SOCCER FANATISM, A GIRLS’ WORLD

Did you know that Kenya has two lady referees who have been accredited by the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) an international governing body of association of football to officiate football matches in Kenya? Now you know.

In the recent trends in the world of football it is encouraging to note how ladies are embracing positively the football fanatism across the borders in the world. In Kenya, for example one of the developing nations in Africa and a country which respects and observes African culture to the latter has registered increased number of soccer fanatics. Among the groups that supports ladies soccer fanatics include the K’ogalo divas, Kenya Arsenal fans club (KAFC), Chelsea Kenya Club, and Ingwe divas among others.

Statistics show that there are approximately 1,200 ladies out of 4,000 members in the Chelsea Kenya group and about 500 ladies out of 2,500 group members in the KAFC. Among these ladies they comprise a sensational mixture of college girls, working ladies and married women. It is incredibly encouraging to not how the girl child empowerment programmes by the government boosted a lot in the women’s penetration into the heavily male dominated society.

KNA sampled several ladies soccer fanatics with respect to their passion for football and their revelations on their experiences, challenges and how they eventually ventured into the world of football were mouth watering.

Suzanne waithaka, who is a self employed business lady, said that she majored into soccer fanatism because 
of the men she had dated in the past. However she stated that she had had passion for football since she was a young child as she says she used to play football with the boys in her neighborhood, an act that had always caused conflicts between her and the people around her. Ms Waithaka says that they used to find it weird and sometimes even accused her of being a loose girl because in most times her company comprised of boys. She however confessed that her natural love for the game had made her overcome all the negative stereotypes and avoided the people who tried to discourage her.

Miss Waithaka further revealed to KNA how during her time as a soccer fanatique she had faced a lot of challenges even as the society tries to adjust with the women evolution in the world of soccer. She said that men and boys particularly fear girls who love football and at times refer to them as rude or even ‘tom boys’. She says that while watching her favorite team Chelsea play her wild cheering and excitement had at time created trouble in her dating life and especially when the partner was not a soccer fan.

 She said lack of mutual love for the game between her and her partner resulted to a break up and since then she opted to date a soccer fan as the solution.

While explaining why she invests 60% of her time watching football, Miss Waithaka affirmed that she gets full support from her partner who is also a Chelsea fan and thus she gave credit to relationships which she says have helped many women to develop a passion and interest into the world of football courtesy of their boyfriends and husbands. She also highlighted that it was high time the society flexed its muscles and accommodate the girl child as she tries to explore her world in this 21^st century. She adds that it should not be a big issue and urged parents to install pay TV in their homes like DSTV or not to condemn their children especially girls when they stay out late to watch their favorite teams play.

Miss Waithaka who confessed to spend less time watching local premier league compared o international premier leagues stated that the quality of football in Kenya is way below average and it does not usually appeal to her at all. She says that many cases of insecurity and hooliganism among local soccer fanatics had discouraged her from going to the stadiums to even watch Harambee stars. She cited one of the incidences that had led to stampede in the Nyayo national stadium that claimed lives of several football fans and said that unless security is advanced she will forever watch games from her TV screens rather than risking her life.

Wambui Kariuki, another lady soccer fanatic and also from KAFC, a biochemistry student from university of Nairobi narrated to KNA her love story with football. ‘Bobo’ famously known by her group members said she started watching football matches as early as in class two at the age of 7years. She attributes her passion to her father who has been a soccer fanatic ever since she can remember. Miss Wambui says that her growing up with boys who used to take her to a local pub where they would pay Kshs. 5 to watch premier league games had cemented her love for football.

As a lady who wants to assertively establish her place in the society and at the same time pursue her passion for the game she acknowledges that despite her growing up in a soccer oriented environment, it had not been a bed of roses for her as she says she experienced a bit of rejection from her peers and especially the girls. However, Miss Wambui says she always tried to encourage he girl friends to see the positive side of football and not to just hate on it. From her testimony, she admits that she achieved her goal as most of her friends agreed to taste the waters and the experience had been worth their time.

Miss Wambui, who also blogs about arsenal, informed KNA that she would go to the pubs with her friends, buy her own drinks and enjoy her game unlike other girls who in most cases she says only go to the clubs to accompany their boyfriends as they watch soccer because they feel insecure. According to her, her love for the game had overruled all passions as far as she is concerned. She further revealed that she used to play soccer for her school only until she fell sick and stopped playing.

Commenting on the recent incident where two people and a child died during the last match of Tusker Kenya premier league season 2011/2012 between Gormahia (K’ogalo) and Thika United Ms Waithaka strongly condemned the hooliganism among those involved and said that they should be severely punished. She however said that fans need to accept results of any match league since in every game one should accept a win, a draw or a loose.

She also insisted on civilization and discipline among soccer fans stating that however much they love football they should know that there is life after football and that football rivalry should not be used as a cause of enmity but just as a way of making soccer an exciting experience since everyone supporting the same team could seem boring.

On the state of our own national soccer team, Harambee stars, Ms Waithaka expressed deep concerns especially surrounding the management of the national team. She lays the blame on the football governing body in Kenya, Football Kenya Association (FKA) for their complacency and poor management. She argues that poor coaching and low allowance with delayed salary payments had been major causes of poor results of Harambee stars when playing international games.

It is sad to note that Kenya courtesy of Harambee stars is ranked currently number 130 in the world and 39 overall in Africa as of 17^th august 2012, a figure that no one is proud to be associated with. These results are the opposite on the ranking of Kenya in athletics as we are ranked top ten in the world courtesy of Athletics Kenya, (AK).

Lack of enough football stadiums is one among many reasons why the Kenyan football is still below the average standards of any team in the position of a country like Kenya where we come third in Africa with the largest soccer fans after Nigeria and South Africa. It should be noted that other teams in Africa that are less developed than Kenya are ranked in better positions according to FIFA and this raises the questions on what the ministry of sports is doing to elevate the situation of our national soccer team.

To many soccer lovers, they understand that football plays the role of entertainment and also it is a carrier to some people. According to statistics today most renowned international players like Samuel Et’oo, Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo are among world richest players all courtesy of football. It is high time therefore people are encouraged to embrace football fanatism as a carrier way of life. For the parents they should know that there are football academies where children can get trained and introduced to football life at a very early stage in life and this is how stars are made in the world like in England, Spain and even Germany.

According to sentiments brought forward, it was evident that the media had played a huge role creating negative publicity for the national team. Instead the media has been urged to support the national team and soccer in general for this is the only way that will make many Kenyans embrace local league at the expense of international league.

However, the recent move by the pay TV, DSTV (super sport 9) to give airtime to local premier league in Kenya has been the latest boost from the media house to support football in Kenya. Other media houses that has shown support for local premier league includes Kenya Broadcasting  Corporation,(KBC) Kiss  TV and a number of radio stations including Radio Jambo, Radio Maisha, KBC Radio Kiswahili service among others.

It is disheartening to note that most Kenyan stadiums are below FIFA standards with poor floodlights, they are very few and most of them are situated within the city as this has been very inconvenient to most soccer fans as they have to travel all the way to Nairobi to watch a soccer match. Opinions from football fans say that the sports department is big enough to be independent and that it should manage its own affairs. An incident is reported where the national team played an international friendly match wearing fake jerseys made from china. This is an evidence of poor management as it is a big shame that the woe department cannot afford original jerseys.

Also the other major set back for the national team is lack of specialists like nutritionist, doctors and psychologists. It is important to note that especially nutritionist play a vital role in the life of a soccer play as they check on the diet of the players. The diet of a player is very important since a good diet enables a player to play for a full 90 minutes without experiencing the unusual fatigue.

All said and done, for many soccer fanatics their joy is when they watch a good football match, a match that football fans accept the results whichever way it comes. All Kenyans have been urged and especially the feminine gender to embrace soccer fanatism as a way of spending their leisure it is a well known fact that football as a sport unites peoples of all works of life and that Kenyans should take it positively as it is a way of shunning tribalism.

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