MacDonald Mariga's Miss - Lessons for Kenyan football

Thanks to the dithering football authorities and the usual last minute haste and Mariga missed out on what the local media had already hyped as the deal of the year. What is even more amusing is the fact that our very own PM tried gaining mileage too saying how he'd helped acquire a work permit after placing a call to the UK authorities. Laughable if you ask me...
Photo Courtesy of Inter Milan official website.

What do we learn from this ?

First we are celebrating a single player almost making it to the English Premiership League for the first time, well and good. But shouldn't we be sad that it has taken us almost 18 years to get what would have been the first player into the EPL ? Countries such as Congo (both Congo Kinshasa & Congo Brazzaville already have two players having played there even when their states are not the most stable economically). You can also check out the spread of international players currently playing in the EPL here.
Secondly if this is not a good enough wake-up call for the Kenyan football authorities then I don't know what is. Forget the fancy bid they made for the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations ( Big Joke !)Forget the Antoine Hey fiasco (Mr. PM he DID NOT IMPROVE Kenyan football). If there is a time that Kenyan young players will get inspired in playing the game it is now. If you put a little more effort and time in investing in the Kenya Premier League as SuperSport has so willingly been patient with you, then the yield will be a whole load of talent.
Third expounding on the 2nd point above, if you have good local talent it automatically means you develop a good local scene. Coming from the Africa Cup of Nations, the North Africans and some West African countries have shown us that they have what it takes to earn bragging rights, ask the Egyptians.
That's fair enough for now as we look forward to a new season 2010 !

Mariga's Boon:
It may seem lost that he didn't make it to England, but methinks he will improve dramatically working under the 'The Special One'. It may also be right given he has a chance playing in the Champions League fixtures starting soon.
Who knows in the summer his tag may improve dramatically and may find just the right suitors?

MacDonald Mariga 's Promised Deal ? No Celebrating Yet

Over the weekend, the local Press and sports enthusiasts were treated to some interesting news about one of Kenya's sterling footballers about to make his forays into the richest Premier league in Europe -EPL.
While perusing I noticed a rather disappointing tone to most of the stories which highlighted more of what he is supposedly going to earn rather than tell us more about his exploits on the pitch and impact in his current team Parma in Italy.
Something else we must realise is that the deal is not yet sealed. As Mark Kaigwa notes in his blog- Mariga's likely miss , we must remember that Manchester City is currently the richest club and though we would love to have him join them (the first Kenyan player if he does to play in the English Premier League), there is the small matter of whether he will earn top notch playing games or languish on the bench ala Angola's Manucho @ Manchester United.
As a player though, he has managed to stay in good playing condition given the very physical nature of the Italian game - catenaccio. If he makes it to the English game, the pace, weather and exhausting schedule is something to think about. He may also need to consult some serious tax guys to sort out his pay and any endorsements (if they come his way) since England is known to have one of the tightest tax regimes in sports.
As the January transfer window comes to an end in the next few hours, we hope history shall be made but with much thought and hindsight before embarking on the English rendezvous.

Kenyan football officials you watching?

Did you know that...
- Mariga was part of the Kamukunji High School - that included Dennis Oliech -Auxerre (France) who won two national titles in 2002 & 2003.
- His deal to Parma was engineered by former Swede international Martin Dahlin - first black player for the Swedish team which went on to place 3rd in the 1994 World Cup in the US.
- There are reports of interests too from Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan
(Sources: Wikipedia & Goal.com)

Englishmen in Russia

They say the ultimate for most sports is winning or being on top. Well, the English game has thus far come to 'win' us over. Today we witness two of the best English teams see who can get one further by winning Europe's most prestigious club league, UEFA Champions League.
Most of us will be glued to our screens , while others especially if your favourite team's among them will go to nearest watering hole to see it with friends and 'rivals'. The last few days has seen most local clubs prepare their locations for this game which crowns the European season as we wait for the Euro 2008 next month.
As I had said, English football has scored a victory here by bringing 2 teams to the Final (add a third which was eliminated in the semis). This is no wonder the English league has continued to attract huge viewership across the globe. But success as they say is won on the pitch. It will be sad that the English national team will not be at Euro 2008 ( ........see posts below)
. Though most football purists do not hold the national team in such high esteem, but that's for another forum.
May the best team win tonight !
NOTES:
- The winning team collects a Final's cheque of 7,000,000 million euros with cumulative earnings coming to a total of 39,592,000 million euros ( without the TV rights and sponsorship deals).
- This is the first Champions League final to be contested between two clubs from England, and the third time clubs from the same country have featured in such a match.2000, the final was an all-Spanish affair (Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0), while clubs from Italy engaged in the 2003 final (AC Milan beat Juventus on penalties).