Ayes, nays for SportPesa’s action on Gor, Leopards

The stunning decision by betting firm SportPesa to suspend sponsorship of local giants, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards over hooliganism continued to draw divided opinions on Wednesday.

Gor Mahia organising secretary; Ronald Ngala declared curbing hooliganism was the duty of all football stake holders and not only the clubs involved arguing the development was harsh on K’Ogalo and Ingwe who are just coming off an extended period of financial constraints.

“We will sit down with our sponsors and find the way forward ,we will tell them our side of the story and what we have tried do to in order to reduce the cases of hooliganism  from our side .

“Security in the stadium does not lie with the clubs alone. It involves the federation and all the stakeholders whatever rules the federation has come up with should be implemented and not just leave the responsibility to the clubs,” Ngala told Citizen Digital.

Besides the sponsorship freeze worth for both clubs worth almost Ksh100m per year, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) also announced strict measures against violence in the stands that include docking of points, fines and demotion for repeat offenders.

“For a long time now, Gor fans have been peaceful. If you look at our record last season there has been much improvement. If they blame our fans, who can they blame for the Guinea Bissau versus starts match?” the organising secretary posed.

He was alluding to the chaos that forced national team Harambee Stars 2017 AFCON qualifier against Guinea Bissau on March 27 to be held up for over half an hour when riots broke out and police had to fire tear gas to restore order when the visitors scored a late goal that eventually knocked Kenya out of the running for the continental showpiece.

The country is still waiting for continental governing body, CAF to deliver its verdict.

AFC Leopards co-chairman, Dan Mule, condemned those who took part in the chaos witnessed at the Mumias Sports Complex on Saturday that forced their SportPesa Premier League (SPL) clash against Ulinzi Stars to abort.

He insisted the club were committed to stop hooliganism that is tainting the image of the team.

“When we signed the deal with SportPesa stopping hooliganism was part of the measures we insisted on and as a club, we have tried our level best to curb the vice. There are only a few individuals who are trying to lets us down like the case in Mumias,” Mule charged.

“The steward involved is being looked for and when he is found he will be handed over to the police,” he added.

Ingwe have organised a meeting with their fans on Thursday, the same day the club is scheduled to appear before the Independent Disciplinary and Complaints Commission alongside Gor to answer charges related to hooliganism.

“All fans branches are going to be involved. We want to come up with an improved detailed security plan for the club that will involve all our stakeholders because at the moment if we lose sponsors we will be in trouble,” Mule underscored.

Former Ingwe striker, Boniface Ambani, believes both giants are not doing enough to stop violence from the stands that is scaring investors away from the game.

“All those people who cause chaos in the stadiums are known and nothing is being done to prosecute them. As long as measures to guarantee security are not taken; the clubs will continue to suffer because no brand will want to be associated with such a bad image.

“Measures the federation is trying to put in place are good and if well implemented, we will see improvement because not everyone who goes to the stadium is a hooligan,” Ambani charged.

Football blogger, Tom Bwana differed with the way the federation and the sponsor handled recent cases of hooliganism in the SPL arguing there were better options to deal with them.

‘’What SportPesa did is akin to responding to a mosquito bite with a hammer. You end up injuring yourself more. There should be a more consultative approach. Does it mean during the suspension the clubs should not wear the jersey with their brands on it?

“It’s not the club’s job to handle security. The police are responsible for that. Their work is to organise football matches; law and order is the role of the police,” he charged.

“The new rules by the federation won’t solve anything. Hooliganism thrives on thorax and when you use thorax to fight it, hooligans will defiantly win in that case you don’t solve problems using the same means they were created. If you chest thump to a hooligan you will definitely lose,” the blogger added.

Radio Citizen FM’s boss and presenter; Joyce Gituro who is K’Ogalo die hard noted there has been improvement on the way the two clubs manage their passionate fans recently.

“Before SportPesa signed with the two clubs; the teams knew challenges they were facing in terms of crowd control. As sponsors, they need to appreciate that at least they clubs are trying their level best.

“Fan trouble is a global challenge. What SportPesa could have done was to sit down with the clubs and find away to handle the challenge. Withdrawing support is not solving the problem because Leopards and Gor are still the biggest teams in Premier League and will always attract the numbers in the stadium,” Gituro held.

Other media personalities who host different sports shows on Royal Media Services radio stations weighed in on the matter.

“SportPesa are the official sponsors of the KPL and it’s their duty to ensure that there is enough security in all the SPL matches. They need to allocate enough funds for security and they can’t blame Leopards and Gor alone.

“In Kenya, we don’t have proper structures for ticketing. We need electronic ticketing systems that will keep all the records of the fans who attend these matches so that in case of anything it’s easy to identify the culprit,” popular Jambo Kenya and Kijiweni presenter on Radio Citizen FM, Francis Luchivya, affirmed.

“There should be more intelligence officers during matches to detect crowd trouble early. Withdrawing support is not the right way of handling this issue because as a sponsor one day you will need the club for marketing your product,” he added.

“They should have worked together with FKF and KPL to come up with proper measures to curb hooliganism other than withdrawing support,” Godfrey Ashiali who hosts Ingwe Live on Mulembe FM echoed.

Gor and Leopards have been formally charged by KPL over acts of violence that marred their games against Tusker FC (April 16) in Nairobi and Ulinzi FC last Saturday in Mumias where match referees were assaulted.