Kenya Football .:. Story - Kenyan Drought In The Psl

Kenyan Drought in the PSL - kenyafootball.com image

2010 is beckoning and South Africa is in earnest preparation for a tournament that has been documented as having the capacity to change lives, economies and all other aspects of lived realities.

Caseloads of rands are being injected into the football sector by the day. Not only that, it is documented that the PSL is the richest league on the African continent, with a total prize kitty of approximately R4.2million (Ksh 52million). In addition, the PSL is currently enjoying tremendous support and interest from the business segment in the likes of multi-billionaires such as Tokyo Sexwale (Mvela Golden League funder) and Patrice Motsepe (Mamelodi Sundowns owner).

The prospect of gleaning the benefits of this league has drawn a lot of South African players plying their trade abroad to comeback home. For example, a number of European clubs were interested in Shaun Bartlett after his release from Charlton Athletic, but he chose Kaizer Chiefs instead. Stanton Fredricks left Locomotiv Moscow for Orlando Pirates, Mbulelo Mabizela left Valeranga (Norway) for Mamelodi Sundowns, and many others.

But this also extends to other Europeans who see the PSL as the platform for a swansong. Examples are in the likes of Jose Torreralba (Venezuela), Dudamel (Venezuela- International Keeper), and Christos Kostis (Greece). Even renowned internationals such as Patrick Suffo (Ex-Sheffield United & Nantes, Cameroonian; Gold medal winner 2000 Olympics game), and the well known Peter Ndlovu (Ex-Coventry & Sheffield Wednesday) have made the PSL their final stop. Such is the pulling power of the PSL.

In the last two years, the PSL has also seen a sizeable influx of players from within the continent. Previously, southern African countries were the main contributors of foreign talent, however, the net is now flung as far as Mali, Senegal, Guinea and recently Tanzania, Uganda including Ethiopia. Notably, Kenya is missing in this great trek to the south. For all its worth, Kenya can only boost of one professional, Musa Otieno, who in any case is in the twilight of his career. Opiyo was here a while back, but his preoccupation with inhaling marijuana saw him being booted out of Bush Bucks quicker than he could say harambee. Peter Dawo tried his luck with St. Hellenic in the late 80s/early 90s but did not make the grade.

John Busolo spent some time with QwaQwa Stars (currently Free State Stars), also in the late 80s/early 90s. Bernard Mwalala made a “paper appearance” for City Pillars last season and the next thing he was on a nomadic sojourn in East Africa. So the question begs as to why do we have such a pathetic statistic in the PSL?

South Africa is only four hours away with the best-sponsored league in the continent, not to mention an abundance of state-of-the-art facilities! Any fledgling player would want to use the PSL as a stepping-stone to better things, if not cement a professional career! It then makes sense for other African players from “miserable” leagues to want to ply their trade here. Many foreigners are actually clamouring to done a shirt for any team in the PSL or even in the Mvela league. But where are the Kenyans?

It has to be argued that Kenyan players have not marketed themselves well or that they have not been aggressively marketed by their agents (that’s if they have any) or even KFF. Let us look at the East Africans currently in the PSL and how they got here, since I believe this might aid in an understanding of the problem.

Before 2004, there were no Ugandans in the PSL. Now there are four in the PSL and one in the Mvela Golden League. The same applies to the Tanzanians. However, last year Supersport United signed one Tanzanian from Yanga (Suleiman Matola) and another is set to sign with Kaizer Chiefs in the near future. Suleiman’s case is interesting since Supersport United spotted him in the four team Tusker Tournament that was held in Kenya! One could rightly ask what happened to our boys in that tournament? Or even better, what did Suleiman do right that his Kenyan counterparts missed?

The first Ugandan to arrive was David Obua signed from Express after he impressed club scouts in the World Cup qualifiers return leg in Jo’burg against Bafana Bafana. Next to follow was Postnet Owmony (Blomfontein Celtics) also based on his performance from the same game, in addition to Timothy Batabaire (Blomfontein Celtics). Dan Obote followed suit by joining Mvela side Vasco Da Gama and this season Supersport United has signed Peter Onyango as their second choice goalkeeper.

This is not to say that the Ugandans are more skilful or tactical sound than Kenyans. Neither is the Ugandan league better than the Kenyan Premier league. There is something they are doing right that seems to be escaping us Kenyans.

What has come across so far is that our East African colleagues have embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign like never before. This makes some of us wonder what individuals like Bob Munro with all his resources has done to expose MYSA players to a quality league such as the PSL, as opposed to minnow leagues in the likes of Rwanda?

In the widely read South African football daily, Soccer Laduma, it was stated that Musa Otieno recommended a certain Botswana international, Dipsy Selowane, to his club chairman. This is after Kenya played Botswana in last year’s World Cup qualifiers. Dipsy has turned out to be a big hit with Santos. Yet this guy was marked out of the game by our own defenders in the return game in Nairobi. So what happened to recommending our own? People like Musa could do a lot to highlight Kenyan talent, especially seeing the respect he commands in soccer circles here.

Basically, Kenya is lagging far behind in the number of quality professionals it can boast of. Instead of our players trudging off to unknown leagues in far-flung countries with below par leagues such as the Maldives, Singapore, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the like, or even in second or third divisions teams in Scandinavian countries, efforts should be made to explore the South African Premier League or even the Mvela Golden League. The money is good and far better than that on offer in some European leagues and in addition, the league offers a possible ticket to fame and riches in better European leagues. For this look no further than Benjani Mwaruwari (Portsmouth- ex-Jomo Cosmos) and Shabani Nonda (Roma- ex Vaal professionals). To ignore the power of the PSL, especially in light of 2010 World Cup, is to commit “football suicide”.

By Ngunyi Wambugu