Everybody wants a piece of Gor Mahia

Everybody wants a piece of Gor Mahia

Jesus son of God, come down help us! Moses Kuria parted with Ksh.200, 000 to finance Gor Mahia’s trip to the CECAFA tournament in Dar Es Salaam. So should k’Ogalo bring the regional trophy home Lord Kuria will claim a stake! And rightly so! Jesus, what wrong did we do as a people to accept gratuities from the Moses Kurias of this world? No, don’t get it twisted. There’s nothing wrong with Moses Kuria. It’s only that he is Moses Kuria!

We all know Peter Kenneth has been a silent financier of the club through his friend and chairman of Gor Mahia Ambrose Rachier. His has never drawn as much controversy. So do we accept it? I don’t know.

In June, Deputy President William Ruto flew Gor Mahia players to honor a KPL match against Tusker FC in Kisumu. It headlined a whole week of gossip as well. The talk was so hot it elicited mixed reactions with a section of Gor Mahia fans, mostly the hard-line conservatives, claiming it is wrong for a club as big as Gor Mahia to walk all over the streets begging for freebies.

Air tickets! Air tickets! Lord, save us from this grand appetite for air tickets. Must we fly? If it is flying that is exposing our vulnerability then Lord, remove it from us. Give us the strength to walk to our destinations.

The anti-begging crusaders at the club seem to have a clear direction with which they’d want their campaign conducted. They are not expressly against begging. They are choosy in their begging. In short, they have quarters from which to accept hand-outs. When, moments before their massacre on Yanga in Dar, Baba was reported to have surprised the team with a gift of $ 4,000 it didn’t receive any admonishing. In fact it was praised.

However, when Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania the famous Ali Chirau Mwakwere hosted the team to lunch after Gor Mahia beat all Tanzania’s representatives to CECAFA – mainland’s Yanga and Zanzibar’s KMKM – it raised eyebrows. But good people, isn’t Chirau Ali Mwakwere the representative of the Republic of Kenya to Tanzania? And doesn’t that hand him the obligation to at least throw a lunch to people from his country?

Here’s the upshot; Gor Mahia is now bigger than its traditional fan base. Its success on the pitch is now attracting more and more people from outside its hitherto conventional fans from Siaya, Homa Bay, Kisumu and Migori counties.

The other day the good Charles Gacheru of IMG tweeted a picture of him proudly holding the Gor Mahia bread. From the caption, one could tell Lord Gacheru had been looking for this bread all his life and was elated to have had it that morning. Of course he trolled with the half loaf political innuendo to share it with Chris Kirubi the great. But his point was made. He was taking his love for Gor Mahia to the next level – support!

Charles Gacheru posing with the famous Gor Mahia bread with the caption
@CharlesGacheru posing with the famous Gor Mahia bread with the caption “PLEDGE: To buy the @OfficialGMFC loaf daily &to share one half with @CKirubi who has fallen on hard times recently.”

You remember recently when Gor Mahia as a topic would be avoided in the same manner you avoid a speeding vehicle on a highway? When anyone wearing Gor Mahia jersey would be isolated as if he had leprosy, acute diarrhea and a tinge of Ebola at the same time? That has changed over time and today Gor Mahia is being seen more as a billboard of success rather than a tower of mediocrity.

Gor Mahia brand is now too big to be owned by one section of Kenya. From not winning a single match at the 2014 CECAFA tourney to being touted as favorites in 2015, the club has gone through a tremendous phase of re-branding and is now back to its glory days, or at least on the right path. Everyone now wants to share in the glory of Gor Mahia. And they must be allowed to do so.

The question of ‘where have you been all this time?’ does not arise now. You cannot blame someone for not being your age mate. Even asking someone what his intention is in supporting Gor now sounds illogical. When a team is in dire need of support, it gets it from anywhere anytime.

And this is not to say the club should abandon its rich history. That will forever remain to be cherished. Opening up only ensures more inclusivity. It allows more avenues to market the club. And surely the prospects are there.

*****

Tim Bryett blocked me from viewing his Twitter time line. I didn’t even know him much. I was told only later that he is the coach of Thika United. Thika has a coach? A British coach? And they are what position, again?

@TomBwana

Tags:

Chris Kirubi Ambrose Rachier GOR MAHIA CECAFA william ruto Moses Kuria Tom Bwana PETER KENNETH Charles Gacheru Chirau Mwakwere

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