Africa Champions League: Kenya starts with a loss

With the news this week being bad for Kenyan sport, we pile that up with 1 more story. Mathare United started with a 2-0 loss to Zesco- Zambia in the Zambian town of Ndola. The usual story will come by and the club comes back with an uphill task of scoring at least 3 goals to sail through into the next round.
Tomorrow Gor Mahia takes the pitch to take on Rwanda's APR. They take comfort on having veteran coach James Sianga and a fanatical following rivaling more established clubs in Europe and South America. We do hope a return to continental club football will not end in the 1st round.

Nakumatt fire takes out football aficionado

This article doesn’t feel right but we have to pay tribute to a local football manager who started out with the budding club and last year’s Kenya Premier League winners- Mathare United. Peter Serry associated with the club was among casualties in the fire that gutted down Nairobi’s busiest and 24hr supermarket-Nakumatt Downtown.
We may lay blame on the concerned parties for not responding with the urgency and technical expertise that's needed, but that's not for me here.
May his soul lay in eternal peace and as Mathare United play in the opening game of the African Champions League against Zambia’s Zesco, they can win the game as a tribute to a Kenyan comrade.

GTV goes bust!

In these financial woes, nothing seems to be spared. From your morning ratios being cut to bare essentials to your favourite sports catch ups. Gateway Broadcasting Services, the holding company for GTV has closed shop and hence no more cable TV for all you sports enthusiasts.
This comes too close to their committing to cover more local content and ensuring coverage of the regional tournaments including CECAFA.
This is a loss to all you pub owners and home owners too who have paid subscription to the company starting 2009 and the periods preceding.
My quick assessment tells me that the company may have secured most of its finance through debt and thus with the financial crunch hitting all, they couldn’t take it anymore. Let’s see what unfolds as we live in historic times!

The statement from the company's here.

Gebreselassie in Town

Gebreselassie finishes ahead of Tergat on his days on the tracks

One man Kenyan athletes love to hate is in town. Coming courtesy of G4S Group-local security and courier service company, he is in town to conduct running clinics for 3 days.
And he didn't even wait for a night with Kenyan media asking him about his record set for the marathon which he broke last year adding to the already heated rivalry between Tergat and himself. He's always said theirs is a friendly one but I'm sure younger athletes like Samuel Wanjiru, Robert Cheruiyot are listening.
It will be an interesting time to interact with the athlete and hear his point of view and also learn a few of his entrepreneurial skills which he has put into good use to help him secure a life after racing.
But from the look of things, retirement is not anywhere close. More details here.

Sports FM radio station in Kenya

This blog had reported this last year and it seems the FM stations have finally paid heed to the call . Jambo FM which has been an offshoot of Radio Africa-home to Kiss FM and Classic 105.2 FM - is going into fully fledged sports after doing trial sessions.
Famous names such as Bramwell Mwololo and Jacob Mulee both former footballers ( and coach for the latter) are among the few already working at the station.
Among its offerings will be live commentaries of football(soccer) games from the Kenya Premier League, English Premier League, La Liga, Champions League and even Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup.
The other offerings will include sports like rugby,swimming,motorsport and other major sports events.
What I'm wondering will they do what they have been copying from a local radio station where the broadcasters watch the game on cable TV and start running commentaries and adding voice-overs to seem like they are covering the games live. While the local enthusiasts maybe enjoying the commentaries ( I fall for it once in awhile),there are things called 'TV rights', 'plagiarism' which they ought to take care of.
Otherwise a noble idea worth its time.

Sports and Sponsorships

As I write this, EABL has committed Kshs. 12 million for the Kenya Open Golf tournament to be held in April at the Muthaiga Golf club. Earlier this month, Safaricom committed another Kshs. 8 million to the Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Postal Corporation, Brand Kenya and DSTv added another Kshs. 0.5 million each towards sponsoring the event.
KCB continued its 5 year contract with KMSF with a bounty of Kshs. 30 million. Kenya Data Networks (KDN) will commit some Kshs. 6 million towards the local golfing scene for the events organised by Kenya Golf Union in the different clubs.
This is a positive step from Kenyan corporate companies which would have turned the other way claiming they are cost-cutting on their expenditure. I’m on the look-out for more companies which will join the queue and stand to be counted.
OK, Triton’s scandal didn’t do justice to the sponsoring companies sinking with over Kshs. 5 worth of sponsorship commitments. Internationally companies have been bailing out of sports sponsorship at an alarming rate. AIG, Vodafone, Nortel Networks are but a few of the main ones. Image courtesy of Brands of the World
What has perturbed me though is the low participation locally by companies in sports sponsorship and development of sports. Concern maybe expressed through the association officials who run the offices a backyard pawn shop. Government bureaucracy and nonchalance in some of the associations too leaves a lot to be desired.
But I believe its time companies realized there are better ways of communicating value to their targeted audience and sport is one universal way of doing this. It’s is for marketers to find ways of communicating this to different audiences. Traditional methods such as advertising are slowly becoming redundant and ambiguous. Let’s see how this unfolds in the coming months.

Motorsport in Kenya gets thumbs-up from KCB

Fresh from having bad publicity from the scandal involving one of its sponsors, Kenya Motorsport Federation got a shot in the arm with its main sponsor committing another Kshs. 90 million over the next 3 years. That goes a long way in encouraging local rally drivers who may have started having second thoughts about the sport.
Rally enthusiasts will be treated to another round of rallies and the main one of course being the Safari Rally which is included in the International Rally Championship as it hopes to make its way back to the World Rallying Championship. KMSF ought to attract some bigger fish and give a good account of itself as they organise these circuits. A few foreign competitors ought to give our local drivers a challenge and ensure the sport attracts foreign media.
As for KCB, thanks for going against the grain and remaining true to the sport. Asanteni sana !
Azar Anwar is crowned as the top driver for the season ended 2008. Find this here.

Football developments

Over the weekend, local football clubs treated us to the servings we expect for the coming season. Gor Mahia & Mathare United played to a local version of the Community Shield and the latter were outclassed even with the services of last season’s best tactician F. Kimanzi. AFC on the other hand had a trip to the Coast and their loss to a lowly team is cause for concern-though they may take consolation in the fact that they still have a month or so to strengthen their squad.
Thika United on the other hand has been taking the pains of setting up proper training facilities with grounds, a gym and accompanying equipment. Through their sponsors Brookside Milk, the team is also recruiting to enhance its title chances Sofapaka is also in the mix as are other clubs. The encouraging thing is that most of the clubs have secured at least 1 sponsor for either their shirts or players (becoming employees of sponsoring company). With another Kshs. 1 million (approx. 13000 US$) from the SuperSport –sponsored Kenya Premier League, clubs should be able to start the league on fair grounds. Its now up to them to ensure they fill their respective grounds with fans and play quality football to make us even abandon English, Spanish, Italian and other foreign leagues- ambitious maybe but possible.
DSTv (SuperSport) has also been recruiting local journalists to be able to cover the local games and have even committed a new outside broadcasting truck to cover the games beyond the Nairobi environs. Various stadia outside Nairobi have been earmarked for KPL games which will be screened live on SuperSport 3 starting March 2009.
Looking forward to March…KPL starts

Sports Personalities of the Year Awards- Gala Night

The biggest sports event (outside the fields and tracks) was the gala night hosted by the FineTouch Communications -sports marketing organization -Paul Tergat's brainchild which has managed the event since inception.
The event attracted the biggest gathering of sports personalities from across the spectrum. From the rich and famous (sportsmen in Kenya do easily fall into that category) to the retired and flourishing. Kipchoge Keino, John Velzian, Francis Kimanzi, Bob Munro, Injera brothers, Jacob Mulee, William Sigei, Martin Keino, Elenah Shiveka, Richard Omwela, David Makali, German ambassador,Samuel Poghisio are but some of the names on the roll who I managed to mingle with.
MCs for the night were Robert Soi-sports editor KTN and Torome Tirike-sports editor Citizen. I thought there was some imbalance since both were men though the former was in the night's dress code-tie and black suit while Torome was in dressed as a Maasai moran. A lady would have made more sense and balanced out the equation-Everlyn Watta-Nation Media Group or even Citizen's Jasmine Martin maybe.
Good:
- the turnout by most sports associations/federations, officials and personalities was impressive. Its the only forum they meet outside their respective competitive disciplines.
- media stations were also well -represented and with KBC covering the event live ( for once there were no hitches from their broadcast-though I'm made to understand they had contracted a media practitioner to provide clips which were used intermittently in the event). They may have hogged most the roles like MCs and judges but that's fair enough for now.
- Sponsors came in a bigger way than last year (even as most companies keep making excuses about the economic state). Safaricom, KBC, Brand Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Services, Nokia Siemens, Multi-Choice, Postal Corporation of Kenya, Nairobi Bottlers (Coca-Cola) and Sarova Hotels were the toast of town on the night. Gina Din Communications (they always get the big jobs...huh ?) were the PR managers for the day.
- Sarakasi dancers had an interesting dance representing the different disciplines and they gave a good intro to the event. Their performance using ‘Chariots of Fire’ –theme song for 1984 Olympic Games –Los Angeles was a great theme for the night.
- Time-keeping. I have attended Kenyan events and this one was quite on point with the day's roster. Everything ran like clockwork. Even with the catering, this distracts most people, impressive! I made 2 trips to the desert table-I digress.
-security was tight and no losses were reported or ugly incidences as happens at some sporting events in the country.
-Govt representatives- led by the VP the GoK has come to acknowledge the need to support sports and sports men. Figures indicate a kitty of KShs.100m has so far been presented as prize money by the Government. Money well spent methinks

Bad:
- A media friend was almost missing out on the event after missing out on the invitations list. Thanks to a staffer from FineTouch Communications who ironed out the issue.
- some of the music played for the night was not authentic (reflective of Kenyan musical prowess). There was a sense of repetition especially while doing the presentations. The bands can work on that.
- cameramen- they almost held some athletes ransom demanding shots at awkward positions. The frequent guidance from Robert Soi made sure they didn't interfere with the day's proceedings.
- Samuel Wanjiru’s gaffe when he couldn’t remember the ex-VP’s name. The athlete though was proud of the efforts made in recognizing Kenyan sportsmen and asked for more patriotism- let’s not wait for Obama who made his way up.
-Kenyan football officials- Harambee Stars was presented with the Team of the Year- 1st Runner-Up. None of the feuding factions could legitimately collect the trophy prompting Soi to ask Francis Kimanzi to collect with the crowd applauding him for the achievements. (I’d spotted Mr. Nyamweya-KFF but he was a tad bit late).

Ugly:
-nothing out of this world happened, crowning a great night for the sporting fraternity in Kenya.
WINNERS:
1. Sports Personality of the Year –Male- Samuel Wanjiru-athletics
2. Sports Personality of the Year- Female- Pamela Jelimo- athletics
3. Sports Team of the Year- Female- Prisons volleyball team
4. Sports Team of the Year -Male- Rugby Sevens team
5. Sports Federation/Association of the Year- Kenya Rugby Football Union
6. Coach of the Year- Julius Kirwa
7. Most Promising Sports person- female- Achieng Ajulu- swimming
8. Most Promising Sports person- male- Josphat Bett-athletics
9. Special Category:
Most outstanding sports person-male- Henry K. Kirwa- athletics(paralympian)
Most outstanding sports person-female- Mary Namuwinja-athletics(paralympian)
10. Community Hero- Juma Abdalla Kent-basketball
11. Hall of Famer:- Jonathan Niva- football

Sportskenya goes live at the Sports Personality of theYear Awards

This annual landmark sports event is about to go down and Sportskenya will be covering this event live. As we speak, security has been tightened around the venue, thanks to the presence of Government officials (the VP will be gracing the event on the President's behalf.
Each year it been growing in leaps and bounds. One letdown though is the absence of the invited guest, one Maria Mutola from Mozambique. We'll give your snippets of the event as we go on.....

Athletics Kenya : A little bit of this, a little bit of that

One of the busiest sports associations in Kenya is having a really interesting tunr of events as the year gets older. With the national cross-country meets on, the association decided to axe a number of agents (story here). What caught my eye is that all the agents were foreigners most operating from Europe. Maybe it's something we have never thought but why is it after 40 years of dominating the track, we can't afford to groom local athletes into agents? Furthermore can't Athletics Kenya develop training programmes for such agents for local athletes? This would reduce the incidence of unscrupulous agents out to make a living from our athletes. Famous athlete Henry Rono lost much of his fortune from dealing with such agents. Last year a local athlete lost his life in Brazil and the family was pleading for his body to be interred.
While they deal with the issue of agents, AK officials will also be seeking Government support to ensure they host the 2010 Africa Athletics championship. One thing that puzzles me when issues like these arise, where we Government officials when the bid was being made? And if they were there can't they make a commitment of so much and be obliged to sign up a document for such an undertaking?
The world over, major championships always have the backing of the central Government since this is one of the ways of marketing the country without much strain. This also commits them to infrastructural development which would otherwise be under-utilised.- Remember the boon for Mombasa for hosting the 2007 World Cross-Country championships?
Keeping it real, Athletics Kenya now have to source for a new sponsor for their Grand Prix event which brew controversy last year after EABL through its flagship brand Tusker withdrew. It emerged that Keino Sports Marketing bungled the prize money meant to be paid out to the winners. I'll be hope they can get a more relevant brand which would closely associate with athletics. New KCC and Brookside are 2 companies I can quickly throw in there.

Skating in Kenya

This year, Sportskenya has decided to move from writing stories on the usual culprits of major sports and add a little on the offering of Kenyan sport. Skating sees us off this week.

Walking into town on a Sunday afternoon sometime last year, I was almost knocked down by these kids racing on the skates down the empty streets of Nairobi’s CBD. I was wondering which company was having a roadshow on a Sunday or which backyard had moved its rivalry into town. A little into town, I found a whole section of the CBD roads closed for these winds-on-wheels.

The Skating Club has started an ambitious plan to make Kenyan youth appreciate skating not just as past-time but a sport where one can make a living. I have seen kids on skates more than once doing various product launches and creating a buzz at other locations with their roller-skating skills.
It's not a very easy sport in the sense that most roads in Kenya are without clear markings and again Kenyan (Nairobi mostly) motorists are not accommodating to such tomfoolery. Most of these kids blockade their local estate roads and do their runs to the chagrin of the neighbourhood watch. The authorities may also say there are no rules or regulations recognizing these users on the roads. (I’m made to understand skating is illegal in some US States, remember Lupe Fiasco’s song?). The skates are also out of reach for most kids and the rate of wear and tear may put off even those interested in sport from not-so-well up societies.

Thus with this in mind organizers have requested city authorities to allow them usage of city roads on Sundays when they are less busy to enjoy their game and show different skills as well as socialize. It would be a great opportunity for energy drinks and other products to have their placements and promos done on such days. They can also consult these I’ll be keeping my foot on the ground as I seek more information on this.

For inspiration, I take them back to Lupe Fiasco on Kick Push…….

Kenya Football Fallacies & Fantasies

It’s only in Kenya where once you do a great job, you get booted by your bosses. It’s only in Kenya where you find rewards for being mediocre. It’s only in Kenya where the more corrupt you are, the more glorified you become.
Over the weekend, while we enjoyed rare showers being a shiny season; the rains beat us from one of the bodies claiming to run football allegedly sacking the national football coach for ‘hard-headedness and insubordination’. It’s alleged that he refused to take the team for 2 friendlies in Yemen and Spain last year before the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup-even after it was claimed he had requested for the same. There were other accusations which I won’t dwell on here.
My point(s) of concern is;
1) With the team still fresh from its first outing this year, we need a sense of stability and continuity to be able to hold for the upcoming tie against Tunisia in March.
2) Who in reality is running Kenyan football? This question needs to be answered by the Kenyan government officials as CAF and FIFA will never gives us a clear picture of this. They have more serious things to do and one of Africa’s fledging countries can’t hold them ransom with its shenanigans.
3) While the Government maybe under pressure from FIFA, they can turn the heat on and take over the management of the national team. That way they can save us some blushes from the FKL and KFF clowns.
4) I can almost certainly say we have squandered and lost enough opportunities to put our act together in sport especially football. With all the goodwill from sponsors such as MultiChoice, and a local league attracting fair representation, we have taken 3 steps forward but 5 back.
5) Can we disband football and just forget it the game for the next few years in Kenya? We can continue our viewership of European and South American leagues with ease.
As for the football officials purportedly running Kenyan football, barbs galore for your 2009 season !

Off-season Preparations

With most leagues enjoying a break, the preparations are underway for most of sports associations and federations.
Rugby –locally will see one of the off-season tournaments the Bamburi Series next month which serves as a good curtain raiser and gauge for the various players wishing to make a mark in their respective teams. On the other hand the 7s team is well into its 3rd circuit which takes them into Wellington next month.
Basketball- most of the teams will be looking to recruit personnel for their teams. A consolation is that no team has dissolved yet, though this may happen given the decrepit conditions the game is showing in the last years. As if to add insult to injury, a number of fresh talents are being poached by American high schools and colleges. This can’t bode well since few of these ever make a contribution to the local game. After the flight, kwaheri is what we say!
KBF has not made any clear intentions of new changes in the League with the officials who were elected early last year still struggling to support the Federation in the measliest of ways.

Hockey- this is another sport having a see-saw of sorts. With elections held last yea, we can hope that the new office gives the league some stimulus. Indications are that the various tournaments ahead of the official season like the Vaisakhi tourney will making a comeback. We do hope no drama will be seen like the boycott and eventual suspension of the junior team to the continental challenge.
Football- the clubs have engaged various professionals and ‘quacks’ alike to prepare for the Kenya Premier League which starts in March. A couple have hired new coaches like the now renamed City Stars (formerly World Hope). The rivalry which existed between perennial opponents such as Leopards and Gor Mahia will be revived after promotion of the former.
Motor-rallying- the Kenya motorsport starts with concerns over sponsorships after the KCB package (worth KShs.130 million ended in 2008) and the collapse of Triton Petroleum which more or less provided fuel to most rallying teams. For an already struggling sport, this is bound to hurt more if no immediate sponsors come on board.
The Safari Rally is included in the International Rallying Championship. Kenya MotorSport Club had better be working overtime to secure the necessary support both financial and logistical.
Swimming- With the success enjoyed by our swimmers last year, swimming has quickly caught on in the country moreso in the City. Over the last few days, thanks to the favourable weather, swimming pools have been brimming with young Kenyans trying to emulate their local hero-Jason Dunford. If this can be sustained and the young talent offered specialized training the kind the Dunford brothers enjoy, we can be sure to produce continental if not world beaters. This is easily becoming one of the emerging sport in Kenya.

CECAFA- Missed opportunities

Yesterday marked the final game of the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and if not surprising, Uganda managed to win the title pipping Kenya 1-0. Though most teams had sent their weaker sides, the competition was supposed to be a good opportunity for Kenya and other teams preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations/World Cup qualifiers to test their charges.

While Kenyans take consolation finishing second, the FIFA rankings reckoned otherwise- Kenya’s currently placed 84th and its neighbour Uganda at 68th- another opportunity to capitalize on placing our country in a steady position (You know we can’t send our players to some professional leagues if we are below 70th position- like the English Leagues?)
With the invitation of a guest team the competition was supposed to have a competitive edge to it and at least give value for money for sponsors and pay Tv channel GTV which signed a contract to air the games. This didn’t quit live to the billing though the bigger teams seemed to struggle earlier in the tourney. The wider African audience may have been amused by the level of competition exhibited.
Watching the games from the comfort of our seats was not shared by our players who kept complaining of the pathetic conditions of the pitches- especially what looked like a grazing field in Jinja. Can CECAFA attract serious funding with such grounds?
Why live up to such mediocrity?
What was worrying too was the timing of the tournament, which meant there were few fans getting into the gates of the stadia. Missed opportunity for revenues!
With the next tournament to be held in Kenya, there should a lot going for it. My belief is that Kenya will still be in the running to qualify for the Cup of Nations. As for the World Cup, I would like to share my optimism but with no proper management and tactical plans are in place to guarantee this. Tunisia which is also in the same Group had sent its personnel to analyse our game. Do we bother to do such assessment on our opposition?
Let’s hope Kenya will redeem the image of the tournament.