and NOCK supervision would make ours a worthy Games. Previous Games have seen #TeamKenya get a raw deal with arguments over non-essential travel parties ( Sports CS READ THIS) making the Games at the expense of players and essential technical team members.<br />
<br />
Once these are addressed, we can sit and enjoy an entertaining debut of the 7s rugby game in Rio, watching our only team hopefuls for #TeamKenya repping the country. Over to you KRU, GoK and NOCK!<br />
<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-16595615449697049212016-04-18T07:45:00.000+03:002016-04-18T16:42:08.482+03:00Kenya Sevens finally break the duck winning the Singapore Sevens Main CupA shimmy here and dummy there - Sunday 17th April, 2016 marked a watershed moment for Kenyan sport. The Kenya Sevens Rugby team better known as Shujaa overcome current IRB 7s table leaders Fiji 30-7 to win the <a href="http://www.singapore7s.sg/" target="_blank">Singapore Sevens</a> Main Cup.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Take a quick pix- Kenya's Shujaa - Singapore Sevens 2016 champions - <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image courtesy of www.stuff.co.nz</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
Having made two previous main cup finals in 2009 and 2013 respectively, the Kenyan side has slowly been creeping up on the bigger and more favoured teams for awhile. The HSBC IRB 2015-16 season too has been a mixed basket with the Kenyan team with posting a number of strong performances in the group stages only to falter at the quarters of the main cups.<br />
Even in Singapore, the team had started well beating Russia, before tying with Scotland and losing to fellow Africans <a href="http://www.blitzbokke.com/" target="_blank">Blitzbokke</a> from South Africa. Thanks to the other teams falters, the team's determination got its redemption moving into the quarters (against France) and semis (against Argentina).<br />
Collins Injera also won Man of the Match as he also sought to close in on the akk<br />
Not belabouring these points, the team now looks primed to finish in the top 6 places of the HSBC IRB 7s rankings if they are able to reach the semis in the remaining 2 legs in Paris and London. The final position will definitely put Shujaa team in a prime position for a medal place in the Rio Olympics Games in August.<br />
For now though, let's savour the historic win after 140 tournaments, 2 previous finals, we are the CHAMPIONS!<br />
<br />
Here's a sneak peak of how major new outlets reported it;<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/36067269" target="_blank">BBC</a> ;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #121212; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kenya shocked Fiji 30-7 in the final of the Singapore Rugby Sevens to claim their first World Series title. It took Kenya 140 tournaments to finally break their duck and they are only the second African nation after South Africa to win a World Series leg.</span></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12321/10247199/singapore-7s" target="_blank">SkySports</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kenya pulled off a stunning 30-7 victory over Fiji in the final of the Singapore Sevens to capture their first World Series event and join the growing list of contenders for the Olympic gold medal in Rio. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.5em;">The East Africans, who had twice finished runner-up in tournaments, blew the Fijians off the park with six tries in the first-half, including two by Collins Injera who took his career tally to 228 touchdowns, just two behind Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora's world record of 230.</span></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/follow-all-the-action-from-the-singapore-sevens/news-story/7381433cd7fa10a9dd241215567e37c3" target="_blank">FoxSports</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #303030; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.375;">KENYA has stunned the sevens world with an epic upset of Fiji in the cup final in Singapore. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #303030; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6px;">The unfancied Kenyans destroyed the world series leaders 30-7 — delivering the African nation their first major sevens title after losing the cup final in three previous tournaments. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #303030; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6px;">Kenya scored six tries — all unconverted — with stalwart Collins Injera nabbing a double.</span></span></blockquote>
And finally CNN's interview with Collins Injera on his exploits thus far as he tries to breaking the all-time try scoring with CNN's Christina MacFarlane;<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-34173663209508113122016-04-05T08:08:00.000+03:002016-04-05T08:08:56.308+03:00Sports in Kenya – First Quarter 2016 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The first quarter of 2016 is
already up, funny how time flies when we’re having fun…but is Kenyan sport
really have that much fun? January – March there have been a number of
positives to cheer up our common good as a nation (though </span><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Kenya-is-a-cruel-marriage--it-s-time-we-talk-divorce/-/440808/3134132/-/yrd7n0/-/index.html"><span style="line-height: 107%;">David Ndii doesn’t quite believe in this</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;">….). The same period has also seen a number of
disappointing results, pronouncements or lack thereof. Let’s get this started;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Good</span></span></b></div>
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</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">FKF Elections – a new Board of management is running
Kenya’s biggest sport, football. After a number of false starts, it was the
youthful </span><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/football/Nick-Mwendwa-elected-Football-Kenya-Federation-boss/-/1102/3070840/-/2mqv65/-/index.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Nick Mwendwa</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> who
won the day. His base, christened #TeamChange also scooped a number of
strategic positions including the Vice President – giving Kenya her first female
top football official.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dQTnsok31OI/VwNG4HJM6JI/AAAAAAAAE4s/-QEHFofbw2QAEkV2XDskt3mX4O9ecpFZw/s1600/external.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dQTnsok31OI/VwNG4HJM6JI/AAAAAAAAE4s/-QEHFofbw2QAEkV2XDskt3mX4O9ecpFZw/s320/external.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenya's Oscar Ouma against New Zealand's Bonny Williams - <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>courtesy of FoxSports.com </i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Kenya 7s – 2016 started well for the 7s team. In March, victories
against strong nations like New Zealand and Argentina at the </span><a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/31024375/kenya-hammer-new-zealand-at-las-vegas-sevens/" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Las Vegas 7s</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> showing
intent into the team’s aspirations of finishing in the top 6 of the IRB 7s log.
One of the highlights was one Collins Injera clocking his 220<sup>th</sup> try
and now chasing the top try scorer’s position being the only top 3 7s players
with a shot at it. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Kenya’s athletic prowess – world half-marathoners (both </span><a href="http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/world-half-marathon-cardiff-2016-men-kamworor" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">men</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> and </span><a href="http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/world-half-marathon-cardiff-2016-women-jepchi" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">women</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> ) and continental cross-country
champions is what we are! The two teams scored big victories both at individual
and team levels colleting top honours and firmly setting the pace as the world
prepares for an Olympic year. <i>Hongera
wanariadha wetu</i>!</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Motoring whiz – </span><a href="http://www.tejashiraniracing.com/" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Tejas
Hirani</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – if you don’t know that
name, then you don’t know the young genius of a motorsport driver in the
country who’s making it big on the icy and speedy trails in Europe. And as he
says on his link this is “a champion in the making”…enough said! </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sponsorships – the betting companies have been placing
their money where mouths are by signing sponsorship deals with the Kenya
Premier League, top teams in the KPL including AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia among
others. Other corporates have restored some of their sponsorships including
Kenya Airways, Safaricom who put investments in the rugby sport. Golfing
enthusiasts got their annual swings thanks to a raft of sponsorship deals –
including Barclays Bank, MultiChoice, TransCentury among others.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8Hl8dLiiAY/VwNHOu3uHsI/AAAAAAAAE4w/ahaboApHzXkJqB6jpQ30O0eYQlqQ7j64g/s1600/TB70430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8Hl8dLiiAY/VwNHOu3uHsI/AAAAAAAAE4w/ahaboApHzXkJqB6jpQ30O0eYQlqQ7j64g/s320/TB70430.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying Tejas - Kenya's motor-rallying Tejas Hirani - <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">courtesy of www.tejashirani.com</span></i> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bad</span></span></b></div>
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</div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Anti-Doping Bill – if ever there was a time our MPs were
needed to legislate on a Bill before its signed into law, it’s now. But what do
our ‘honourable men and women decide? Blow whistles while others were busy
cheering on the Presidency before going on recess. Now Kenya stares at missing
major athletics events including the </span><a href="http://www.enca.com/africa/kenya-may-miss-rio-games" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">2016 Rio Games</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">…</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Football politics – it didn’t take long for the game to be
back in mucky waters – from the </span><a href="http://www.goal.com/en-ke/news/4522/kenyan-football/2016/02/20/20534492/official-okumbi-appointed-harambee-stars-coach" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">national coach appointment</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">, to the circus that was the national team selection and
ultimately 2 defeats for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. It has also
been an unsteady start to the Kenya Premier League as teams seek to secure
sponsorships, with officials busy scheming how to keep the monies deeper and
for long than pay deserving players and coaches. I mean why did Gor Mahia
insist on </span><a href="http://www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2000185749/pay-cut-i-have-to-ask-my-wife-gor-mahia-coach-frank-nutall" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">reducing former manager’s pay</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> before </span><a href="http://www.goal.com/en-ke/news/4523/kenyan-premier-league/2016/03/07/21092202/gor-mahia-lose-coach-nuttall-to-zamalek" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">he decided to jump ship</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">?</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ugly</span></span></b></div>
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<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">AFCON 2017 Qualifications - K</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">enya’s (placed <a href="http://m.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index,page=3.htmx" target="_blank">103 on FIFA world ranking</a> loss to Guinea Bissau </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">– over 40 places at 147 below Kenya and we couldn’t muster a single goal. The <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-ke/news/7191/gallery/2016/03/28/21756772/kenya-player-ratings-vs-guinea-bissau-who-flopped-in" target="_blank">second game inNairobi ended in a loss of 0-1 </a>though the match was disrupted for 30 min as
Kenyan players disagreed with referee’s decision to award a goal. In the meantime, the team and the venue Nyayo National Stadium faces severe penalties and likely suspension for the indiscipline.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Kenya’s Volleyball q<a href="http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2016/02/15/malkia-strikers-miss-direct-olympics-slot-after-egypt-loss/" target="_blank">ueens loss to Egypt in Rio Games</a> direct qualifications - the team looked destined to book a direct ticket to Rio in August but the Kenya Volleyball Federation officials and team management had other ideas. First the change in personnel bringing in less experienced players was bound to backfire. Secondly the team's preparations were haphazard and the technical aspects not well covered. The only reprieve is that there is one <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/Brackcides-Agala-Janet-Wanja-in-line-for-Malkia-Strikers-return/-/1090/3101980/-/rjel1q/-/index.html" target="_blank">more round of qualifiers to be played next month in San Juan, Puerto Rico</a>. </span></li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-52251837480015933502016-02-23T08:30:00.000+03:002016-02-23T08:30:00.289+03:00No to Rio 2016 ? Zika Virus, Boycotts, Controversies and all that appertains to the Olympic GamesThis year is surely not disappointing with its drama-filled headlines and issues around sport. The biggest one at the moment is the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/zika/"><i>Zika Virus</i></a> which is seen as Brazil's latest hurdle in hosting the largest multi-sports bonanza.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pNBLRpWZnbQ/VstvHUqhW1I/AAAAAAAAAZk/5oGOAmz1pRw/s1600/auto_dalcio133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pNBLRpWZnbQ/VstvHUqhW1I/AAAAAAAAAZk/5oGOAmz1pRw/s320/auto_dalcio133.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rio 2016 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While Brazilian authorities have been battling with polluted waters along the Rio shoreline ( as well as diminishing commodity prices, the <i>Zika virus</i> has shaken the very essence of the Games threatening it with boycotts or no-shows by major sporting nations.<br />
<div>
Many have even brewed conspiracies such as;</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>zika virus</i> as a <a href="http://www.infowars.com/top-expert-zika-virus-a-bioweapon/">bio-weapon</a>;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/03/465339603/what-we-know-so-far-about-sexual-transmission-of-zika-virus">Sexual transmission </a>of the virus; </li>
<li>the <i>virus </i>as a <a href="http://www.thevaccinereaction.org/2016/02/viruses-always-the-easy-scapegoat/">scapegoat</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div>
Whatever the case, the impact of the pandemic will surely be felt at the Summer Olympics to be held in Rio in just under 6 months. Even <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-olympics-kenya-idUSKCN0VI0LK" target="_blank">Kenyan sports administrators have mixed feelings of attending the Games with some calling for tighter safeguards or else</a>, while others insist on participating in the spirit of the Games.</div>
</div>
<div>
Never before have the Olympic Games looked at risk of missing the largest gathering of nations since 1984. Speaking of missing the Games, we shall take a cursory look at some of the Games which either didn't take place or were mired in controversy, leading to boycotts or low attendance.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KmBHvfUyz08/VstvNiuuUNI/AAAAAAAAAZo/_TUhZh56cjE/s1600/1916%2BOlympics%2BGames%2Blogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KmBHvfUyz08/VstvNiuuUNI/AAAAAAAAAZo/_TUhZh56cjE/s200/1916%2BOlympics%2BGames%2Blogo.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1916 Berlin Games logo - courtesy</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<b>1916: The VI Olympiad at the Berlin Games in Germany</b> - with the world tottering towards an arms race thanks in part to the German empire and emerging disquiet in parts of Europe, the Games were not held. This is to avoid endorsement of the German Reich as the Games had suddenly become important social and political platforms. </div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>1940 and 1944 </b><b>XII and XIII Olympiad in </b><b>Tokyo-Japan (then Helsinki-Finland)</b> - by now the dalliance of the Games with political and warring regimes seemed to be buttressed. While Japan had won the rights to host the Games, it got into war with its larger (and by then less developed neighbour) China in the 2nd Sino-Japanese War. The IOC hastily awarded the Games to Helsinki, Finland only for the cold weather to rule the Games completely off. Given the 1940 Games debacle, the World War II meant that no Games were held in 1944, though the Summer Games had been awarded to the Britain's London. </div>
<div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3OweI7D09DQ/Vstvg5mWB3I/AAAAAAAAAZs/zGDwFY3raXM/s1600/Kenya%2BOlympic%2BTeam%2B1956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3OweI7D09DQ/Vstvg5mWB3I/AAAAAAAAAZs/zGDwFY3raXM/s200/Kenya%2BOlympic%2BTeam%2B1956.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Kenyan Olympic team 1956 - image courtesy of Kenya Archives</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<b>1956 XVI Olympiad in Melbourne, Australia ( and Stockholm, Sweden)</b> - these Games had two hosts thanks to the quarantine of livestock and animals meaning the equestrian events - horse jumping were held in Stockholm. The rest of the world or what remained after the boycott of the Chinese Republic, England, Iraq, Lebanon, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland to make a statement of their political positions. See it's a joke when the virus is on the loose.... </div>
<div>
Kenya participated in its first Olympic Games though still as a British colony. This was one year after the establishment of the National Olympic Committee Kenya (NOCK). This would be the only Games that Kenya never won a single medal too (<i>thus far, yaiks</i>...)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>1976 XXI Olympiad in Montreal, Canada</b> - Tanzania managed to rally 22 other African states to boycott the Games ( including our very own Kenyan state). This was due to New Zealand's rugby team the All Blacks tour of South Africa , which was still suspended from the Games due to its apartheid system of governance. This meant the world was denied the exploits of one Henry Rono among other top athletes and sports personalities of that time. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AkROiOHwj5A/Vstv37pML8I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/AB7OTF89yNU/s1600/1976%2BMontreal%2BGames.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AkROiOHwj5A/Vstv37pML8I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/AB7OTF89yNU/s200/1976%2BMontreal%2BGames.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1976 Montreal memento - courtesy of www.olympics.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The Games also were occasioned by one of the largest debts ever to hit host city which was finally repaid 30 years later in 2006. They also had one weird mascot - don't know whether it was a beaver but it surely doesn't inspire much confidence.</div>
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<div>
<b>1980 XXII Olympiad in Moscow, (then USSR)</b> - The height of boycotts had reached its zenith and the US led about 62 nations into boycotting the Games in the Russian city. This was to protest the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan. Although some were in solidarity with the boycott, others were undergoing economic hardships thanks to unstable fuel prices and commodity prices of the late 1970s. The UK was part of the boycott though it sent its athletes under a neutral flag. </div>
<div>
Some of the countries that boycotted the Games ended up participating at the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell_Classic"> Liberty Bell Classic</a> or Olympic Boycott Games - mainly the athletics disciplines. Kenya participated in these and won two gold medals in the 400m ( Billy Konchellah) and 5000m (Kip Rono) as well as silver in the 4 X 400m Men's Relay.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PX8meJuC09s/VstwIf0G1wI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/000od9Mku4I/s1600/Julius%2BKorir%2B1984%2BOlympics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PX8meJuC09s/VstwIf0G1wI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/000od9Mku4I/s200/Julius%2BKorir%2B1984%2BOlympics.jpg" width="146" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Julius Korir -<i> courtesy of sporting-page.net</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<b>1984 XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles, USA</b> - To return the favour for the 1980 Games, the USSR and its 14 'satellite states' including Angola, Cuba, East Germany, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe to name but a few decided to boycott. Though the boycott did not achieve much it also led to a similar parallel Games in the form of Friendship Games - sponsored by one exuberant media magnate in the form of <a href="http://www.tedturner.com/">Ted Turner</a>. Kenya only participated in the Los Angeles Games after coming off an attempted coup in 1982 and a bruising election in 1983. The team's performance was dismal with only one gold medal in Julius Korir's 3000m steeplechase triumph.</div>
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<div>
<b>1988 XXXIV Olympiad in Seoul, South Korea</b> - The tumultuous 80s would mark the last of the Games boycotts but surely not without controversies. North Korea boycotted for not being considered as part-host of the Games. Albania, Cuba, Ethiopia. Madagascar, Nicaragua and Seychelles all boycotted for various reasons. The Games would also be the last that East Germany participated as a single state as it would merge with the West Germany to form the Federal Democratic state of Germany. USSR would also participate for the last time as a union of soviet states as it broke in 1989 after the collapse of the union under Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev.</div>
<div>
Kenya had one of its best outings winning five gold medals including Africa's first ever gold medal in boxing - with the late Robert Wangila Napunyi winning in the welterweight while Chris Sande won bronze in the middleweight. The athletics field had 4 gold including Paul Ereng (800m), Peter Rono (1500m), Julius Kariuki (3000m steeplechase) and John Ngugi (5000m).</div>
<div>
The Games were also marked by the biggest scandal in doping with the positive testing of Ben Johnson who had won the 100m in record time then of 9:79 secs ahead of everyone else. He would be banned for life from the Games. </div>
<div>
The Games also marked the first time an openly gay athlete was forced to disclose his HIV-positive status in rather odd and almost tragic circumstances. Read more on <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/mar/28/greg-louganis-50-stunning-olympic-moments">Greg Louganis's diving exploits at the Olympics</a>. </div>
<div>
<br />
These but a few are some of the many controversies that have dogged the Games. We do hope that this time round there will be no boycotts and the concerns of health and general environmental state of the city of Rio are addressed in time before the Games. Who would want to ruin what would surely be one Samba party to remember? </div>
<div>
<br />
<b>For quick Qs and As on the Zika Virus check out this <a href="http://www.who.int/features/qa/zika/en/" target="_blank">link </a>by WHO. </b></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-22633324339148192472016-01-29T17:02:00.001+03:002016-04-18T16:42:27.914+03:00Kenya Sevens - Seven Top Moments of the Rugby 7s team2016 marks a momentous year for the game of rugby and in particular the shorter version in the Sevens. Taking a look at both the 2015/2016 <a href="http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series" target="_blank">IRB Sevens Series </a>and the Olympic Games in Rio in August, Kenya's team is well-placed to claim its place and maybe rewrite history too...<br />
20 years ago, the Kenya 7s affectionately known as <i><a href="http://shujaapride.com/" target="_blank">Kenya Shujaa</a></i> team journey started in earnest as one of the most exciting and hard-working teams in the rugby series. It also marked a start of its major sporting event in Kenya in the <a href="https://7s.safaricom.co.ke/safaricom/" target="_blank">Safari Sevens</a>. Through this storied past, we have decided to take a sneak peek of the top 7 moments of the game in the last 20 years since it gained prominence in this part of the world.<br />
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<b>[NOTE</b>: <i>This is no scientific list and its given its order more by the chronology of events.]</i><br />
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<b>1. Kenya qualifies for 3rd Edition of Rugby Sevens World Cup (2001) in Argentina</b><br />
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It had taken about 5 years to build a formidable team. The team had played as an invitational team at the <a href="http://www.middlesexrugby.com/competitions/middlesexclub7s/" target="_blank">Middlesex 7s</a>, Commonwealth Games in 1998, as as Dubai and Stellenbosch legs of the inaugural IRB Sevens series in 1999. The Safari Sevens also worked to whip up local team support and appetite for the game, as well as expose the team to opposition of similar experience.<br />
At the third edition of the Rugby Sevens World Cup, Kenya announced its entry into the global stage.<br />
From Africa there were its more fancied counterparts in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Though the team didn't score any victories thus finishing last in the Pool (along with Fiji, Argentina, South Korea, Russia and Ireland), they did play in the Bowl beating France 12-5 before losing in the semis to Chile.<br />
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<b>2. Kenya beats Australia - Hong Kong Sevens (2002) - IRB Sevens Series 2002/2003</b><br />
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Following good outings in 2001 and 2002 in various invitational tournaments and the Commonwealth Games, Shujaa team was slowly cementing its place in the game. In 2002 at <a href="http://www.sevens.co.nz/" target="_blank">Wellington 7s</a> in New Zealand, Kenya caused a major upset topping Australia 15-12. By the end of the IRB series, Kenya was placed in the ninth position finishing within the top 10 bracket.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vbIOlKppafI/VqtofQJuc-I/AAAAAAAAE1E/7Qpw0FHAXlU/s1600/Benjamin-Ayimba-inaction-041203G300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vbIOlKppafI/VqtofQJuc-I/AAAAAAAAE1E/7Qpw0FHAXlU/s1600/Benjamin-Ayimba-inaction-041203G300.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ben Ayimba's a coming for you...<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of www.kenyapage.net</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The performances in this season helped the team's campaign in becoming a core team of the IRB Sevens Series in 2004. The series usually comprises of 15 'core' teams named each season depending on their experience and performance of past seasons.<br />
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<b>3. Kenya finishes joint 3rd at 5th Edition of Rugby Sevens World Cup (2009) in Dubai,UAE</b><br />
Come 2009, the Shujaa team was enjoying a rare era of success despite having a semi-professional team. It had managed to groom some great talent that even one of its players became coach and helped it one of its best seasons ever.<br />
That player was none other than Benjamin Ayimba. Initial skepticism coming from many quarters was quickly vanquished when the team reached 7 out of 9 semi-finals and 1 final of the IRB series. In H. Kayange and C. Injera, the team had two players who came of age and produced try after try.<br />
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In the same year, the Rugby Sevens World Cup was held in Dubai, UAE. They played in a tight pool consisting of England, Tunisia and Hong Kong emerging second. The team scored a major win over Fiji beating them 26-7 in the quarter-finals, before losing out to Argentina in the semi-finals. The team would finish joint 3rd with Samoa. <br />
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These accomplishments saw the team's Collins Injera and Humphrey Kayange awarded the Order of the Golden Warrior (OGW) by the Head of State for their role.<br />
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<b>4. Kenya beats New Zealand AND</b><br />
<b>Kenya reaches Final of </b><b>Wellington Sevens (2013) - IRB Sevens Series 2012/2013</b><br />
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2010 and 2011 were tough years for the team and the mixed performances had the Kenya Rugby Union and sponsors influence the hiring of the management team. On the field though, <i>Kenya Shujaa</i> had by now become a crowd favourite and attracting attention across the series tournaments.<br />
Once again, at the <a href="http://www.sevens.co.nz/" target="_blank">Wellington 7s</a>, the team bested a top seed this time ,the hosts New Zealand in a memorable game. The game ended 19-14 to mark Kenya's first roll into a Final.<br />
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In the final, Kenya was primed to play England - so much for patriotism on the side of coach <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Friday" target="_blank">Mike Friday</a> who's English native. If the semi-final game was a toughee, the final was a cracker and nerve-wrecking affair, requiring extra-time to be decided. And were it not for captain Andrew Amonde and Oscar Ouma being <a href="http://www.hk7s.net/england-vs-kenya-wellington-nz-sevens-2013" target="_blank">sin-binned</a>, maybe it would have gone either way...see below;<br />
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<b>5. Kenya finishes 5th in IRB Sevens Series for 2012/2013</b><br />
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Sterling performance by Kenya Shujaa finishing in its best ever position , 5th in the IRB Series deserves a mention. Given Mike Friday's hard work with the team (we all remember how massive they all suddenly looked even for winger Collins 'Collo' Injera who had a tough season with the <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/rugby/Sevens-coach-Friday-says-Injeras-contract-still-cancelled/-/1106/1707700/-/154k8wm/-/index.html" target="_blank">cancellation of his contract</a>).<br />
There were suddenly vested interests in the game some being from the Board and also the interference with the management and contractual issues. This notwithstanding the team put in its best boot forward.<br />
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<b>6. Kenya finishes 4th in 6th Edition of Rugby Sevens World Cup (2013) in Russia</b><br />
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The team's performance in the IRB series meant the team was girded with positive energy going into the Luzhniki stadium, Moscow, Russia. The most outstanding had winger <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Ambaka" target="_blank">Willy Ambaka</a> being voted into the IRB Series for 2012/13 Dream Team. Pool C pitted Kenya against Samoa, African rivals-Zimbabwe and Philippines. The team topped the pool and advanced to the quarters beating France 24-19. Once again Mike Friday's charges were to face a familiar foe, England. It was another closely-contested game ending 12-5 for the English.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tRjfAdrTbJg/Vqto3TthvGI/AAAAAAAAE1M/2-rAC61omsU/s1600/418489-kenya-v-nz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tRjfAdrTbJg/Vqto3TthvGI/AAAAAAAAE1M/2-rAC61omsU/s320/418489-kenya-v-nz.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willy Ambaka whizzes past a New Zealand player - <span style="font-size: xx-small;">image courtesy of AFP</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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With the team seemingly disappointed to have to play in the third-place play-off, they lost 29-5 to the Fijians. What was worse was the how the management were treated with Friday tendering his resignation as the obnoxious now became putrid. His departure marked the end of a fairy tale season and downward trajectory of the team for the next two seasons.<br />
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<b>7. Kenya qualifies for Olympic Games in Rio (2016)</b><br />
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Having endured a rough 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, the Kenyan team had one last chance to redeem itself. The change of technical bench from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Treu" target="_blank">Paul Treu</a> to former international <a href="https://twitter.com/felixtotty" target="_blank">Felix Totty Ochieng</a> had not brought back the spark to the team's performance. Many even started questioning if the team still deserved to be accorded the 'core team' status. It was a trying time indeed with the 2015 Safari Sevens - which usually serves as a warm-up to the team's IRB series - having the lowest attendance ever in recent times. Tournament sponsor Safaricom had earlier in the year withdrawn its support meaning the 7s circuit was a dour affair leading to the scenario described above in the Safari Sevens.<br />
The 2014/15 season was used to select automatic qualification to the 2016 Olympics. This was given to the top 4 teams at the end of the season. Kenya missed this badly and had to settle for the African Olympic qualifiers. <br />
A few positives though were the return of Richard Omwela to head the Kenya Rugby Union. Choosing to go retro and nostalgic the Board chose Ben Ayimba to steady the ship. The team also had a mix of talent bringing on board tested players as well as grooming the new talent for the 2015/2016 busy season.<br />
In the Final of the qualifiers, Kenya faced arch-rival Zimbabwe. The latter looked like they had secured the place scoring a try in the dying seconds, almost putting the game beyond Kenya's reach. However a moment of inspiration from speedy Dennis Ombachi saved the day and as they say the rest is ....watch below;<br />
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<b>Quick Notes</b>:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Kenya Rugby Union officials have indicated <a href="http://www.ragahouse.com/contracts-for-kenya-7s-now-ready-omwela/" target="_blank">they have worked on the players contracts</a> and they can rest easy as they play in the Series for 2016.</li>
<li>Collins Injera will be chasing more tries seeking to catch Argentina's Santiago Gomez's tally of 230 tries and England's Ben Gollings 220 tries.Possible? Who knows...</li>
</ol>
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<b><i>Semper fortis Kenya Shujaa !!!</i></b><br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-85884068255226490112016-01-19T19:01:00.000+03:002016-01-20T07:46:29.435+03:00Sports Betting Landscape in Kenya <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">By SK and <a href="http://panoramicdon.com/">PanoramicDon</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">{This blog post is done as a collabo of two bloggers, SportsKenya and
Panoramicdon and shall appear in the respective blogs. It has been a work in
progress and not in any way a duplication of previous or current posts in other
blogs. Where possible we have attributed the posts that stood out on the same.
We welcome your views and experiences in this and seek your indulgence for the
next few minutes…Enjoy!}<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K-eRwUYvNjY/Vp5Xw_qn0JI/AAAAAAAAAY8/-BRLZE6Ix2M/s1600/sports_betting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="152" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K-eRwUYvNjY/Vp5Xw_qn0JI/AAAAAAAAAY8/-BRLZE6Ix2M/s320/sports_betting.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of sports_betting</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Intro, Overview, Legal Framework</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sport betting is a phenomenon
that is quickly gripping Kenya. A university student, <i>matatu</i> tout, young professional, <i>boda boda</i> guy, retiree and watchman are all united in anxiety and
joy or sorrow depending on the outcome of a sporting event for which they
placed a bet on. Some might wonder why it took so long but the multi-billion
dollar sport betting industry is now firmly established in Kenya and steadily
growing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Unlike a number of African countries,
Kenya has been quite liberal with gambling from independence. The Betting,
Lotteries and Gaming Act was enacted in 1966 and has been the legal framework
governing the industry since then. The Constitution of Kenya (2010) partly
devolved the function of ‘betting, casino and other forms of gambling.’ Both
levels of government were given this mandate but there has been no subsequent
legislation from both houses of Parliament to determine which specific function
will be performed by which level of government. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Betting Control and Licensing
Board (BCLB) was established by an Act of Parliament Chap 131 Laws of Kenya in
1966. Prior to the Act, the functions of the board were handled by the Kenya
Police Department<span style="color: red;">. </span>The BCLB has been licensing
and regulating betting, casinos and other forms of gambling. The BCLB Act provides for the control and
licensing of betting and gaming premises such as casinos and any other forms of
gambling. It also provides for the authorization of lotteries and prize
competition as well as eradication of illegal gambling. Through these
mechanisms, the Kenyan government has managed to protect and safeguard the
public and third parties from unscrupulous betting operators while also
providing certain mandatory requirements relating to licensing, ticketing, and
submissions of returns, bookmaking and totalizing. Several betting
organisations have also been established. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For a number of years though the
gaming and betting industry had seen its growth falter but has turned around in
the last 5 years making it viable for
employment and revenue generation with renewed dynamic advertising and
stringent State supervision. The Kenyan government continues to play a key role
in the legal administration and regulation/controlling of betting activities in
Kenyan sports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">With the new constitution enacted
in 2010 and 2013 elections which led to the establishment of devolved units of
governance, Governors naturally wanted the application of the devolved function
so as to tap on this potentially lucrative revenue source. There has however been
a conflict of opinion between the Council of Governors and the Betting Control
Board over licensing and regulation of gambling in specific jurisdictions. The
Board argues that there is some security element to gambling hence the reason
why BCLB is domiciled under the Ministry of Interior. The gambling industry has
been known to attract organized criminal groups due to the massive profits of
the industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The disagreement between the two
levels of government necessitated the Transition Authority to form an
Inter-Agency Committee as mandated by law to try and find a way out of the
impasse. In the interim, the national government continues license and regulate
lottery and gambling activities in the country through the BCLB. County
governments were given a ‘supervisory role’ and allowed to license business
premises for national lotteries. Counties were also given temporary mandate to
issue pool table permits in their jurisdictions. An inter-agency technical
committee was formed in August 2015 to help resolve this issue and in the
interim the national government will continue in its role to license and
regulate casinos and other forms of gambling with the counties having only a
supervisory role. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sports Act<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Another Law is the Sports Act No.
25 of 2013 It states as follows in Part III -11 of the Act on the Establishment
of the National Sports Fund,</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“<i>Into the Fund all the proceeds of any sports lottery, investments and
any other payments required by this Act to be paid into the Fund</i>”</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It has also mentioned as one of
the functions of the Board of Trustees, part III-17<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(d) “<i>Raise funds through sports lotteries, investments and any other means
and disburse the funds for the development of sports and recreation</i>”</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(f) “<i>In relation to the national sports lottery, ensure that any lottery
carried out for the purposes of the Fund complies with the relevant law</i>”</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As well as the advisory role of
the Trustees to the Cabinet Secretary as noted below;</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(g) “<i>Advise the Cabinet Secretary on the establishment and implementation of
a social responsibility programme in respect of the national sports lottery and
any other matter relating to the national sports lottery which the Cabinet
Secretary may require advice</i>”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These clauses in the Sports Act
of 2013 give credence to the potent of sports betting and ingrains this to the
National Sport Fund hoping to generate a benevolence of sorts to the country’s
first sports kitty. If fully operationalized, it would help ease the taxpayer’s
burden of funding sports teams during national duty, invest in some sports
causes and hopefully set up some basic sports infrastructure where possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aWcf0e6GtOo/Vp5YRP064fI/AAAAAAAAAZI/ex1AwjBqgV4/s1600/Football-Betting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aWcf0e6GtOo/Vp5YRP064fI/AAAAAAAAAZI/ex1AwjBqgV4/s320/Football-Betting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Who wins what, where and when - image courtesy of www.sportspick.info</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Popularity of Sports Betting in Kenya</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sport betting has not always been
this popular in Kenya. Aside from horse racing at Ngong’ racecourse, you had to
go to some betting house at Odeon to place a wager on sport events until
recently. The most popular lottery then was the <a href="http://kenyacharity.com/en/home/index.html">Kenya Charity Sweepstakes</a>
with its out-and-out and extensive network of agents across the country. However
this monopoly was diminished with the growth of the mobile telephony and use of
mobile money payments, which eased the placing and payment of bets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The popularity of the English
Premier League, a growing middle class with disposable income and a favorable
legal framework meant the necessary conditions were in place for the growth of
sports betting in the country. In about a decade, mobile phones got to every
corner of the country with it - mobile money and easier access to the Internet.
Betting firms now have the means to reach all corners of the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What was once a potentially
lucrative industry with limited reach, can now be accessed by any Kenyan with a
mobile device. Everyone now wants a piece of the pie. Sport betting companies
have been quickly setting up in the country under a blitz of publicity. They
have done their homework and know that of the ‘exposure effect’ where people
are more likely to gamble if exposed to some form of gambling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">3 .<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Brief Review of the top 4 Betting Companies
in Kenya</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Having seen the sports betting
space grow by leaps and bounds in the last 3 years, we shall profile the main
players in this space.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">a) </span><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj0wPXjlrXKAhUDuRQKHd0PA7sQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportpesa.com" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">SportPesa</a> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">-This is the current undisputed ‘king’ of sports betting in Kenya,
appropriately named SportPesa (</span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">maybe to
ride the mPesa wave…???..</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">.), has over 1,000,000 registered users, with over
half those users being active monthly users. The holding company is the Pevan East
Africa Limited, having launched in Kenya in 2013. This platform has managed to demystify
sports betting by taking advantage of mobile phone payments among a range of
channels to reach the widest and most remote audiences in the country. The
company has leveraged its position by making major sponsorships of the Kenya
footballing league (</span><a href="http://www.soka.co.ke/news/item/1192-sportpesa-unveils-four-and-a-half-year-kpl-sponsorship" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Kenya
Premier League</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> renaming it to ‘SportPesa Premier League or </span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The SPL</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">’) and </span><a href="http://www.futaa.com/football/article/sportpesa-to-sponsor-super-8" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">the
Super 8 tournament</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> to its stable. The company’s CEO is one Captain Ronald
Karauri (</span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">son of former Kenya Football
Federation honcho Matthew Adams Karauri, fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree…</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Besides
sponsoring the local league, it has also exploited the love of Kenyan football
fans of the English Premier League to appeal to all and sundry. It also allows
betting on UEFA Champions League and Europa League too. Predictions on other
European Leagues are also permitted as are basketball, tennis and rugby league
games. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The well-oiled
machine has been able to bring on board all major mobile telcos and media
houses to help it push across a wide discerning public. It also has the major
media houses to count as its partners. The company’s marketing and PR have also
been on a major blitz for some time now with concerts (such as the <a href="http://musicinafrica.net/top-kenyan-talent-converge-second-sportpesa-festival">SportPesa
Festival</a>) and other forms such as outdoor publicity giving it top-of-mind
presence over other sports betting platforms. It has used some of the well-known
local music artistes such as Wyre to push their brand to the youthful populace.
It runs a news site <a href="http://www.sportpesanews.com/">www.sportpesanews.com</a>
aggregating football news from across major leagues of the world. Its site <a href="http://www.sportpesa.com/">www.sportpesa.com</a> was ranked among the top
10 most visited websites in Kenya year ending December 2015. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Check their
tweets via Twitter handle <b><span style="color: #00b0f0;">@SportPesa</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">b)</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="https://www.betway.co.ke/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Betway Kenya</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – operating under Jambo
Marketing Limited, the sports betting platform is more famous across the seas
being a principal sponsor of EPL team West Ham United. The ‘</span><a href="https://betway.com/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Betway’</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">
brand is managed globally by Maltese and Guernsey-based Betway Limited. It is
the leading sports betting platform in the UK and is hoping to leverage on the
English connection to reap big in Kenya. It officially launched in Kenya in
July 2015 after issuance of the BCLB license.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Among the other
betting platforms, it would boost of some worthy international appeal having
cut its teeth in the UK and other European markets. It boosts of major
sponsorship deals including the West Ham United, Premier League of Darts (UK)
–one of the biggest sport there, snooker, tennis and horse-racing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In August 2015,
it courted controversy after it emerged that <a href="http://www.mediamaxnetwork.co.ke/people-daily/162546/youth-lobby-petitions-nkaissery-to-revoke-gaming-licence/">majority
ownership is held by British and South African nationals</a> as well as <a href="http://www.ipsos.co.ke/NEWBASE_EXPORTS/Telecoms_Others/151210_The%20People%20-%20Thursday_8_a8b51.xml">breaching
its license by using mobile phone platforms</a>, after implying it would be an
online gaming one. This may have led to its cautious approach to the local
scene. It is yet to make as much traction in Kenya but we can only guess it
will be in this for the long haul once it is able to master the mobile phone
and offer a distinguishing feature and service to the other sports betting
platforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You can follow their updates on Twitter using
<b><span style="color: #00b0f0;">@Betway_KE</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">c)</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="https://web.betin.co.ke/Sport/Default.aspx" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">Betin Kenya</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – this
platform is managed by GamCode company incorporated in Kenya and with links to GoldBet
Group, one of the largest betting and gaming operators in Africa and Europe. It
has online operations in Europe and is said to be the largest operator in Italy
with over 1,000 retail shops. Besides
Kenya, it also operates in in Nigeria under the brand name “Bet9ja” which has
over 3000 shops in the expansive West African country. It also operates in
Uganda as Betin Uganda for sports betting for both online and offline sports
products, having acquired the national lottery license to exclusively operate the
‘Play Lotto’ brand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Plans are
underway in Kenya to roll out the setting up of retail shops across the
country. This betting platform specializes on online betting but also uses
mobile devices. Its main distinction is the multiplicity of sporting
disciplines to bet on including football, basketball, tennis, hockey, athletics,
horse racing and even dog racing. It also incorporates an online casino and
virtual sports betting (the latter being same as other sports betting
platforms). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Though not
explicitly stated, it may have links to the Curacao-based Betin.com. For their
tweets, check out the Twitter handle <span style="color: #00b0f0;">@<b>BetinKenya</b> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">d)</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="https://betyetu.co.ke/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">BetYetu</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – is a platform run by Oxygen 8 East
Africa. It also has Standard Group as one of its main partners. However the
site has been having capacity challenges of late, making access difficult when
users decide to log on to place their bets. Their focus is mainly on football,
basketball and tennis. Along with one other sports betting platform, they seek
to address responsible gambling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You can follow
their tweets at <b><span style="color: #00b0f0;">@BetYetu</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">e)</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="http://www.mcheza.co.ke/en/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">mCheza</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – this is the latest entrant into
the Kenyan sports betting act. Represented by one Peter Kirimi, the company
launched with razzmatazz in December 2015. The holding company is Acumen
Communications Limited with the global partner being Greek-based </span><a href="http://www.intralot.com/content/148/sports-betting-management" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Intralot</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">,
through its sports betting management arm. Among its directors is former media
personality Julie Gichuru.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Given its being
the most recent of the sports betting companies, it has managed to build some
buzz around its brand. It has also enlisted some leading media personalities
and uses their tweets on the mCheza brand to reach Kenyan social media users. It
also sponsored the Sports Personality of the Year Awards –SOYA to the tune of
KES 3 million to show its willingness to play in this space. It has a war-chest
of about KES 1.5 billion to grow its fledging business in Kenya. There are a
number of sports disciplines which one can bet on including; football,
basketball, baseball, American football, boxing, cricket, rugby, motorsport and
golf. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You can follow
their tweets <b><span style="color: #00b0f0;">@mCheza<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Other leading
sports betting platforms worth mentioning include;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><a href="http://www.elitebetkenya.com/login.php">EliteBet
Kenya</a> ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><a href="http://www.justbet.co.ke/">JustBet</a>;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><a href="http://lucky2u.co.ke/">Lucky2U</a> and <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><a href="http://www.kenyasportsbet.com/">Kenya
Sports Bet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Another blogger, Bankelele had
profiled the sector in a 2-part series of <a href="http://bankelele.co.ke/2015/12/sports-betting-comes-of-age-in-kenya.html">Sports
Betting Coming of Age in Kenya Part 1</a> and <a href="http://bankelele.co.ke/2016/01/sports-betting-comes-of-age-in-kenya-part-ii.html">Part
2</a> for more details on how to play and participate in the respective sports
betting platforms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>4.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b></span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> Problems of Gambling and Sports Betting</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Betting is not universally legal
due to negative effects that it may have on individuals and the society. Top of
the list of problems is addiction where some become compulsive gamblers. Sport
betting is considered a skill-based form of gambling as opposed to a pure game
of chance. Punters place bets with their choices advised by accumulated
knowledge of a sport. While this is true to some extent, the element of luck is
very much present with bets placed on such niche categories like number of
corners and goals scored after a certain minute, among others.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">While majority of gamblers will
indulge without getting hooked, a small number will suffer from the worst of
gambling addiction. Problem gamblers become so engulfed in gambling that they
basically cease to exist as socially-functional human beings. Cases of debt,
financial ruin, theft, job losses, ruined relationships and even suicide have
been reported among compulsive gamblers who must indulge regardless of harm
done to self or loved ones. The former Arsenal and Scottish striker John
Hartson was a high profile case of addictive sport gambling and he considered
his fight against gambling bigger than his cancer fight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The question for Kenya therefore
is how do we identify problem gamblers and what measures will be put in place
to cater to them as sport betting grows exponentially. In other civilizations,
part of the revenue from gambling is used to fund social facilities that offer
help to problem gamblers. Victims of gambling addiction have been known to
recover with treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The threat of the gambling
industry being infiltrated by organized criminal groups is also a problem to
contend with. The American <i>mafia</i>
helped transformed Las Vegas from an unfavorable desert town to the Mecca of
gambling after seeing the lucrative nature of the industry in Batista’s Cuba. The
<i>mafia</i> would bribe law enforcement and
judicial officials and made huge amounts from the industry. For decades, the
mob ran the gambling industry in the famous desert city but were eventually
chased out of town in the 1980’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In modern times, organized crime
has continued to reap from sport betting. In wanting to control the outcome of
games and therefore maximize on revenues, criminals have been known to bribe or
coerce players to commit certain actions on the field during play. Match fixing
is a big problem that has affected most professional sports. Interpol has been
going after these shadowy rings that transcend international borders with mixed
results. How Kenya will address such challenges if they manifest themselves in
the years to come will be something to watch out for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Betting in Africa and rest of the World<o:p></o:p></b></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Going further afield in Africa,
sports betting is biggest in South Africa where the country’s
multi-disciplinary acts in rugby, cricket, football, and athletics makes it a sports
punt’s playfield. A PwC report on Gambling Outlook released in 2014 shows that
sports betting accounts for about 13% of the gambling revenues. It includes
book-making and pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing and other sports events.
Online wagering for sports is also allowed, being the only form of online
gambling permissible in South Africa. The revenues of sports betting were estimated
to be in the region of 3.9 billion rand last year and projected to grow to 4.05
billion rand in 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hlM51MZ4Jqg/Vp5Y-C_J4tI/AAAAAAAAAZU/DaeUCxDZELI/s1600/120415_Africa-Money-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hlM51MZ4Jqg/Vp5Y-C_J4tI/AAAAAAAAAZU/DaeUCxDZELI/s320/120415_Africa-Money-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Africa's winning - image courtesy of www.africanleadership.co.uk</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The growth of sports betting in
South Africa got a boost from the country hosting major tournaments including
the most recent 2010 FIFA World Cup. The country’s participation too in major
sporting events in cricket and rugby world cups have helped keep sustained
growth over the same period. A mature horse racing segment has also aided
expand sports betting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In West Africa, Nigeria is the
most attractive market with its expansive economy and the growing middle class.
Sports betting started in earnest in 2007 with the success of the local Nigeria
football league. Due to infrastructural challenges, sports betting is still
largely offline but fast moving too to the mobile platform. This is
supplemented too with the expected growth of online betting as the Nigerian
Communications Commission predicts at least over 50 million of its citizenry
accessing the Internet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Nigerian government has also
made the entry fee fairly prohibitive fee of US$ 5,000 for a gambling license.
However the use of mobile telcos has made it a potential sector for growth as
seen by the number of local and international sports betting companies set up
in the last 5 years. These include <a href="https://www.stakersden.com/soccerjackpot/">Stakersden Soccer Jackpot</a>
working in partnership with mobile telco Etisalat, <a href="https://www.nairabet.com/">NairaBet</a> and <a href="http://www.bet9ja.com/">Bet9ja</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Indeed Africa remains an
attractive haven for sports betting and gaming with 3 conferences planned this
year alone on the same, starting with <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="http://www.intergameonline.com/events/669/sports-betting-north-africa-sbna-2016" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Sports
Betting North Africa</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 27</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 29</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> January 2016 in
Marrakesh, Morocco;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="http://www.sportsbettingevents.com/contact-us.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Sports Betting East
Africa</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 16</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">- 18</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> May , Nairobi, Kenya;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sports Betting West Africa – 18</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">- 20</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">
July , Accra, Ghana;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><a href="http://www.bigafricasummit.com/" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Big
Africa Summit</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 24</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 26</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> October, Cape Town, South
Africa.</span></li>
</ul>
</span><ul>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To name but a few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Future of Sports Betting</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Indeed sports betting is here to
stay in most of the African countries including Kenya. With the sports industry
enjoying a modest growth both at local and continental level as well as the
availability of mobile and online technologies to leverage global best
practices, the trend can only be upwards. There have been fears of alleged
criminal links with online sports betting being used for money laundering in
other parts of the world, thus African countries will be targets too. The same
would go for online fraud as most of the online and mobile platforms are not as
secure as would need be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There are also fears created by
the blitz of advertising to the adult population which then makes it attractive
to a younger audience. This becomes tricky since there are large number of
people under eighteen are being given access to mobile devices by their
parents, guardians and friends. It would be interesting what the advertising
and marketing regulatory bodies would say to this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Match-fixing and similar
allegations have been made to many an African sports disciplines, all in the
name of helping game-fixers win a larger purse. These actions would impact
local leagues and games and as such relevant bodies need exercise vigilance to
check against match and game-fixing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On the positive note, the
expansion of sports betting has offered opportunities for mobile money, virtual
currencies such as bitcoins among tech developers making it attractive for them
to develop sturdy solutions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sports betting has also seen job
creation through the different channels that the sports betting have sought to
spread their products. Beyond the agents and corner shops, one can become an
agent just by the mere ownership of a mobile device. This is also an
opportunity for sports punters and analysts to reap on helping and placing bets
for themselves and their friends, remember Nate Silver?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sports betting has also given
marketing and ad companies opportunities to appeal to the widest of masses as
they seek to grow this. Kenya is one example where in the space of 3 years,
over 5 sports betting companies have launched and consistently engaged in such
services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On a broader perspective, the
contributions from sports lotteries to the national sports fund kitties will
help develop sports both a local and national level. It will seek to legalize
and mainstream what would otherwise be illegal activities escaping State
scrutiny. Kenya and South Africa vibrancy in the same represents a way forward
into attracting and growing sports betting. This being another big sporting
year, we can only wait to see what opportunities will come and the next
milestone in sports betting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-12390230543025380612014-08-04T09:30:00.000+03:002014-08-04T09:30:01.416+03:00Commonwealth Games - Glasgow : Kenya's Gold, Bleed and Ugly 2014 and it is exactly 60 years since a Kenyan sports personality made it to any international sporting event! And this event was the Commonwealth Games in 1954 ( had previously been known as British Empire Games).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C0JYJTbCRzg/U964weCyy2I/AAAAAAAAEZU/OJAFfybjhiI/s1600/glasgow_2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C0JYJTbCRzg/U964weCyy2I/AAAAAAAAEZU/OJAFfybjhiI/s1600/glasgow_2014.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Glasgow 2014 -<i> image courtesy of glasgow.com</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With such rich heritage and a storied past, the 2014 edition ought to have been a done deal for Kenyan sport but alas! It is another skewed performance from a contingent of 169 athletes and officials. A misnomer of the Commonwealth Games is that fierce competitors, Ethiopia and other North African countries do not participate.<br />
But even without these countries, Glasgow exposed the scope of Kenya's famed athletes. Out of the 13 disciplines, only 3 managed to get to the podium.<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Stand-Outs:</u></b></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ol>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">Julius Yego</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Javelin Gold standard – first ever field event Gold
medal in major c’ships. Even without proper training facilities and technical support he keeps getting better;</span></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xk6pljizCG8/U964_f-d_bI/AAAAAAAAEZc/JaYfJQbfwiQ/s1600/JuliusYego.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xk6pljizCG8/U964_f-d_bI/AAAAAAAAEZc/JaYfJQbfwiQ/s1600/JuliusYego.jpg" height="178" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Julius Yego - Golden Throw - <i>www.getty.com</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
2. <i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">Eunice Sum</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 800m – she's the reigning world champ and she turned up for the another sterling performance;</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">3. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">Caleb Ndiku</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – 5000m – coming of age, he was named 2010 SOYA
most promising athlete and showed why. Exit Ezekiel Kemboi too we have another performer...</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Disappointments:</u></span></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i></i></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>David Rudisha</i> – 800m Silver - World/Olympic
champ & WR holder, we expected nothing short of Gold, even with a poor season so far;</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">Jason Dunford </i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">– Swimming - he finally admitted
frustrations/lack of Kenya's Swimming Federation support ( and no officials are sacked..???);</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"><i>Kenya 7s team</i> – after finishing 2</span><sup style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">
in the table standings in the preliminaries, they met their match in New Zealand who ended our first rugby Commonwealth medal chances</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Special Mentions:</u></span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><i></i></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"><i>Conrad Nkanata</i> – US-based sprinter – finished 3</span><sup style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">
in his 200m heat, with proper training he can be a future sprinter;</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">Benson Gicharu</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Boxer – even with time running
out for his amateur boxing career, he is still punching it out at major sports
events</span></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kenya Sports (Mis)management:</span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The charade of Kenyan officials in managing the team
continued. First it was delayed allowances due to athletes. Second was the kit
issue with missing or delayed kit to Team Kenya. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Third was late accreditation which meant
missed attendance by cyclist, David Kinjah among others. Fourth and it’s truly
out of personal frustration was lack of technical/financial support as well as
favouritism in team selection. These last were raised not just by
non-traditional disciplines but also swimmers such as Jason Dunford who may
have had his swansong representing the country in any sport.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlZJJeOR7EY/U966UwLPAgI/AAAAAAAAEZo/bGfJ5PpZGgk/s1600/tumblr_n9nk43olJd1rqkjy0o1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlZJJeOR7EY/U966UwLPAgI/AAAAAAAAEZo/bGfJ5PpZGgk/s1600/tumblr_n9nk43olJd1rqkjy0o1_500.jpg" height="186" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Golden Girls - 3000m s'chase Kenyan trio</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We have said this before and shall repeat it for the
umpteenth time. Kenya’s sport management needs to change RADICALLY! </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;">Why have more than 10 disciplines and only 2-3
have any chance of winning medals? Can more investment be made on a few of
these or if all disciplines are represented, get proper exposure to have
winning chance(s).</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kitting</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– what business goes on with kit which has been acquired for national duty? Why
should some official conveniently forget to order this in time? Other times
they issue it to non-participants or stock it in local shops. Sponsors should
also review such misdemeanor and cancel contracts for misallocated kits.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Allowances</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– we saw the embarrassment of African teams in World Cup. It did not even take
a month before our own officials replicated that same template. Why should
individual be charged with responsibility of managing team finances? In future
all participants should supply account details and monies sent direct to them
like regular pay.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Size of
squad</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – how many officials are really needed to attend international events
even when their disciplines have no chance of winning a bronze medal?
Participation should be on how successful a sport is at regional, continental
or international duty.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Technical/Financial
details</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – for most disciplines Kenya has lost a semblance of international
standards. From boxing, swimming to even some athletics events, the edge of
advances in technical knowledge is lacking. Spotlight is on sports federations’
internal wrangles and lack of international best practice to compete at such
levels.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
As usual we shall be treated to excuses and made to forget what has become perennial under-achieving by our national team(s). As a nation,we need to demand accountability from those in charge of our sports bodies. The Government must also stop playing deaf and be more forceful in getting officials to straighten their act. </div>
<div>
It is no wonder that most athletes prefer running in Grand Prix events, others opting to quit even before their prime as a frustrated lot. See what is happening to the football fraternity? </div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-78790306983094395632014-05-28T13:00:00.000+03:002014-05-28T13:00:00.877+03:00Sports Law Pioneer @SnoLegal talks to SportsKenya<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">Sometime last year, we at SportsKenya were part of a team that engaged in a campaign to get one of the pioneering ladies in Sports Law in Kenya for her studies in Spain. The </span></span><a href="http://snolegal.com/" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">campaign </a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">adopted both online and offline strategies which ran in tandem. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OBDyeas8p5I/U4WaLBfcNyI/AAAAAAAAAXE/3m4ZINXkb80/s1600/sno2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OBDyeas8p5I/U4WaLBfcNyI/AAAAAAAAAXE/3m4ZINXkb80/s1600/sno2.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Sarah Ochwada @SnoLegal - Strike a Pose</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We have the </span></span><span style="line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">priviledge</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 15.333332061767578px;"> of bringing you Sarah Ochwada - also known as SnoLegal ( on Twitter </span></span><a href="https://twitter.com/SnoLegal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">@SnoLegal</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">). She also does this blog </span></span><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsnolegal.wordpress.com%2F&ei=tHmFU__1A4SdO9DZgegK&usg=AFQjCNF1NfYIiWKNmbU7MygQSZQVLrxpDA&sig2=S6PyQ8igoykPgumHvr_0jQ&bvm=bv.67720277,d.ZWU" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 15.333332061767578px;">. We caught up with her on her exploits in Spain and this is what she had to say;</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Q1) Hola SnoLegal! For the sake of our readers, kindly remind us what course
you are doing, the institution and duration.</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Hola! I am studying International Sports Law at
<a href="http://www.isdemasters.com/en">ISDE </a>which is the acronym for... Wait for it... <i>Instituto Superior de Derecho y
Economia</i>...that's Spanish by the way. Although my course is entirely in
English. I am learning Spanish, though...but I digress...</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">I shall be having theory
lessons until June and then have my internship in Switzerland from July to
December. It is a 1-year intensive course.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Q2) </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">From your interaction thus far with sports experts from the rest of the
world, what would you say their take is of the Kenyan & African sports
scene at large?</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Wow! What a question! Some foreigners
actually know a whole lot about African sports, and I'm not just talking about
my lecturers but my classmates as well. For instance one of the Spanish guys in
my class, Luis ( </span><i style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">hello there if you're reading this</i><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">) was talking to me about
East African runners and he named them, knew the statistics from Kenya an
Ethiopia dating back years! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Another one of my classmates from Australia, Tiran
(</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Oy mate!</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">) knew about the Tikolo brothers from the Kenyan cricket team and just
some crazy statistics about Kenyan cricketers... I mean it's really impressive
how much people outside Africa know about sports in Africa and the athletes.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I also recall having a conversation with one of my lecturers about Kenyan rugby
and another about the transfer of Kenyan players to European leagues... I guess
there is a lot of interest in sports on our continent because of the
talent on the continent which is exposed to the world stage through
international competitions. And I think this interest will persist in years to
come.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"></span>
<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Q3)</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">What is your take on Sports Management in Kenya and
the need for Sports Laws?</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">In the last year or so that I spent in Kenya before
coming to Madrid there was a positive change in terms of sports people and
federations. Other stakeholders are also making an effort to improve their
sports and consequently livelihoods of those involved. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Management I think </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">is</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> the largest area that needs to be considered since you not only manage events but
teams and individuals within the sports realm. And there are so many aspects to
management too; finances, public relations, you name it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">What is lacking is
tailor-made management for each discipline, each athlete, each federation. A
blanket system may not work particularly for Kenya because of the numerous and
varying needs of the.different players involved.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Understanding each unique set of needs
independently will be of great importance. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">As far as Sports Law is
concerned, the need is even greater. General practitioners of law may not fully
comprehend or appreciate the different facets of sports - from governance to contracts
and any problem that may arise from there. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">We are moving into a time where
talent pays, and sport is no longer a hobby but a livelihood. And with all
livelihoods those in the sports fraternity require experts who will understand
deeply their issues and offer sound advice & guidance to avoid disputes or
mitigate harm down the line.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><b>Q4 a) With the new Sports Bill in place, there are quite a number of
legal hurdles that sports associations and bodies have to go through. Which 3
stick out for you?</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Minor correction... Sports Act, not Bill. Once a
Bill is passed by parliament it becomes an Act. (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><b>SK</b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">:..</span><span style="color: blue;"><i>oops our bad, Ms learned friend...</i>)</span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">Registration of Sports entities with the Sports
Registrar. There surely will be a lot of confusion and misinformation when it
comes to this point... Wait and see. But in a nutshell, all sports entities
registered under the Societies Act will have to transition and be registered
under the office of the Sports Registrar. (</span><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">SK</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">:...</span><i><span style="color: blue;">Note that football clubs crying foul about being targeted?</span></i><span style="color: #222222;"> )</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Disputes regarding registration and non registration.
These will probably be the first few cases to be dealt with by the new Sports
Tribunal. But I bet even the understanding of how to bring matters to this
tribunal will be a major issue, not just for federations and sports persons but
for their legal representatives too.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<li><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Sports Fund... How
will it be run? How will federations receive money from this fund? This will be
cause for some contention I believe.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But that being said, I look forward to the debates that will rise from
these issues because they will help our sports mature. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bring it on!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><b>Q4 b) Which 3 legal issues do you feel have been
left out of the Sports Bill?</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Oh my gosh! Now that I have had the opportunity to
learn about things... One thing which struck me is, so these federations will be
registered afresh, does that mean that they remain as societies or will we have
to give them some sort of new name to distinguish them from other legal
entities.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">The other legal issues I have pondered about, I
would rather not reveal at this moment because it is better to see how things
unfold and whether we can find creative legal solutions for them as time goes
by... But trust me, there is so much we can do. Baby steps for now.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZAY_Ts_g4s/U4WaUBQhgXI/AAAAAAAAAXM/P2I1G5-cNUc/s1600/BmTjqgMCMAEuUDH.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Snolegal at EPL club West Ham's Bolery Ground - Upton Park London</b> - <i>image courtesy of SnoLegal</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Q5) </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">What has been your biggest eye-opener since you started the sports law
course?</span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">That you can practice Sports Law in any corner of
the world but your practice may influence other lawyers in a completely
different part of the planet. </span><span style="color: #222222;">For example, I have a <a href="http://snolegal.wordpress.com/">blog devoted to Sports &Entertainment</a> issues in Kenya. I wrote articles based on what I thought would
help Kenyans in these fields improve themselves. </span><span style="color: #222222;">Lo and behold, I started getting emails and
messages from Sports Lawyers and professors as far as UK, Argentina, Spain,
Italy, Greece inquiring about a topic I had written or including some of my
articles in their research. I guess I never thought that what I.was doing for
my countrymen would have a great impact on other nations. That's totally awesome
and incredibly humbling!</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">Q</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">6) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">What is your favourite sport and why?</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Right now it's Archery. I started as a means of giving myself a hobby that I can take well into my old age. I have come to find
it very relaxing. And who knows, maybe in 10 years I can represent Kenya as an
Olympic archer! (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><b>SK:</b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">..</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;">make that 2 to 6 years at most, #just saying...</span></span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">)</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">Q7) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">After you're done with the course, what next?</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">I come back home and continue with my practice, but
of course there are certain specific targets that I hope to meet maybe in the
first 3 years;</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Transitioning our national sports federations, such as trying to get their
constitutions up to date and in line with the Sports Act, Kenyan constitution
and their (respective) International Federations;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">(Host) at least 2 free workshops a year on sports law basics and management
beginning with national sports federations administrators and then moving on to
athletes;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Getting either the LSK (Law Society of Kenya) to have Sports Law as part of the continuous
education for Advocates, or at least incorporate some aspects of Sports law
into the already existing ones;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Teach. Initially I never wanted to do this but I have received offers from 2 universities in Nairobi to create a curriculum to teach undergraduates Sports
Law as an elective module; and</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Continue with Sports law commentaries, TV, Radio and Newspaper. I did a
little of this before I left but it will be great to</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">pick it<span style="color: #222222;"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">up again.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Muchas gracias </i>and all the best in your studies, </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #212121; line-height: 38.400001525878906px;"><i>estudiante graduado de la hembra :-) :-) :-)</i></span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span></span></div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-kZAY_Ts_g4s%2FU4WaUBQhgXI%2FAAAAAAAAAXM%2FP2I1G5-cNUc%2Fs1600%2FBmTjqgMCMAEuUDH.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZAY_Ts_g4s/U4WaUBQhgXI/AAAAAAAAAXM/P2I1G5-cNUc/s1600/BmTjqgMCMAEuUDH.jpg" --><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-44873319511287372002014-05-26T14:22:00.002+03:002014-05-26T14:22:54.669+03:00World Relays gives Kenyan Athletes 'Golden Shine' This past weekend marked the inaugural <a href="http://www.bahamasworldrelays.org/">World Relays</a> under the auspices of IAAF hosted in the Caribbean island of Bahamas (<i> the natives called Bahamians, more like Bohemian Rhapsody...I digress</i>).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ySLDmICvXPw/U4MiKwCwy2I/AAAAAAAAAWo/fCgcYd_yU_k/s1600/92b63ab0-bbcb-4a4a-8cad-803dc19c974b.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ySLDmICvXPw/U4MiKwCwy2I/AAAAAAAAAWo/fCgcYd_yU_k/s1600/92b63ab0-bbcb-4a4a-8cad-803dc19c974b.png" height="76" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>World Relays Bahamas 2014</b> -<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> image courtesy of www.iaaf.org</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The 2-day event had some really good action for any sports and athletics enthusiasts. Stealing some of the attention for the more popular football (soccer in other quarters), was a huge gamble but for those few moments the Championships produced some sparkle. The c'ships had 10 events billed as the Golden Baton which included the more common and widely accepted<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>4 x 100m ( both men and women)</li>
<li>4 x 400m </li>
</ul>
<div>
But also other races including;</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>4 x 200m or 2 lap event</li>
<li>4 x 800m or 8-lap event</li>
<li>4 x 1500m or 15-lap event.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As expected some athletics powerhouses such as the US and Jamaica sent strong teams especially in the short(er) sprints. Kenya too sent very strong teams in what were expected to be its specialties in the middle races. After what might have been a fiasco in <a href="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/article/2000108861/selection-dilemma-korir-faults-national-relays-team-trials-procedure#/">national team selection</a>, the team redeemed itself winning 3 out of its targeted 4 Gold medals and each of those in World Record times. There was also special mention of the 4 x 400m Kenyan men's team which featured in the Final B ending up in the tail end of the proceedings. </div>
</div>
<div>
A few lessons too could be taken by the Kenyans from these Games;</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
a) <i>Preparations</i> - The national selection method employed by Athletics Kenya was not the most scientific and suited for this purpose. This led to an almost disjointed effort in preparing the team for the c'ships. In future, it would not hurt to make proper preparations for national selection and onward camp for participants.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
b) <i>Tactics</i>- while we may not have been with the coaches and managers, some of the tactics employed cost the team valuable points and wins. For example, the 4 x 800m women's race decision to run a fairly inexperienced Busienei in the first leg saw Kenya lose her position to lead and ultimately play catch up to the US team. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
c) <i>More Country representation</i> - being the inaugural c'ships not every country was able to send representatives and some sent some more junior and inexperienced runners. Beijing in 2015, you can be sure it will not be a walk-over even for Kenya even in the middle races that we seem to have such a stronghold. Ethiopia, Algeria, Morocco and even Uganda will want to prove a point or two. We saw what is happening in the marathons and 10K races in other championships. And it is not just the Africans breathing down the necks of Kenyans, Russia, Romania and other European countries always fancy challenging Kenyan athletes.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C0rfqSKKyCY/U4MihD82dcI/AAAAAAAAAWw/0PKoXFl6xYA/s1600/db5a6ffc42_RECORD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C0rfqSKKyCY/U4MihD82dcI/AAAAAAAAAWw/0PKoXFl6xYA/s1600/db5a6ffc42_RECORD.jpg" height="198" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kenya's 4 x 1500m Women's team</b> -<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> image courtesy of www.iaaf.org</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
d) <i>Track and Field Clubs</i> - while Kenya has traditionally had no problem in producing talent especially for the middle and long distances, our performances in the shorter races of 400m, 200m and 100m have been dismal. Save for the occasional suprise in the 400m, the others don't seem to feature in our calendar. </div>
<div>
One way of encouraging this is forming running/sprint clubs that can be situated in 2-3 cities in the country. Rigorous training and exposure will see us in good stead. Investing in the necessary infrastructure such as tartan running tracks, gyms, sports scientists and nutritionists is integral too. The US has <a href="http://www.santamonicatrackclub.org/">Santa Monica Track Club</a>(which produced among others sprint legend Carl Lewis), Jamaica has the <a href="http://mvptrackclub.com/index.html">MVP Track and Field Club</a></div>
<div>
(with women sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser in its stable). Why can't Kenya invest in one too?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
e) <i>Reward System</i> - though this has been ongoing with the gold medal winners in major games such as Olympics and Commonwealth getting national honours, more can be done to earn our athletes their worth. The mileage enjoyed by their participation and winning is more than the fancy budgets and trips that tourism officials seek to justify for their activities. There has been talk of an Athletics Hall of Fame by Athletics Kenya but this ought to be a public-private partnership by all parties concerned.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For now let's enjoy the shine of winning 3 Gold medals and records to boot. In 2015, I don't see why Kenya should not bag 4 Gold medals and Bronze or two in the shorter races. Optimistic perhaps? </div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>Quick recap:</i></div>
<div>
Kenya won Gold in the 4 x 800m (men), 4 x 1500m (men and women) and Silver in 4 x 800m (women).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u><b>In Related News</b>:</u></div>
<div>
When Safaricom Limited announced that it had secured the naming rights of Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, its current CEO Bob Collymore intimated that one of the areas of focus would be investing in the shorter races. <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-1791/safaricom-boss-collymore-keen-improving-sprints">This was echoing earlier sentiments made in 2012 when he was awarding the Olympic heroes</a>. True to their word, the company sponsored the <a href="http://www.safaricom.co.ke/about-us/media-centre/press-releases">National Relay series</a> which almost ended in confusion after Athletics Kenya couldn't agree on a proper formula for the competition. In future, national associations should have proper blueprints for events such as this. Having secured funding and sponsorship such as Safaricom's makes it easier to consult experts and host more successful events. </div>
<div>
For future Relay events, Athletics Kenya can do better by letting the respective branches come up with teams which can then compete at the series of trials in Nairobi and any other city deemed suitable. This will not only attract new talent but also expose potential athletes to specialisations beyond the individual races they usually do.</div>
<div>
As for Safaricom Limited, your investment may start bearing fruit sooner than expected...</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-82779538348806900632014-05-23T19:44:00.000+03:002014-05-26T14:32:15.546+03:00NBA - Can Hasheem Thabeet please stand up?Yes, some of you might wonder why we're picking on a non-Kenyan to profile on our blog, well he's the first East African ever to play in the most prestigious basketball league in the world - the <a href="http://www.nba.com/" target="_blank">NBA</a>! Thabeet also happens to be among the few Africans ever to play in the NBA Playoffs ( others being Hakeem 'The Dream' Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, D.J Mbenga in that <a href="http://allafrica.com/view/photoessay/post/post/id/201306120001.html" target="_blank">list</a>). We hope he inspires the next generation of basketballers from Africa more so East Africa which has seen little action in the US-base league.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-he4oXiLgkgI/U395_-h0IRI/AAAAAAAAEVE/17cSsacxL_A/s1600/154045495-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-he4oXiLgkgI/U395_-h0IRI/AAAAAAAAEVE/17cSsacxL_A/s1600/154045495-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H. Thabeet waits for ball - <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image courtesy of www.nba.com</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Thabeet's team Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) led by current MVP Kevin Durant are currently in the Western Conference Finals playing last year's Conference winners San Antonio Spurs (SAS). As of doing this blog-post, OKC was trailing SAS 0-2 games in a best-of-7 series. <strike>They also lost fellow African Congolese-born <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Ibaka" target="_blank">Serge Ibaka</a> to injury going into the Finals. </strike><br />
<br />
<b>NOTE</b>: Serge Ibaka did somehow make a recovery on his injury and made it back to the team, inspiring them to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COeD0GljzLI">win over San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 on</a> Sunday.<br />
<br />
<i>Is this time for Thabeet to step up his game?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Having been part of the bench for OKC, he can become a contributor to the franchise surviving and even challenging for the NBA Playoffs Finals. But playing against veterans such as Tim Duncan in the paint and his supporting cast of Parker, Ginobili amond others won't be an easy ride. He can use his height to his advantage and also get the team to play the ball off their main player Kevin Durant (who needs to step up and show why he's the league's MVP...).<br />
His regular season stats don't look too favourable with 23 Games played, average of 1.2 points per game and 1.7 rebounds per game ( <i>from www.nba.com</i>). What is worrying though for Thabeet is his manager's lack of faith in him especially in transition and protecting the rim. He might need to reinvent himself in the few minutes he might get playing as the Thunder look to surge back into the series.<br />
<br />
Till then, <i>twa kutakia kila la heri, ndugu</i>!<br />
<br />
<b>In Related News:</b><br />
2-time NBA Playoffs winner Hakeem Olajuwon was recently named an <a href="http://www.supersport.com/basketball/nba/news/140521/Olajuwon_named_NBA_ambassador_to_Africa" target="_blank">NBA Goodwill Ambassador for Africa</a>. His achievements and accomplishments will come in handy as the NBA tries to reach to a wider African audience, both for its broadcasts and talent search. Dreams do come true indeed...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-27796798830029208572014-05-17T12:30:00.000+03:002014-05-17T12:30:01.275+03:00Are Community Clubs in Kenya basket cases? Once again the arguments about football clubs in Kenya in particular the community clubs v/s 'corporate-sponsored' clubs are back again (see earlier post <a href="http://sportskenya.blogspot.com/2012/01/kenyan-football-community-based-clubs.html">here</a>). It's a bit of concern now especially with the taxman breathing down the neck of all and sundry. It is quite tragic that most of the community clubs enjoy a huge fan-base (<span style="color: blue;"> <i>but have not been able to monetise and marshal these numbers to reflect well commercially</i></span><i>..</i>)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sue8G0eIfvw/U3ZDDMORd6I/AAAAAAAAAWY/eAzDZBQzmHg/s1600/deflated-soccer-ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sue8G0eIfvw/U3ZDDMORd6I/AAAAAAAAAWY/eAzDZBQzmHg/s1600/deflated-soccer-ball.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
While some officials of the clubs read mischief and malice, in the end what the taxman wants, s/he gets! It is also very clear that most of the club officials have not put in place proper mechanisms for running a club.<br />
Issues like;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>annual financial statements;</li>
<li>player contracts and players' welfare; </li>
<li>commercial and business plans ( <i>add the marketing bit in there</i>);</li>
<li>communication and PR strategy </li>
</ul>
<br />
among other important documents. They should not also blame other sources for their ineptitude and incompetency.<br />
<br />
While the KPL has been making slow progress on some fronts, it is of fundamental importance that clubs set these issues right to avoid what we're seeing currently.<br />
It is also important that the KPL officials avoid being held at ransom by club officials who stifle developments such as has been the banned-but-soon-lifted proclamations regarding hooliganism.<br />
Some have blamed the security personnel for not getting it right, but we already have over-stretched these people with current security scares in the country.<br />
Clubs must revamp their mode of operations from societies (<i> as one official was quoted saying in the Press</i>) to proper commercial and business outfits.<br />
<br />
Sports is not charity anymore and KPL ought to spell this out for participating clubs. A benchmark of financial resources should be in place for at least 1 year. This will show that the club is capable of paying its players, management and other technical staff, merchandise and training facilities among others. Penalties should be in place for those who fail to meet the thresh-hold.<br />
<br />
Early this season, KPL decided to do an audit of football venues across the country. It is also prudent for them to do the same for financial records of the clubs.Related to this, there is an interesting report done by AfriCog detailing football mismanagement in Kenya. Check the link <a href="https://www.africog.org/reports/The%20crisis%20of%20football%20management%20in%20Kenya.pdf">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Back to the community clubs, various countries have tried these models of operation and succeeded so it is not excuse enough for the poor management practices currently witnessed. Clubs such as <a href="http://www.kaizerchiefs.com/">Kaizer Chiefs</a> (South Africa), <a href="http://www.athletic-club.net/web/main.asp?a=0&b=0&c=0&d=0&idi=2">Atletico Bilbao</a> , <a href="http://www.athletic-club.net/web/main.asp?a=0&b=0&c=0&d=0&idi=2">Barcelona</a> (both from Spain), <a href="http://www.bocajuniors.com.ar/">Boca Juniors</a> (Argentina) as well as <a href="http://www.bvb.de/">Borussia Dortmund</a> to name a few. A few quick tips;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Establish a limited company before selling shares - this can be either to the general public or restricted to a certain number ( <i>say 1 share worth KSh.50,000 etc</i>);</li>
<li>Get a wealthy benefactor and get him/her to manage the club as one of his entities - this is yet to catch on in Kenya but is prominent in Europe moreso England. Any Katumbis, Khozas or Abramovichs in Kenya?</li>
<li>Secure major sponsorship deals with leading companies - this is a tricky one since most companies have what they call a need for ROI thus cannot justify putting money where they might not get value for it;</li>
<li>Secure a large fan-base ( preferably regional or national) and this will be lucrative to both individual or corporate investors ( <i>tragedy is if they are an unruly and emotional lot, they often end up being a curse instead</i>) and finally</li>
<li>Perform, perform and perform! Without good results, any club is as good as dead.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<b><u>SIDE-NOTE</u></b>:</div>
<div>
In researching for this piece, some interesting links came up such as this one on the <a href="http://www.clubworldrankings.com/caf.htm">top clubs in Africa</a> as done by CAF in December 2012. It's interesting to note that even though the Democratic Republic of Congo has a troubled economy, their football clubs have performed well in the continent. Here's a snippet of the rankings- number in brackets represents FIFA Club World rankings;</div>
<div>
1. (67) Al-Ahly - Egypt - estimated revenue of $36.09 million (in 2008)</div>
<div>
2. (146) Esperance Sportive - $5.71 million </div>
<div>
3. (147) Zamalek - Egypt - $26.8 million</div>
<div>
4. (176) Tout Puissant Mazembe <i>aka</i> TP Mazembe - DRC - $15 ( in 2013)</div>
<div>
5. (190) Asante Kotoko - Ghana </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Kenya's Clubs;</div>
<div>
45. Gor Mahia (Pos.604)</div>
<div>
79. AFC Leopards (Pos.893)</div>
<div>
88. Tusker FC (Pos.954)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
Additional info on the post can be found from the following links;<br />
<a href="http://www.ventures-africa.com/2013/07/top-5-african-millionaire-football-club-owners/%C2%A0">Top 5 African millionaire football club owners</a><br />
<a href="http://www.worldsoccer.com/columnists/339341">For TP Mazembe...the future looks bright</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/02/14/storied-clubs-supporter-roots-worlds-top-5-fan-owned-soccer-teams">Worlds Top 5 Fan-owned Soccer teams</a><br />
<a href="http://www.clubworldrankings.com/caf.htm">CAF Club & World Rankings - 2012</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/richest-clubs-in-africa-by-revenues.655213">Richest Football Clubs in Africa by Revenues - 2008</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-10054592259698310812014-05-14T17:03:00.000+03:002014-05-14T17:03:39.315+03:002014 thus far, Kenya's Sports dwindling influence?This year started with a lot of optimism given that the then newly elected Government had come with a basket full of promises...pardon my pessismist self who takes politicos and sports officials with a pinch of salt.<br />
Well they had even the Sports Bill which was finally passed last year to provide grounds for new dawn in Kenyan sports. But alas!<br />
Starting with the people's game of football, Kenyan clubs were bundled out of the pre-qualifying stages of continental club championships. That it was Kenya'biggest clubs reduced to cheer leaders tells a lot of what needs to be done to the same. This showed the need to streamline club activity in Kenya.<br />
Onto to athletics, even though Kenyan athletes made a good showing at the continental championships in Kampala, our rivals in Ethiopia and other East African countries are no longer shoo-ins to be taken for granted. An interesting observation too must be made on our long distance runners especially marathon. While Kenyan has a wealth of talent, their margin of success is restricted to 2-3 wins before fading off. Look at Ethiopia, the same athletes who ran the 5K & 10K have now switched to the half and full marathons...it's only a matter of time...<br />
Volleyball, and our Kenyan ladies have always been continental queens....? Well not anymore! Losing the North Africans, our sisters were given a reality check on what other countries have been doing and are capable of doing. There has also been such a disconnect between continental and world championships. Kenya has performed dismally in the latter and Kenya Volleyball Federation doesn't have clue of what to do.<br />
Cricket, oh the Englishman's game! Well Kenya has sunk so low, that we couldn't qualify for the Twenty 20 tournament played by both Test and non-Test nations. What is more worrying is that our neighbours Uganda and Rwanda are developing better teams and it's only a matter of time before we are dethroned. <br />
As for rugby, it's a mixed bag with the 7s team tempering our expectations while the 15s side made small but significant strides in South Africa as we wait for the Worl Cup qualifiers later thus year.<br />
Boxing too is reporting a bit of life after being knocked out for several years off the national sports agenda.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>What has been symptomatic across the board is lethargic sports officials. We have been there before on the need to elect pragmatic officials. It's an ideal situation but tenable for some if not majority of the sports bodies. </li>
<li>Laxity from the Government. While some sports associations behave like untouchables, they're more that the Secretary of Sports and Culture can do than the mere pronouncements. For starters, invoking the Sports Bill and its statutes is one way. </li>
<li>Accountability - audits on the sports bodie should be regular and recommendations acted upon. This should be from both Government and sponsoring companies. When players go on national duty and come back without having been paid their allowances is an abomination in this time and age. </li>
<li>International best practices - when our sports people participate in international events, what do they learn? Or are they busy visitng other less important business as opposed to taking notes on their call of duty? </li>
</ul>
<div>
There's still the second half of the year to look forward to and hope that there are better and sterling performances. The list below shows some of the sporting events to look out for; </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Commonwealth Games</li>
<li>IRB Rugby series 2014/15 </li>
<li>IAAF Grand Prix meets </li>
<li>World Cup qualifiers (rugby)</li>
<li>Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers</li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-30923357190502894642014-05-14T16:17:00.000+03:002014-05-14T16:17:37.797+03:00Kenya 7s - Time for Reflection The final leg of the 2013/14 IRB Rugby 7s series came to an end this last weekend in England. Kenya having qualified once again after finishing among the top 5 last season was expected to continue with the same pace.<br />
However changes in management after the 'lack of agreement' with former 7s coach Mike Friday meant the top brass at KRU sought solace elsewhere. Rumours had circulated that the honchos were after South Africa's Paul Treu and true to word he did sign dotted line. He also came with a couple of demands of inclusion of hand-picked personnel from his native country, which sponsors and officials alike obliged to.<br />
Due to delays in finalising this agreement, the team started the series dismally and team selection also left a lot to be desired. This would hurt the team in the later stages too. Here are some other sticking points;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Change of pace - The Kenyan team has been known to be a pacy team, taking advantage of the wings to run their plays. Change of tactics saw them adopt a slower game which took time to adopt.</li>
<li>Conditioning - Mike Friday and his assistant though spending less time with the team than envisioned in the 2012/13 season had developed a serious conditioning regime. This saw them add mass and pace to their game. </li>
<li> Rookies vs Experience - after making the gamble with new members of the team, Paul Treu had to go back to the more experienced hands. It took time for him to find the right mix of players and combinations.</li>
<li>Pre-season games -while KRU has been trying to get better exposure for the team, a lot more needs to be done for pre-season preparations. Safari 7s is not enough to use for testing the players. A minimum of 3 such tournaments can be explored. Luckily this year is a Commonwealth Games year thus this will suffice for now.</li>
<li>Competitive forces - while a few seasons ago, certain countries were more of pushovers, the level of competition has risen even for non-traditional rugby nations such as USA, Canada and even the Asian reps. Such oversights cost the team valuable points mid-season.</li>
<li>Relegation - this form of dropping poor performers and gifting good ones has worked well to level the playing field. It is going to be interesting 2-3 seasons on when great rugby nations find themselves sharing spoils with more recent additions. </li>
<li>Investment - while KRU has tried leveraging this sport to potential sponsors, more needs to be done to secure constant churn of players. From the current Chair's own words his objective is to ensure the players are professionals 'eating, sleeping and playing rugby'. A more competitive national 7s circuit in the coming years will see the team enjoy constant new talent. It must also work to invest in local coaching expertise to reduce over-reliance on foreign technical hands. The locals will have much less demands and hopefully play for the flag more than anything else.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
Till the Commonwealth Games in September 2014, let's give them a hearty welcome for a brave performance in the last 2 legs hoping they take from there come the 2014/15 series!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-46670398917923637482013-06-03T13:56:00.000+03:002013-06-03T13:56:06.972+03:00Kenya Rugby Ruckus ala Philip Jalang'o-style<br />"This man, Jalang'o, this man!" were some of the words that inspired this blog-post. This was in a conversation with some of the less knowledgeable rugby fans who I regularly meet on the beat and wanted to offer some of the points to clear the air on which have not been addressed since this commotion blew out in May 2013.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bs6rDyGLmg/Uax0J9Sc3-I/AAAAAAAAD7s/2xOOD2eWZtA/s1600/rugby-px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bs6rDyGLmg/Uax0J9Sc3-I/AAAAAAAAD7s/2xOOD2eWZtA/s320/rugby-px.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Philip Jalang'o</b> - <i>courtesy of www.nation.co.ke</i> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
First things first...as the post goes up, Philip Jalang'o stands suspended from his position as a Director at KRU. However he has gone to court to contest this suspension and is seeking to be reinstated stating that his suspension is null and void.<br />
<br />
Now back to the rant. For those who don't know much about he was once the Chairman of Kenya Harlequins club - one of the top rugby clubs in the country - where though the team performed relatively well in its outings, was losing out in other club management issues. This includes the transfer of ownership of the club-house bar which had been granted to Shareware and also leaving the club's book in the red with heavy debts. His fellow club officials promptly found him not good enough for the top office and opted not to re-elect him at Quins.<br />
<br />
Luckily for him, he managed to wiggle his way into the national board at KRU and has been quite abrasive and at times rash in his decisions. And though the Union has other officials who ought to speak out on the game's developments at a national and international level, Jalang'o has been quite visible eclipsed only by the Chairman one Mwangi Muthee.<br />
<br />
Last year after the end of the 7s circuit, he quickly sacked then coach Mitch Ocholla who had only done a year into his coaching contract. It's true the performance of the team had deteriorated and there was not much to write about. However the working conditions had not been as favourable as the coach would have wanted, but that's not for us here to rant about.<br />
<br />
Mike Friday who was then relatively unknown by many a Kenyan rugby enthusiast but who had made his name as former England player and England Rugby Union 7s head coach; was announced as the new coach for the Kenyan team. This decision apparently was almost single-handedly decided upon by Philip Jalang'o. Within the same breadth came the sweetener to the deal which was that the shirt sponsorship deal with Gilbert's would be dropped and English sports apparel makers, <a href="http://www.samurai-sports.com/" target="_blank">Samurai Sports</a> would be the new shirt providers. No clear details were given on how this sourced, whether there was a tendering process and quotations made available. It is also said that Jalang'o had business interest with the local operations of Samurai Sports who made the deal possible.<br />
<br />
As if to exonerate his recruitment, Kenya started well in the new season of the International Rugby Board 7s series and amassing points to stay lodge in the top 6 going into the break at the first half of the 2012-13 season. However the team was struck with the blow of playing without its mercurial winger, Collins Injera for the crucial ties in the second-half of the season. Injera had been dropped on the charge 'of indiscipline and failing to play for his club, Mwamba RFC'. Though the Board at KRU ended up backing this decision up, word has it, Jalang'o had engineered this move.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2Kh2eq7gR3g/Uax0cFsVvRI/AAAAAAAAD70/ii-GsGdd-po/s1600/kenya-7s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2Kh2eq7gR3g/Uax0cFsVvRI/AAAAAAAAD70/ii-GsGdd-po/s1600/kenya-7s.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Kenya 7s players in Samurai Sports attire</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The big one came when early last month Philip Jalang'o sent a release to the Press indicating the firing of Mike Friday a day after the Kenyan team had finished fifth overall in the IRB 7s series amassing 99 points, 1 short of its target for the season. This led to a quick rebuttal by Chair, Mwangi Muthee who indicated that Mike Friday was still in charge and would have his performance reviewed on return to Nairobi with the team. This instead led to his 'firing' by the KRU Board.It is said, personal differences between the two ( Friday and Jalang'o) led to this acrimonious falling out. <br />
<br />
With the next major tournament in the Kenyan rugby calendar being the Bamburi Rugby Super Series (BRSS), Jalang'o was still out to prove who's the man running the show. This year's BRSS featured franchises which had new (<i>and rather awkward Swahili names like Nyumbu, Papa </i>), killing a 10-year heritage of the previous names such as Buffaloes, Cheetahs, Rhinos and Sharks. The selection was also skewed with top clubs making one of the franchises. Nyumbu, a Kenyan franchise made up players from Quins, Nondies and Impala was expected to be the clear favourite and was enjoying the same form going into the semi-finals. However with the ties scheduled for Kampala, Uganda, Jalang'o is reported to have met some of the players and asked them to boycott playing the game. This led to a weakened side showing up at Kyadondo ( <i>pronounced Chadondo</i>) and losing to the Ugandan team, Ruwenzori.<br />
<br />
This was along the lines of misinforming participating franchises that the 'BRSS semi-finals were the preserve of pool winners' yet the contract clearly spelt out that 'one semi would be held in Kampala in the event of a Ugandan team reaching the semis with the other being held in Nairobi'. <br />
<br />
He has also been rumoured to have interfered with the selection of the national 15-a-side team which is due in South Africa later this month. Add the fact that Kenya Airways will be the shirt sponsors (for a song) instead of negotiating an extension of the deal from the Kenya 7s deal. <br />
<br />
Now these are but a few of the allegations that directly relate to his mandate as a rugby club and national official. Other claims include 'greasing the pens' of scribes to get favourable coverage for the game and also to 'kill' any negative stories that might relate to him or decisions made. It is a foregone conclusion that the election and subsequent re-election of Chairman Mwangi Muthee is not something that some like him have ever been inclined to and have sought to make him look indecisive and incompetent as often as possible.<br />
<br />
<br />
With the current Board looking to exercise it's objectives and with the game still looking as lucrative as sporting events could attract, it will remain to be seen if the elements such as Philip Jalang'o who's motives are not always in the interest of the game, can be banished to sports management Siberia. It would also be imperative for KRU to repair this PR damage and get back into the good books of the sports fans. Sponsors and media companies who are your bread and butter are watching keenly. The fans too are concerned and this will start showing, if these issues aren't resolved soonest.<br />
<br />
As for Philip Jalang'o and his ilk, I shall be waiting for the Court to throw out your case and save the game the disrepute that you have brought to rugby. Save yourself the lawyer costs and give way for more competent personnel to run the game. Rugby has been a gentleman's game and for heaven's sake can we keep it as such! <br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>Disclaimer</b></span>: <i>This is a guest post from an aggrieved rugby-fan who
needed to vent his disapproval of the ongoing sideshows between Kenya
Rugby Union and one Philip Jalang'o - suspended Director, National Squads &
Elite Performance Committee. Lack of honest coverage and besmirching of
Kenya's rugby game led to its genesis. We at SportsKenya believe it is the right of everyone to air their views and tell their side of the story. We also offer those mentioned a chance to either comment or send us their own views at <span style="color: lime;">sportskenya@gmail.com</span>. For the good of Sports! </i> <br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-77586946566908231522013-05-31T12:43:00.000+03:002013-05-31T12:43:10.571+03:00Can this be the year of Rebirth of Kenya's Basketball?Many a times a sport in this country undergoes serious degeneration and gets swallowed in the mediocrity of the administration of our general affairs as a State. It is true we can continue moaning about this and sing to the birds till heaven come but nothing changes.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lKBmw4IedW0/UahvpG7MIMI/AAAAAAAAD7U/Bt6VFDB3GlM/s1600/Barack-Obama-holds-basket-013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lKBmw4IedW0/UahvpG7MIMI/AAAAAAAAD7U/Bt6VFDB3GlM/s320/Barack-Obama-holds-basket-013.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Pres Obam hoops</b> - <i>www.guardian.co.uk</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It is with this in mind that some of the administrators in the game of Basketball have decided to change the perception of the game and give it a slow but gradual 'rise from the ashes'. This process started sometime last year when the Kenya Basketball Federation experimented with the Friday Basketball games which became a favourite for those fans who were looking for alternatives in sports entertainment.<br />
<br />
Though the Friday games eventually started attracting less crowds ( the idea was being disputed between the federation and a local entertainment company the latter which wanted to own the rights and larger parts of the revenue and not entirely for the interests of the game), this idea can be explored if fine-tuned and well-thought out.<br />
<br />
Coming into the 2013 season, the Federation has been in talks and arrangements in place to screen live games from one or two venues as may be decided by the pay TV channels. This is one big shot in the arm that would go a long way in changing the way the viewed in the country. TV does wonders to a sport which is able to organise and attract favourable crowds and audience both 'online and offline'. It would also attract some form of revenues in advertising and promotions which the Federation can use to rebrand and gave the game a new face.<br />
<br />
Talking of online, there is also a new magazine developed by basketball enthusiasts who also felt it is about time to talk about the game in its entirety, challenges and all. Titled "<a href="http://mag.insidebball.com/i/128738" target="_blank">Inside B'Ball"</a> it seeks to reach a growing number of sports fans who consumer their dose of sports online. It will also give the game of basketball a wider reach that it has been yearning for. It also good for the Federation to work closely with such entrepreneurs who will offer commercial assistance on ways to generate ideas and revenues for the game. <br />
<br />
It's now for Kenya Basketball Federation to start engaging corporate firms and the Government where necessary to ensure that they get better infrastructure across the country - venues, training areas and exhibition areas. This can start with a refurbishment of the Nyayo Gymnasium - the place is need of a serious paint job, better lighting, sound systems and a scoreboard. The court and its surroundings also need a touch and markings to ensure it fits to world standards. It was embarrassing in 2010 when the venue hosted the Street Basketball exhibition games and there was a leak on the roofs.<br />
<br />
The only venue which fits the bill is Kasarani multi-purpose gymnasium which is slightly away from town and might not be able to attract crowds as yet due to its proximity and accessibility. Other venues such as the Makande gymnasium in Mombasa would need expansion and better markings to ensure better experience for players and fans alike. Kisumu and Nakuru and any other major towns should look to developing indoor venues for such sports and this will offer alternative forms of entertainment and engagement with the youth.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XOgXo7OCxeA/Uahv9MVbnSI/AAAAAAAAD7c/slIx0kj4VGY/s1600/PIX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XOgXo7OCxeA/Uahv9MVbnSI/AAAAAAAAD7c/slIx0kj4VGY/s320/PIX.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>College Basketball in Kenya</b> - <i>www.basket-in-africa.blogspot.com</i></span><i> </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another mention should be the Zuku sponsorship of the Universities and Colleges Basketball League (UCBL). Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this league was very competitive and saw 2-3 teams from qualify for the national Premier League. This should be followed through by Kenya Basketball Federation to see that they separate college and university teams from the semi-professional and corporate-sponsored teams. This way it will be easier to have a purely professional league and one that has learning institutions. The two would serve a complimentary role with one being a feeder to the other. We have seen that work successfully in more developed leagues such as the NBA and the NCCA College Basketball in the United States.<br />
<br />
Finally, NBA is making in-roads into Africa and it's about time that Kenya got a player or two representing a team from this famed league. There is a liasion office in South Africa closely watching what activities Kenyan basketball is undertaking. There are also the equally well-developed European Leagues in countries like Spain, Greece to name but a few which can come and recruit our talent and offer exposure to our players to the international game. <br />
<br />
Can this be the rebirth that Kenyan Basketball has been yearning for? <br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-44401032504013237712013-05-24T10:33:00.000+03:002013-05-24T18:17:51.707+03:00Sports Secretary Dr. Hassan A. Wario - An Oath for Kenyan Sports<i>Daktari</i> you must be now have learnt how to manoeuvre traffic in and around the KenCom house which houses your Ministry carved back into the Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs. We also remember your own words about the capacities of Culture and Arts being your forte but Sports not such a knowledgeable affair to you ( <i>the 'corrupt' and those for the status quo must have smiled and winked at each other...</i>).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7y9Bgkjd3jk/UZ6AaoV8phI/AAAAAAAAD7E/qoQl8vOrONg/s1600/1-21-09ObamaOath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7y9Bgkjd3jk/UZ6AaoV8phI/AAAAAAAAD7E/qoQl8vOrONg/s320/1-21-09ObamaOath.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
First order of the day is to read and re-read the new Sports Act which was passed (<i>thanks in part to your predecessor</i>) earlier this year. Carry copies in you car,since now you're chauffeured into office, get it on your i-Pad or whatever gadget tickles your fancy. Get the technocrats in your Ministry to break down those technical terms and on a regular basis, consult widely with sports stakeholders not just officials in their respective sports organisations. This will serve you in good stead in the coming 4-5 years depending on when the mandate of this government ends.<br />
<br />
Secondly, do ensure that as the Act prescribes ALL sports bodies - federations, associations or unions - carry the intended elections. We have a couple which have already been in abidance with that rule ( <i>though majority were merely rubber-stamping the status quo). </i>Keep these bodies in check by requiring regular reports and budgets review and where applicable ensure those not towing or keeping with the mandate of their bodies, chase them and sacrifice on the high altar of the rule of law. There needs to be a few heads rolling every now and then....you're a well-travelled man and you know what they do in China if you're declared corrupt in People's Republic.<br />
<br />
Third, in your works in Culture and national museums, you must have learnt a thing or two about archiving and record keeping. Do dig those archives for reports from the 1987 All-Africa Games and subsequent All Africa Games, 1990s World Cross Country championships, Olympic Games reports from 1956-1972 &1984-2012 among others. Those will make you have a clear view of what happened to Kenyan sport and why we have either lost or gained in some sports disciplines.<br />
<br />
Fourth, read sports policy documents from sporting countries like Australia, Brazil, China, USofA and even our colonial masters the UK. These countries have enshrined sports as mainstream activities and their governments 'have put their money where their mouths are'. The world over, unless the Government actively engages its populace in sport and make deliberate efforts to do so, Kenya shall suffer from the lethargy it has continued to suffer from in the last 20 years or so. Chairman Mao Tse Tung declared table tennis a national sport and you can see today what that sport has done for the country and its satellite states.<br />
<br />
Fifth, you must also revisit the Jubilee manifesto to guide you on your appointing authority mandate & previous Government policies e.g. the reward system and recognition as national heroes.A major point is the investment in infrastructure in sports in at least 5 counties and building stadia and sports academies. It's a shame that the country has not undertaken any major sports infrastructure development for most sports disciplines. It is sad that open spaces have either become grabbers' paradise or grazing fields for urban animal keepers or just suffering from neglect. A quick audit of all these facilities in the country will show those that can be secured by the state and those that the country governments can start working immediately. Together with the Local Government Ministry do ensure that urban planners factor open playing spaces and no not just the usual golfing fields but football, running tracks and other such facilities.<br />
<br />
Sixth, there are some associations with some semblance of order, consult with those and ensure they have direct access to your office. They will need your office's guidance and support to secure regional and international competitions and the State should never again have to suffer the reputation that we did in 1996 of bidding for a continental competition only for the country to back out in the last minute ( <i>Africa Cup of Nations, which was eventually hosted and won by South Africa</i>).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_p9Kf5-ihw/UZ6AHp_rgsI/AAAAAAAAD68/U8q5hlVTA4Y/s1600/Dr-Hassan-Wario.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_p9Kf5-ihw/UZ6AHp_rgsI/AAAAAAAAD68/U8q5hlVTA4Y/s320/Dr-Hassan-Wario.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dr. Hassan A. Wario </span></b>- <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Image courtesy of www.nation.co.ke</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Seventh, curriculum in schools and higher institutions of learning should start emphasising on sports and the business around it. As we write this, only 2 universities in Kenya are offering course in sports management and physical activities. Even with such a rich heritage of sports achievers and sports leaders, surely we can start working on relevant curriculum for those willing to engage in sport not just on the field and pitch but also in the boardrooms and offices. We can have collaborations and short term course from reputable institutions such University of Michigan, Ohio State University, University of East London, Cardiff University to name just a few.<br />
<br />
These 7 points we have sought to talk about will be more than enough for your 5-year term and achieving 7--80% of these will be major boon for Kenyan sport on the global scene. You undertook that oath, we keep the faith!<br />
<br />
<b>SIDENOTE</b>:<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><i>Kindly consider opening Twitter accounts for your Ministry and one of own. Kenyans on Twitter famously known as #KOT who have a thing for sport will engage with you but be ready for baptism by fire...</i> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-6103022167040607182013-05-22T11:08:00.001+03:002013-05-22T11:08:06.169+03:00Ingwe TV - Smart move or ill-advised?There has been all the hullabaloo about the <a href="http://www.kenyanstar.co.ke/kenya-premier-league/zuku-and-leopards-unveil-ingwe-tv-deal" target="_blank">AFC Leopards-Ingwe TV deal </a>with <a href="http://www.zuku.co.ke/" target="_blank">Zuku</a> and the concerned club's status with KPL's sponsored by SuperSport. While the easier path is for KPL/SuperSport to feel infringed by the deal, it's in the club's interest to look for alternative sources of revenue and by extension engagement channels. The TV channel which is supposed to screen 36 episodes of half-hour each covering past games, interviews, team news and historical journals. If anything, it has been SuperSport and KPL's personnel sleeping on the job for lack of initiative to engage local clubs on setting up their own TV channels.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0tnzr5ZWJhY/UZx8Iq70WGI/AAAAAAAAD6s/IoUczFtkWZk/s1600/New+Ingwe+TV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0tnzr5ZWJhY/UZx8Iq70WGI/AAAAAAAAD6s/IoUczFtkWZk/s320/New+Ingwe+TV.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingwe TV logo</b> - <i>courtesy of www.afcleopards.net</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Across the world, major football clubs have their own channels which serve to endear themselves to their fans and provide an added platform for not just engaging with them but also for sponsors, advertisers and related parties to reach the audience.<br />
<br />
The main bone of contention is that AFC Leopards playing in the SuperSport-sponsored KPL ( now Tusker Premier League) which sees it enjoy live coverage of their matches and also featured in the weekly football magazine Simba Soccer programme among others. Now if you look at it carefully, this is the same sort of engagement with other clubs in the KPL only that AFC Leopards ( <i>and maybe 3-5 other clubs</i>) would have a rich heritage as that of Leopards affectionately known as Ingwe by its fans.<br />
And though AFC Leopards had earlier tried such a deal with Smart TV before it went under, it is a veritable decision which is bound to cause other clubs to start looking for such alternatives.<br />
If you look at the revenue sources for football clubs in the country, the main ones come from corporate sponsors who still haven't put enough monies to cater for huge expenses incurred by the clubs in its wages, training and youth facilities. The monies from SuperSport are also not enough with the booty shared according to how well the club does on the standings at the end of the season. Ticket sales on match-days are so haphazard and given the apathy that fans are bound to build following recent spates of fan trouble and violence, it is not yet a reliable source.<br />
<br />
This leaves clubs such as AFC Leopards with deals such as Ingwe TV. The challenge now will be on its management and club aficionados to come up with regular and relevant content both from current and past games. If they have rich archives of past glory days ( <i>maybe they can have a chat with KBC management</i>...) and also dig through past dailies and other publications, they would be able to create such content. Engaging past players and current ones too would see it provide a source of livelihood and work for these players.<br />
<br />
In Zuku , they would be able to leverage not just on the TV channel but also on the Internet and online platforms which would be quite engaging as we see a major shift of users to online and mobile usage across the country and African region as well. It would also help Zuku attract additional customers to its triple play solutions and hence create a win-win situation for both parties.<br />
<br />
As we write this KPL has threatened AFC Leopards with suspension unless it cancels the deal but Richard Bell the Wananchi Group CEO ( which is the mother company for Zuku) has said <a href="http://www.futaa.com/football/article/richard-bell-defends-ingwe-tv" target="_blank">they'll stay put since they didn't infringe on any rights</a>. Hoping sanity prevails between all parties and though commercial interests maybe the main drivers, one without the other will see a loss not just to the club, TV companies but also to the fan who is the ultimate target in the whole of this equation.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-49860475778577339462013-03-12T09:23:00.000+03:002013-03-12T09:24:37.594+03:00SportsKenya's Qs & As - Jason Dunford - Premier Kenyan Swimmer<i>This is our first Qs & As session for the year 2013. We have been working on getting as many sports people both senior and retired to give us a sneak peek into their lives. We were lucky to get Jason Dunford - SOYA Winner, multiple record breaker and the first Kenyan to ever break an Olympic record in swimming in 2008 to talk to us and here are a few of his words</i>;
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k2UIkhgdFE8/UT7GUy5cuDI/AAAAAAAAD4g/PmJeHjRHXeg/s1600/HarryHook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k2UIkhgdFE8/UT7GUy5cuDI/AAAAAAAAD4g/PmJeHjRHXeg/s320/HarryHook.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jason Dunford</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thanks Jason for agreeing to this Q & A session.<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>1. 2012 was a good and busy year for Jason Dunford and indeed for Kenya Swimming team. </b></span><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">a) Give us your main highlights</span>;</b><br />
Carrying the Kenya flag in the Olympics Opening Ceremony was the major highlight of the year for me. It was a huge honour to be selected for such a role. Unfortunately it may have contributed to me not performing at my best a few days later (I could still feel the exhaustion in my legs) but it was an impossible request to turn down.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;"> b) Low moments</span> </b><br />
Under-performing in my event at the Olympics and failing to make the final having gone into the Games ranked 4th in the worlds.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>2. You were part of Team Kenya in the London Olympic Games. How was your experience there and what would you say didn't work for you and swimming team?</b></span><br />
The swimming team was comprised of my brother David and me. Being the only two swimmers representing the country in the Olympics was a great honor and feat for us, especially considering it was our second one. However because it was our second Olympics we came into the Games with huge goals and a lot of expectation was unknowingly heaped on us from back home. In the end the pressure affected our performance and neither of us performed at our best. Nevertheless, we know we did all we could in the build up and we are privileged that we got to travel that journey together.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">3. 2013 looks like a dour year for most Kenyan sports disciplines, what's your competitive swimming calendar like?</span></b><br />
This year I am taking a break from international competition and will forego the World Championships. I am working in California for an electronics recycling company called GreenCitizen (www.greencitizen.com) to help refresh my mind and give me an experience of working life beyond college. However I still train hard everyday and hope to be present at next year's Commonwealth Games.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">4. We have you and your brother being integral part of the swimming team for Kenya. Do you see any worth heirs to yourselves?</span></b><br />
There are some promising youngsters starting to emerge such as Tory Pragassa, Micah Fernandez and Silvia Brunlenher. They are still young but have the talent to break into the elite ranks of world swimming if they continue to work hard.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>5. Talking business side of things now, though you have been one of Kenya's oustanding sports personalities, there are few companies that have come forth to seek your name to endorse their brands or products. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>a) What are your thoughts on this?</b></span><br />
I think it has been a very positive step taken by some of our big Kenyan companies. If Kenyans want our sportsmen and women to succeed, business partnerships need to play a central role as they do in other countries. We can't just rely on government support. I was lucky to be sponsored by Davis and Shirtliff and Dormans in the year leading up to the Olympics. Their support was integral to my preparation and I was thrilled to be able to promote these two great Kenyan companies.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">b) What of online presence and visibility?</span></b><br />
I try to be visible online through my <a href="http://jasondunford.com/" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kenya.swimmer" target="_blank">Facebook fan page</a> and twitter (<span style="color: cyan;"><i><b>@KenyaSwimmer</b></i></span>). However I do need to make a point of more frequent updates for my fans.
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">c) Advice to other athletes and sports people?</span></b><br />
I thinking the climate is changing and companies are beginning to see the value of associating with our top performers. By working hard, being humble, patriotic and articulate, endorsements should come along. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lz1uBuosf9g/UT7BkNjEK3I/AAAAAAAAD4U/VfmMrHy-BO0/s1600/IMGP4871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lz1uBuosf9g/UT7BkNjEK3I/AAAAAAAAD4U/VfmMrHy-BO0/s320/IMGP4871.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ready, steady & dip !</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">6. Not pre-empting your exit from the sporting scene, </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">a) when do you think you'll stop taking a dip from the pool competitively?</span></b><br />
After the 2016 Olympics. I am getting married next year and by then I will be at an age when I want to start a family.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>b) what do you intend to do once you retire from the sport?</b></span><br />
Work in the environmentalism. My current job at GreenCitizen is my first taste of working in a company with a mission aimed at saving the environment. We only have one earth and need to do better in our stewardship of its land water and resources.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">c) future of the sport in Kenya?</span></b><br />
I want to be involved in Kenya swimming in some capacity as an administrator, coach of advisor. I will jump that hurdle when I finish my career.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">7. Give us 5 things; </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">a) to change/improve Kenyan sport</span></b><br />
More accountability in the administration of sport, less divisive politics and appointments to key positions based on merit and for those who prioritize the well-being of the athlete(s).<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"> <b>b) change swimming fortunes in Kenya</b></span><br />
A year round, indoor, well-maintained central training center.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;"> c) we did not know about Jason Dunford</span></b><br />
I think most Kenyans know everything about me these days! ; )
><br />
Thank you<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-70427915361895687882013-02-05T16:30:00.000+03:002013-02-06T10:32:00.681+03:00Game Yetu, SportOn & Kenyan sports publications...shall they manage?In the last 3 months two of the biggest media houses in Kenya have plunged into the deep end of matters sports by launching stand-alone sports publication. <a href="http://gameyetu.co.ke/" target="_blank">Game Yetu</a> and <a href="http://www.sporton.co.ke/" target="_blank">SportOn </a>are the titles of these sports publications. Each of these will see 2 copies per week with Game Yetu published on Tuesdays and Saturdays while SportOn will be available on Mondays and Fridays.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5LHzik16LoA/URIGcpEY7-I/AAAAAAAAAUE/8JHwAdzqGF8/s1600/IMG_0148.CR2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5LHzik16LoA/URIGcpEY7-I/AAAAAAAAAUE/8JHwAdzqGF8/s320/IMG_0148.CR2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sporton, Game Yetu on a reader's table</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's interesting that despite being one of Africa's and indeed world powerhouse in sport, it took publishing houses that long to develop authentic sports publications. And even these have not quite met the threshhold of authenticity and originality since over 75 percent of the content is from online sources and European/foreign leagues. It is good to know what Manchester United is doing to lure Victor Wanyama but wouldn't it be better to understand which club in Kenya made his move to Europe possible?<br />
<br />
<b>Bloggers v/s Journalists - who rules the world? </b> <br />
Still on content, what would have hurt for the editors to consult a few bloggers or online contributors to write in their columns or provide alternative content linking it with their blogs? (not that we're canvassing for ourselves but that how one of the biggest online sports magazine <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/" target="_blank">Bleacher Report</a> has gained traction and become an authority in sports). By engaging a popular radio personality who happens to follow a certain English team is only populist and bound to fail in the long run. It would have been better to get an authority in the game and maybe have some kind of face-off with such a personality before every weekend's action (<i> something like <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/21295650" target="_blank">BBC Lawro's Predictions</a>...</i>)<br />
<br />
Again, while the larger population in the country is still not online, the numbers for publications and newspapers doing well of the shelves and the streets is quickly diminishing ( <i>in fact were it not for elections in Kenya in March, the numbers don't look pretty at all</i>). A 'quick non-scientific' sample from our Twitter handle showed that majority of Kenyans are yet to purchase either of the two sports publications. It also begs the question how sustainable the publications will be. Assuming it's a 28-pager, 7-14 pages would need to be filled by advertisers - how many companies are willing to go that way? The pricing also might be a handicap since not many Kenyans are willing to part with 30/= even if it's twice a week only.<br />
Each of the publications also have online links which are not updated as regularly. In fact as we write this, the SportOn link has not been opening for one reason or the other ....hosting challenges maybe?<br />
<br />
Though many will laud these publications, their sustainability and lack of local authenticity will make them projects in futility. It is good for sports in Kenya to receive a shot in the arm but this might need some serious re-evaluation and branding to identify with the larger masses that the papers are hoping to achieve.<br />
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<b>Laduuuumaa!</b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSs5w6tmOSc/UQ-dd075RCI/AAAAAAAAD3k/Snl8YHASDMY/s1600/laduuuma+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="99" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSs5w6tmOSc/UQ-dd075RCI/AAAAAAAAD3k/Snl8YHASDMY/s320/laduuuma+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Laduma </b>- <i>image courtesy of www.soccerladuma.co.za</i></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
These publications remind me of MwanaSpoti from Tanzania and <a href="http://www.soccerladuma.co.za/" target="_blank">Laduma </a>from South Africa. The latter is the 3rd largest selling newspaper in South Africa with daily sales in excess of 300,000 copies. Laduma means '<i>it's in</i>!' or '<i>he scores</i>!' in the Zulu language. The paper also has a website and mobi link to appeal to a wider online and mobile audience, besides being very active on social media platforms - Facebook and Twitter . It has defied all publishing logic in the country which has seen depressed numbers for newspapers and other publications in the last 5 years as Internet seems to be killing the hard copies!</blockquote>
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-20104655081838026982013-01-12T14:49:00.001+03:002013-01-12T15:12:09.511+03:00Sports Bill - Let's Get Kenyan Sport startedAfter a 10-year heart-wrenching and sometimes frustrating journey, Kenyan sport will finally get its biggest shot in the arm. As the 10th Parliament prepares to end its stay, the one thing the Kenyan sports fraternity will be grateful for is their passing of the <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:AgQAAiHtkCYJ:www.kenyalaw.org/klr/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/bills/2012/SportsBill2012.doc+&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgLmcvPY2cA-FflIjx4WlZm_zKnJnysQ-89WSF6lwGD1l89LDhBy0IaRwQzdEQnkkoEUjjV-vH8Uf6hS27XsTGNqlKqR9JAEAdT0WAatDU1Gm2KPPn1qij4WQxiGpDQ2b-nXwjv&sig=AHIEtbTK0OE21mUu5Wj_Hv9DS7RxrxBkIw" target="_blank">Sports Bill</a> ( it awaits Presidential assent to become law as early as March 2013).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vlL29mn52A8/UPFL_8B3p5I/AAAAAAAAD2o/mJmi1INOglA/s1600/Kenya_Flag_Stop_Transp.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="309" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vlL29mn52A8/UPFL_8B3p5I/AAAAAAAAD2o/mJmi1INOglA/s320/Kenya_Flag_Stop_Transp.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kenya 50 years on</b> - <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">courtesy of www.1500questions.org</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At least our lamentations to our Minister one Ababu Namwamba seems to have borne fruit and history will judge him accordingly.<br />
The Sports Bill had a number of proposals which will among others ensure Kenyan sport changes and is run more professionally as well as addressing the revenue issues which plague majority of the sports bodies.<br />
<br />
<br />
Check this out;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>establishment of Sports Kenya Development Authority ( <i>mandated to oversee all sports activities, promote, co-ordinate and implement sports programs and manage sports assets and facilities countrywide among others</i>);</li>
<li>establishment of a National Sport Fund ( <i>to raise and manage funds for sports authority as well as advise sports federations on appropriate financial grants among others</i>);</li>
<li>establishment of a National Sports Institute ( <i>to manage sports training facilities, promote research and development, check on current sporting trends and recommend appropriate practices to sports federations</i>);</li>
<li>registration and regulation of sports organisations and licensing ( <i>creation of Registrar of Sports organisations, licensing of sports bodies - federation, club or otherwise, inspection of financial records and books among others</i>)</li>
</ul>
Once the Bill is signed into law, existing sports bodies will have to register afresh and in some cases might have to elect new officials for fresh mandate. This has surely not gone down well with many of the current sports officials. The Bill also prescribes regular monitoring and evaluation of sports bodies through annual reports and returns to the Registrar.<br />
<br />
It also offers the Secretary of Sport ( equivalent to the current Minister) to intervene and dissolve a sports body in case of disputes or mismanagement. This again has caused discomfort with some of the federations such as <a href="http://www.citizennews.co.ke/sports/2012/other/item/7089-fkf-on-sports-bill" target="_blank">Football Kenya Federation which believe they're beyond any national government interference</a> (<i> as FIFA honchos have always made national federations feel above the law</i>).<br />
The law has addressed the perennial headache of fund-raising which shall be taken care of by the Sports Fund. This will ensure future national and international representation will have sufficient funds to participate in events and also federations running their affairs smoothly.<br />
<br />
But we in Kenyan sport should remain vigilant and ensure that the Sports Law is not just another clause in the Kenyan laws. Just like our legislators, most of the sports officials without interest in the development and growth of sport will fight back and stifle these developments. Law experts tell us that the law doesn't operate in a vacuum and isn't cast in stone - it is in the interests of all those involved to safeguard against its abuse. ( <i>We know that a number of sports bodies campaigned for the removal of the clause limiting the terms of office for sports officials</i>).<br />
<br />
As the country marks the golden anniversary and in its over 60 years legacy in international participation in sport, the legislation will pave way for added investment and interest in Kenyan sport. It will ensure professionalism in running sports bodies and see that sport is firmly grounded in case of indiscipline.<br />
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Notice is served to all you charlatans running sport! Just like our outgoing MPs, start packing your bags too! <br />
<br />
<b>'Useless' Kenya Facts</b>:<br />
The 10th Parliament had quite a number of MPs who have either been sports personalities or managed sports organisations in one capacity or the other. Here are a few noteworthy ones;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Peter Kenneth (MP for Gatanga) - served as Chairman for Kenya Football Federation 1996 -2000( now Federation of Kenyan Football...<i>semantics), </i>played for now-defunct Re-Union as goalkeeper<i>,</i></li>
<li>Alfred Khangati (MP for Kanduyi )- served as Chairman Kenya Volleyball Federation in the 1990s and</li>
<li>Dr. Sam Ongeri (MP for Nyaribari Masaba)- served as Chairman for Athletics Kenya 1974-84, </li>
<li>Chris Obure (MP for Bobasi) - played for Gor Mahia in the 1970s ,</li>
<li>Elijah Lagat (MP for Emgwen) - former marathoner who won Boston (2000), Prague (1998) and Berlin (1997) marathons respectively,</li>
<li>John Harun Mwau ( MP for Kilome) - sharp-shooter who represented Kenya in the Olympics in 1968 and 1972 shooting category.</li>
</ol>
<div>
(...<i>if anyone can recall any others, please help us note them</i>)</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-7435764220915372722013-01-08T12:09:00.000+03:002013-01-08T12:09:39.255+03:00Rallying & Africa - Worlds Apart...Around this time of the year up until 2009, rallying enthusiasts across the world and mainly those from Africa would be cheering for what is the most gruelling and once longest rally in the world, <a href="http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html" target="_blank">The Dakar Rally</a> ( previously known as the Paris-Dakar Rally). But thanks to the insecurity at the respective countries borders and route, hostilities from nomadic communities along the North African sides and also the nonchalance of the respective Governments and motor rallying bodies of those countries; all these and other factors got the Rally was discontinued.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H_J5p5FsY-s/UOveMWNCpCI/AAAAAAAAD14/C1vL-kberRg/s1600/tumblr_ly2q1snrIN1qz4axuo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H_J5p5FsY-s/UOveMWNCpCI/AAAAAAAAD14/C1vL-kberRg/s320/tumblr_ly2q1snrIN1qz4axuo1_500.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Dakar Rally</b> - <i>Logo courtesy of www.dakar.com </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
While in its former state, it was a favourite hangout for European and sometimes Asian drivers out for an African adventure as well as a testing ground for car manufacturers for their off-road contraptions. Its combination of the four wheelers and the motorbikes make it quite the ultimate adrenaline kick for any rallying or speed buff.<br />
Now as indicated in 2009, the organisers <a href="http://www.aso.fr/us/homepage.html" target="_blank">Amaury Sports Organisation</a> invited bids for interested countries to host the race. This ended up falling to the South American comrades in Argentina, Chile and Peru. It was a perfect fit for the race since there is a combination of the terrain that is similar to what was experienced driving and riding through the Sahara desert and the French countryside. Except there is no famous crossing like there was on the Mediterranean Sea.<br />
<br />
The main observation though as seen in previous posts in about rallying in Africa is the fact that world rallying bodies seem to have lost patience and attraction with the continent in the sport. As we write this, there is no African rally on the World Rally Championship for the 11th year running ( the Safari Rally was the last African escapade after the Rallye Cote'de Ivoire was dropped in 1992. The Paris-Dakar was the only other bigger rallying event that traversed African roads until 'we gladly let it drive away'<br />
Some of the factors of the loss of the interests by major car manufacturers and rally organisers is the fact that running a rally has become extremely expensive - from the crew working on the cars, to the fuel and spare parts involved. African governing authorities have also not seen the need to get directly involved in these events and instead institute tax and other major barriers to the event. It might also be said that the fact that most of the rallies originated from the colonial days meant that there was declining investment by the locals in the sport.<br />
More recently though has been the fact that stringent sponsorship measures have meant reduced targets for overall sponsorships - e.g. the banning of tobacco advertising in the 1990s meant that the Safari Rally quickly seeking new overall title sponsors who would bankroll the event.<br />
We have also seen major car manufacturers jump into the sport only to be driven out by the heavy expenses in hopping around the continents of the world. The latest exits saw the Mini ( after only 2 years ) and Ford (from 1992) world rally teams replaced by Hyundai and Volkswagen respectively. <br />
Another factor that has seen Africa lose out is the fact that there are few media organisations that are willing to take up the costs of covering and airing the WRC rallies. With every sport increasingly turning to the silver screen for major advertising revenue and the exclusive rights, the world of rallying had no option but to follow suit. Except for SuperSport through its mother company Multichoice, there is no big media company that would be able to carry the events with continental reach and a tidy sum for that.<br />
And so as the continent continues attracting investments of an economic nature, it is imperative for the governments and sports authorities to look out for added value opportunities such as sports events provide. Of course, there is need to involve locals and potential sponsors in what the events would bring for them in terms of visibility, uniqueness and exposure to the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
But until then, Africa will remain a forlorn relic in the world of rallying.<br />
<br />
<i>For more on The Dakar Rally go to <a href="http://www.dakar.com/">www.dakar.com</a> and you can also check this blog <a href="http://www.thedakar.blogspot.com/">www.thedakar.blogspot.com</a> </i><br />
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-85377953271733612352012-12-18T16:14:00.000+03:002012-12-18T16:21:00.924+03:00Kenyan National Honours, who makes the Sports Category shortlist?Jamhuri or Independence/Republic Day is usually the last major national day on the Kenyan calendar. This day also serves as when the list of state commendations or honours are awarded to various Kenyan nationals who have served diligently and exceptionally within the given calendar year or in their lifetime. It is structured in the same vein of civil awards and decorations such as are awarded in the UK ( Kenya's former colonial master), US et cetera.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LBsN3mr6KMk/UNBaCO0sOwI/AAAAAAAAATY/E3hgtA_tnPs/s1600/Kenya+National+Awards.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LBsN3mr6KMk/UNBaCO0sOwI/AAAAAAAAATY/E3hgtA_tnPs/s320/Kenya+National+Awards.gif" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Kenya State Commendation Bars</b> <br /><i>Image courtesy of http://www.coleccionesmilitares.com/</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Immediately after Kenya's independence, the roll of honour was largely composed of politicians, businessmen, educationists and sadly cronies of the Government of the day. This was perpetuated in by the Moi government in the 1980s and 90s. Then came the Kibaki era which is coming to its sunset days. Again not much change there and though there have been a couple of deserving Kenyans who have been awarded, there are also some 'suprises' who show up every now and then. (<i>FYI -In 2012, <a href="http://networkedblogs.com/G5sxP">two of the President's children</a> or is it First Family's were among those honoured</i>) <br />
Do you always wonder if you have made the list or at least someone who you know deserves? It was a bit of an embarrassment for the Kenyan state in 2004 when the Nobel Committee honoured Wangari Maathai with its Prize for Peace while back home the best we could do is offer her a Deputy Ministerial post with its lowly honours and priviledges.<br />
<br />
All the same we have a list of the honours listed as follows;<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Order of the Golden Heart</b> - Chief/First Class(only Kenyan Head of State & other exemplary people from other parts of the world are awarded this) denoted as CGH, Elder/Second Class (EGH), Moran/Third Class (MGH)</li>
<li><b>Order of the Burning Spear</b> - Chief (CBS), Moran (MBS) and Elder (EBS)</li>
<li><b>Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya </b>(OGW)<b> </b></li>
<li><b>Silver Star</b> (SS)</li>
<li><b>Head of State Commendation</b> ( HSC)</li>
<li>Distinguished Service Medal</li>
<li>Distinguished Conduct Order</li>
</ul>
<br />
This year there were a couple of sports personalities awarded including;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>David Lekuta Rudisha (MBS)</li>
<li>Sam Nyamweya (MBS)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Last year's list included among others;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Collins Injera (OGW)</li>
<li>Humphrey Kayange (OGW)</li>
</ul>
<br />
Other previous honours include Catherine Ndereba (DSM & OGW), Tecla Loroupe (OGW), Ezekiel Kemboi (OGW), Jason Dunford (OGW) and Paul Tergat (MBS) to name but a few.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8PZbke_sMCk/UNBpCuusLiI/AAAAAAAAATo/WcS-VbGq3Vk/s1600/aga-khan-iv-kenya-medal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8PZbke_sMCk/UNBpCuusLiI/AAAAAAAAATo/WcS-VbGq3Vk/s320/aga-khan-iv-kenya-medal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pres. Kibaki garlands The Aga Khan with Chief of Golden Heart (CGH) honours - 2007</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now my beef starts with the 'economy of that list'. It was too short considering there are many sports personalities worthy of recognition whether still active, retired or post-humously. This has been done before. For example, Kenya never honoured her late boxing hero Robert Wangila Napunyi, marathoner Samuel Wanjiru, footballer Jonathan Niva, former tennis star Paul Wekesa et cetera.<br />
Secondly, what criteria do the State operatives use to vet those deserving of these awards? Yeah what great honour did some of those mentioned bring us? For example, football honcho Sam Nyamweya though in charge of Football Kenya Federation currently, our take is that he has not really lived up to expectations. In fact, he could be part of why Kenyan football languishes in mediocrity. Look at how they handled the Henri Michel case. What about Sakata Ball?<br />
Finally we're reminded that there was supposed to be a Heroes Corner at Uhuru Gardens. What happened to that initiative? Athletics Kenya came up with its own Sports Museum to try and honour those who achieved great deeds in the sport for the country, though it doesn't quite measure up to standards.<br />
<br />
Next year at a time like this,we shall be having a new government and hope that they will improve on the way we honour our sports people. They have been our greatest and most consistent ambassadors and should treated as such if not better! <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Figurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074309983545734730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-29621007944587761902012-12-07T13:17:00.000+03:002012-12-07T13:17:01.842+03:00Can Kenya Rugby 7s sustain the tempo, Mr. Friday? The 2012-13 HSBC-sponsored IRB Sevens series has started with oomph for the Kenyan team. Last season, the team finished 12th ( last for the initial 12 -core teams) and risked being dropped from the 'core teams' status ( <i>core teams are guaranteed of participation to all tournaments within a given season</i>). Starting this season, IRB has introduced a new set of rules which shall see teams <a href="http://www.gilbertrugbyblog.com/irb-7s-revamp/" target="_blank">promoted and relegated</a> depending on their final ranking at the end of the season. The series also saw expansion of the initial core teams from 12 to 15.<br />
Back to the Kenyan game, in the off-season, Britain's former rugby player and coach, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Friday" target="_blank">Mike Friday</a> was hired to bring back some technical expertise and polish the Kenyan game known for its pace and brashness. After missing out on the Safari Sevens shield it seemed like it was 2011-12 season all over again but the last 2 rounds of the series have proved otherwise. So far the team lies joint 2nd overall (<i>with Fiji</i>) with a total amass of 32 points.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>South Africa beckons</b> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yODyFlCPcgM/UMG_2bBh2zI/AAAAAAAAD1Q/EKSqEl8ipAo/s1600/kenya-7s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yODyFlCPcgM/UMG_2bBh2zI/AAAAAAAAD1Q/EKSqEl8ipAo/s320/kenya-7s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>The three Kenya 7s Rugby shirts by Samurai Sportswear </i>- <br />Image courtesy of Samurai Sports</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The last event of the series this calendar year in South Africa shall represent a new set of challenge for Mike Friday's charges. First the absence of top try scorer Collins Injera along with experienced hands Biko Adema and Oscar Ouma is bound to be felt. Sydney Ashioya is also out with a hamstring injury. A temporary reprieve is the availability of Humphrey Kayange ( Injera's older brother) who shall be featuring for the national team colours for the first time this season. Call-ups to replace the former include; Billy Odhiambo, Fabian Olando and Oscar Ayondi.<br />
<br />
Second, the team has already been seen to be a strong contender for the top 6 finishers and other teams have taken notice. This being the 3rd round you can expect a couple of tactical changes from those teams that have previously looked like walkovers. Though the pool looks favourable with Argentina and Wales being the main threats to clip Kenya's qualification to the Main Cup proper, the battle shall be from the Quarter and Semi-Finals respectively. The Kenyan team has been coming off too close in the finishing and decisive tackles. The conversion kicks have been off the mark especially in the Dubai series. The try-scoring<br />
<br />
Third, the South African round is only the third in a 10-tournament series. Can the Kenyan team go the whole hog and sustain these sterling performances? It's been a good thing going but a dip in form might happen anywhere between the Christmas break ( January 2013) and the second one in April 2013. If the boys and technical team keep it together, we've got a good thing going. In any case, if Kenya can gun for a top 6 finish in any of the tournament's that translates to 12 points in the bag.<br />
<b>Points Awarded</b>:<br />
Top 6 finishers in each tournament are awarded points as follows;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Cup Winners (1st) -22 points, </li>
<li>Cup Losers (2nd) -19 points, </li>
<li>Cup 3rd-place playoff winner (3rd) -17 points, </li>
<li>Cup 3rd-place playoff/loser (4th) - 15 points, </li>
<li>Plate Winner (5th) - 13 points, </li>
<li>Plate Runner-Ups (6th) - 12 points</li>
</ul>
<br />
Fourth, there was some change in the kit from Gilbey's to the <a href="http://ur7s.com/news/2021/kenya_announce_partnership_with_samurai_sports" target="_blank">Samurai shirts starting with the Dubai series</a>. This though not a major concern ought to be addressed and finalised by Kenya Rugby Union officials. Shirt sponsorship should ensure that the team has unique identity and also serve to motivate them to improve their performance. There is also the added incentive of monetary amounts if well negotiated. Such details ought to be out in the public domain and not behind boardroom doors.<br />
<br />
Fifth, there has been the remuneration and bonuses awarded by the team sponsors' Kenya Airways and also for finishing in the top 4. These monies should be paid as and when available to continually motivate the boys in the team. Donning national colours is a great honour but in this time and age, that honour has a price too. Being a semi-professional team aspiring to become fully professional in the next half-decade, substantive contracts with clear remuneration packages should be in every player's pocket.<br />
<br />
Sixth rugby sevens will be premiering in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Kenya is one of the likely qualifiers from Africa and should ensure it sends the best team to the Games. Though its early days for that, the building blocks start now since over half the team might not be in the running for a place by then. This goes back to the Kenya Rugby Union officials. Ensure wider reach of the game, rigorous recruitment by the clubs, regular technical and development skills to the retiring players and practising coaches, additional investment through sponsorships and grants from relevant corporate bodies and sports bodies among others.<br />
<br />
Finally, the same gusto that has been invested in the 7s game should be translated to the 15s game which is still tottering in Kenya. Remember rugby aficionados believe that a country's worth is known by its 15-a-side strength and depth. Are we working on this?<br />
<br />
To Mr.Friday and the Kenyan team, <i>Ngikufisela Inhlanhla</i> in Port Elizabeth ! <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60835327153699662.post-81736744456748950232012-12-05T17:50:00.000+03:002012-12-05T17:50:15.533+03:00Kenyan Blog Awards season - Nomination opensFor the rest of you, it's holiday season but for you in the blogosphere in Kenya, it's awards time! Yes, the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) Awards have opened the nomination for the awards to be given in 2013. If you have a blog, know of one, like one and wish to nominate it, then you can right ahead and do that <a href="http://www.bloggers.or.ke/awards/submit/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6VGfjztaFgo/UL9ctXuFlJI/AAAAAAAAD0k/1I94FdUuKPw/s1600/chrysalis_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6VGfjztaFgo/UL9ctXuFlJI/AAAAAAAAD0k/1I94FdUuKPw/s1600/chrysalis_logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />
This year the categories include among others;<br />
1. Best Tech Blog<br />
2. Best Creative Writing Blog<br />
3. Best Agricultural/Environmental Blog<br />
4. Best News Blog<br />
5. Best Sports Blog ( <i>you can nominate yours truly</i>)<br />
6. Best Travel Blog<br />
7. Best Corporate Blog<br />
8. Kenyan Blog of the Year<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OODO45Z2L8k/UL9ezK4PTPI/AAAAAAAAD0s/HcsUv3-3Gxk/s1600/Awards+Icon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OODO45Z2L8k/UL9ezK4PTPI/AAAAAAAAD0s/HcsUv3-3Gxk/s320/Awards+Icon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Nominations end on 1st of February 2013 and judging follows for the top 3 in each category after which the winners will be announced and awarded.{ <i>SportsKenya was among the top 3 nominees for the inaugural awards in the Best Sports Blog category earlier this year</i>}<br />
<br />
For more details, check this <a href="http://www.bloggers.or.ke/awards/submit/" target="_blank">link </a>by BAKE and also check out the BAKE aggregating page <a href="http://www.bake.or.ke/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://reddit.com/new/.embed?limit=5&t=all" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0