John Ashihundu
13 July 2011
Nairobi — Kakamega has produced some of Kenya’s most gifted soccer stars – thanks to the rivalry between the county’s schools.
The story was kickstarted by Elijah Lidonde who played in pre-colonial times and runs up to Jonathan Niva Muchuma in the 70s.
Since then, the county’s football has been enriched by generations of stars who dazzled — and are still dazzling — the nation with their skills. They have played for top clubs and the national team, Harambee Stars.
The foundation on which the county’s soccer skills were built was the rivalry between Kakamega High School, Musingu Boys, Mukumu Boys, Ingotse Boys, Makhokho Secondary School and Shikokho schools.
Players from these schools’ teams graduated to join top clubs in and around Kakamega like Motcom, Pan Paper, Mumias Sugar and Nzoia Sugar FC.
They would then move on to the national giants like AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Breweries.
In fact the success that Leopards enjoyed in the 1980s owed much to Motcom FC which offered a wonderful blend of talent.
It was there that most of their players were taught discipline and professional skills.
AFC Leopards won the East and Central Africa Club championships three years in a row between 1982 and 1984 with these players.
The players made an impact because they had known each other since childhood and shared the same coach — and their success is proof that long term planning yields results.
According to a veteran coach, Chris Makokha, who coached Kakamega High and Motcom there is tendency that a good player is seen only when he is playing for a team in Nairobi.
“There is a strange monopoly by Nairobi teams which is not realistic,” added the former Harambee Stars tactician.
The physics teacher said at that time players from Kakamega High School popularly known as Green Commandos used to play for Motcom FC, but today there was no student in Western Stima, the only top club in the county.
Western Province FKL chairman, Dan Musuku who was Makokha’s student at Kakamega High School believes the main problem facing the area is the people who manage the game are not doing much.
“Most of them use it as a means to get money, but when they find things getting tough they keep off,” he said.
The national body must develop the game from the grass roots by using youth centres, schools and properly organised leagues instead of depending on hurriedly organised tournaments which are normally played on knockout basis.
In Kenya academies were found in big towns and the players who attended them were not natural born footballers.
Their parents took them to be taught how to play football, but Musuku said most talented players came from poor families which could not afford the charges.
“When I took up my position in 2009, we started participating in provincial leagues and we have three teams — West Kenya Sugar from Malava, Kakamega Home Boys based in Kakamega Town and Halala FC from Bukura in the Nationwide Two,” he explained.
Former AFC Leopards utility player Peter Lichungu who also played for Green Commandos and Motcom said the county needed a community based club to attract fans from the area.
For many years there has been little or no joy for this soccer-mad county since Motcom was disbanded in 1996.
Motcom, sponsored by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, was affectionately known as Brazil because of their free flowing style of play.
Finest defenders
Lichungu said most players were found at a local youth centre based at Kakamega High School, under Makokha.
While Gor Mahia was dependent on players from Kisumu Boys, Kisumu Hot Stars and Kisumu Black Stars, AFC Leopards picked their teams from Kakamega High School, Musingu High School and Mukumu Boys High School among others.
Josephat Murila, one of the finest defenders Kenya has ever produced, said it hurt to see most of those stars now languishing in poverty.
Murila, whose nickname was Controller, believes the scouting level went down after the academies collapsed.
“Today we have selfish coaches in the sense that they don’t take the players to better clubs. A lot of things have gone wrong,” he said.
“This is why the once mighty Ingwe who had the lion’s shares of players from Kakamega District have now fallen so low that they are no longer considered to be a serious contender,” he went on.
But he believes that the area can still produce players who should soon step into the boots of former gifted international legends.
Fred Shikoli, a football promoter, argued that setting up youth centres was the only hope for future success.
Recently, he helped set up Shinyalu Youth Sports & Environment Centre at Khayega which targets boys and girls aged between 14 and 20.
Besides nurturing and developing talent, they all take part in clean up and tree planting exercises.
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Kenya: Once Teeming With Class, Soccer in Danger of Seeing Red