Sports Needs Political Goodwill: Sports must be accorded political goodwill by the County government in order to kick-start the bigger picture of grassroot Soccer in Kajiado . – By Daniel Njuguna ( Football Fanatic and Analyst)
Kajiado County is one of the few counties in the Country with a big potential of providing quality individual footballing abilities and talents to the National and international platforms. Despite very little hope to that effect, footballers still show up to their respective dusty grounds across the county to train every evening trusting that one day it will pay off.
Apart from career ambitions that rarely comes along in Kajiado county, this sport keeps hundreds of young people away from drugs and negative energy in the community. It keeps them very busy on a daily basis counting all the way from training to competitive league matches every Sunday of the week. However, irrespective of how passionate these young men and women are, they cannot thrive in isolation, they must be accorded political goodwill by the Kajiado government of the day to just help kick-start the bigger picture of grassroots football in Kajiado County as it is equally very crucial and above all the societal Goodwill to offer the moral and social-economic support to this very field.
Photo: Daniel Njuguna ( Football Fanatic and Analyst)
Perhaps, this is a perfect moment to reflect on the health of our football at a County and grassroots level all the way from Kajiado South to the hills of Kajiado North, from Kajiado East to the far ends of Kajiado West, and to consider the wider benefits that sports give to our community. On several occasions I’ve met Alex Musikeri, the Chairman of the Football Federation Kajiado County, to discuss and dive deep into the strengths and weaknesses of the game in this county. I agree with much of his analysis, if not all of his solutions.
In particular, he is right to point out that the majority of the football clubs playing in the County zonal leagues have faced absolute difficulties over the years from lack of financial capacities to pay the referees, to traverse the Constituency miles away to honour their fixtures, the lack of exposure, lack of proper structures in those clubs lack of support from the local leadership among very many challenges and this has derailed the imminent improvement in the quality of the Kajiado County football prowess, leaving huge and potential talents frustrated and losing hope, a very loud cry that we’ve failed to reach out to.
If I walk you down the memory lane in as far as this sport is concerned and particularly in Kajiado South, we’ve witnessed extraordinary football abilities, the likes of David Kionga popularly known as ‘Matara’ initially playing for United, a grassroot football club from illasit, Rombo ward, this particular footballer displayed unbelievable talent and out of his passion and determination to further his career he progressed all the way to the National team,
Harambee Stars, while here, he got to train and play with iconic figures of our time such as Dennis Oliech but you know what?, unfortunately a few indiscipline encounters brought his promising career to an end. We’ve also had pilipili, a Midfielder who played for Kenyan Premier league club, Sofapaka but he was unlucky with injuries which halted his progress as a professional footballer. On the other side of Kajiado Central, we have Erick Kapaito who plays as a striker for an Ethiopian Premier League club, Arba Minch City and the Kenya national team, brilliant talent right there.
This clearly shows that the hope against all odds still flies high in Kajiado county and that means then, a little support will steer this County to greatness in terms of grassroots football. Therefore, it is very important also for the football enthusiasts and other well wishers who feel that something more needs to be done to continue sponsoring competitive tournaments outside the constituency zone Leagues because tournaments play a very vital role in architecting a very solid metal strength in the world of sports.
If every stakeholder plays a role then I have no doubt that grassroots football will flourish, cases of drug usage will drop and the ultimate hope of playing professional football will be rekindled in Kajiado county. We canβt all be future sports stars, but there is no doubt that sports are a positive way of channeling the energies and interests of young people; that is greatly beneficial for them and for society. Investment in grassroots sport is an investment in the future of the whole community.