Kenya: Where is Gor’s Punishment?

Pharis Kamaru

28 May 2011

Nairobi — I have on several occasions used this page to laud Gor Mahia. I have praised their performances last season, but more frequently I have praised their fans and their passion for their club.

Today I want to do the opposite I want to drag the club and its fans over hot coal and for good reason.

Last week Gor Mahia fans caused chaos during a match for the second time this season and the umpteenth time in their history and it’s about time they are told enough is enough.

The fans must understand that supporting K’ogalo is not a carte blanche to do as they wish particularly when results do not go their way.

It’s a question of maturity really; Gor fans are well mannered in victory but silly and reckless in defeat. If Gor fans cannot handle defeat they should really give up on football.

The shocking thing is Gor have been punished just once, for the hooliganism of their fans but that has got to stop, this time they cannot escape severe punishment.

It is incidents of hooliganism that robbed Kenyan football of spectators at its peak in the eighties, and just when the game is struggling to get back on its feet, the old enemy is back but this time we must be ready for it.

Gor must pay a heavy fine, preferably in no less than the high six figures, and also have their fans banned from attending a minimum of five games so that both the club and the fans can learn to contain themselves.

The shocking thing is the Kenya Premier League has no disciplinary mechanism, ridiculous isn’t it? How on earth do you resurrect and build a successful league with no discipline?

I think Gor should be punished and preferably this week before they play their next game against AFC Leopards in what is without question the most volatile fixture on the football calendar.

Away from local matters the billionaire has done it again; Roman Abrohmavic has fired yet another manager for failing to win the Champions League.

Carlo Ancelotti was shown the door early this week after he finished second in the premier league to Manchester United and perhaps more importantly, second best to Manchester United in the champions league.

It’s a crazy decision because when you think about it, the list of managers that have been in and out of Chelsea in the last few seasons reads like a roll call of the best managers in the world: Mourinho, Scolari and Ancelotti.

What is even crazier is the amount of time these world class managers get to work at Chelsea. Scolari got less than a year, Mourinho got at least three complete years while Ancelotti got only two years and despite winning the double in his first he was still shown the door.

The Premier League wound up last weekend with Manchester United’s coronation as champions and the relegation of Blackpool, Birmingham and West Ham in a dramatic last day. Five teams went into the final day staring relegation in the face with relegation being decided by goal difference let alone points.

Of all the relegated teams you have to admire Blackpool, it was a team that played fantastic attacking football week in and week out. They never bought into the small team mentality that required parking the bus when playing against big opponents. Their two games against Manchester United this season for instance were epic in my books.

The problem is, Blackpool paid the price for their attacking approach, yes they did score goals, as many as Spurs in fifth, but they also conceded more than anyone else in league.

When you are a small team in your first promotion season, as Stoke manager Tony Pulis rightly observed, it is roulette football.

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