More by this Author
Bandari have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the cost of managing a pandemic cannot be compared to the cost of cancelling a fixture.
I sincerely thank the board of Bandari Football Club for the bold decision it took not to play in the FKF Betway Cup pre-quarter final match against Sofapaka, which was set for KPA Mbaraki Sports Club on Saturday after the Football Kenya Federation surprising let the fixture stand as scheduled, albeit to be played behind closed doors.
My congratulations also go to bitter rivals Gor Mahia, who decided not to turn up for their Betway Cup clash against Posta Rangers at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru leaving the match officials and Posta Rangers to have their say in whichever decision they came up with, most probably a walkover.
Also to be commended are KCB, who had to make a U-turn en route to Nakuru for their FKF Cup match, and return to their Nairobi base immediately after the Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe cancelled all public gatherings, including sports activities following the first positive case of coronavirus disease in Kenya.
That Bandari took a bold step to write to Football Kenya Federation Secretary General Barry Otieno asking for the rescheduling of the match clearly shows that Bandari cares for the health of its players and technical officials.
Bandari were very much aware that Sofapaka, their opponents for the fixtures were already in Mombasa together with the match officials, who all went to KPA Mbaraki for the fixtures.
However, the security at the KPA Mbaraki Sports Club could not allow them entry.
As KPA’s Head of Corporate affairs Bernard Osero correctly put it, “We would rather cancel the match and live to play another day than endanger the lives of our players and officials”.
Osero said the lives and health of the players was of paramount importance than anything else arguing that it would be cheaper to postpone the match than to manage the problem later.
It beats all logic that even after federations all over the world were cancelling their leagues and tournaments, among them English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Series “A” to name but a few, while locally, all other federations including Kenya Basketball Federation, Kenya Hockey Union, Kenya Volleyball Federation, Kenya Rugby Football Union, Kenya Netball Federation all cancelled their leagues, the FKF still thought in their wisdom or lack of one to continue with their fixtures.
FKF should understand that the government circular supersedes all the other circulars and should learn to be proactive not reactive like is in this case where they went ahead to issue a circular asking teams to continue with matches as scheduled seemingly out of sync with the government circular.
