To say football is a passionate game would be as obvious as saying base jumping,high altitude climbing and motor cycle racing are some of the most dangerous sports. Generally spectator sports usually elicit lots of passion but nothing beats the passion in football. What makes people who rarely say a word to you on the street shout their lungs out and celebrate as if they have just become first time parents when their team scores a vital goal? What makes grown men curse and hurl all manner of unprintable words to match officials whenever decisions do not go their way? Well the answer to these and many other related case in points is simply, passion! Passion is the only thing that could explain why logic is thrown-out-the-window when football is involved.
Over the years, football hooliganism has been witnessed across the world from ‘football-mad nations’ such as; Brazil and Argentina, to England, Italy, Egypt and other sub-Saharan African countries. The ugly face of the beautiful game of football, is indiscriminate. Today, Kenya got a share of what football hooliganism is, during a high octane fixture pitying perennial rivals Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. The stadium was filled almost to capacity with both sets of fans, clad in their team colors cheering their teams the best way they know how. Some fans started streaming into the stadium from as early as 9.am, never mind, the match was set to kick off at 3 O’clock in the afternoon.
As expected, the match started on a high note and fans were treated to end-to-end action, as both teams tried to break the deadlock. At half-time, none of the teams was yet able, to see the back of the net of the other. The action was similar in the second-half, with AFC leopards seeing most of the ball. Come the 66th minute, Gor Mahia’s Victor Ali, was red carded for a high boot challenge on Leopard’s Amon Muchiri and what followed were 25 embarrassing and uneasy minutes for Gor. Gor Mahia’s fans, incensed by the decision to have Ali sent off, walked off the stadium, while others hurled all manner of objects into the field of play. The referee had to stop the match for 25 minutes as he consulted with the other match officials. Eventually the game went on and ended in a barren draw. However, the rivalry fans of either team took the battle for supremacy, to the streets of Nairobi, where one fan, believed to be a Leopards supporter, was killed and scores others injured.
This is not the first time that both Gor Mahia and AFC leopards fans, have clashed. The stakes involved in this highly publicized derby, maybe to blame more so, even alcohol and rogue fans. Whatever the reason for crowd trouble in the Kenya premier league, needs to be addressed and fast. We do not need to witness scenes such as those in Egypt in back February where, close to one hundred people were killed, and thousands more injured, following acts of hooliganism in a league match. Its interesting to hear that FKF proposes having foreign referees officiate matches pitying Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. Is this really the solution? Will this stop thugs posing as fans from carrying rocks into stadia, and causing havoc? Those in charge of football in the country need to act quick and cautiously, to avert a looming disaster. England had some of the worst hooligan incidences in the 70’s and 80’s, resulting in a resolution to reduce the number of fans in stadiums. A similar resolution seems inevitable in the Kenyan football fraternity following today’s events ..It’s time to save Kenyan football, what happened before in England, is a good reference point.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
NAIROBI | Graffiti framing Public Opinion
On the City Market wall facing Muindi Mbingu Street, are drawn rare graffiti with a political message for the electorate: “be wise and choose only leaders with the interest of the nation ahead of their own.”
Abel and Buckley (1997) looked at the “writing of graffiti as a psychological phenomenon, a form of communication that is both personal and free of everyday social restraints that normally prevent people from giving uninhibited reign to their thoughts.” [Looking at the Writing on the Wall: A Critical Review and Taxonomy of Graffiti Texts, Jane M. Gadsby (1995)] Habitually, a similar attitude is engendered by the anonymous graffiti artists, in the “City in the Sun.” One such artist exhibits “the reminiscences of a greedy politician…” Daily Nation reported. Chronic poverty and unemployment as well as the epic struggles and conditions of a country’s marginalized people are touted as the main engines that fuel graffiti culture. But is that all there is to it? It has been found out before that”Mainstream media will never say a word of truth…” Thus graffiti is now being used as an alternative channel to the mainstream media, to disseminate the true information, which often was kept back by the latter.” It has thence, been confirmed that somehow, it succeeds in getting the message through to the masses. One professor of English pointed out that “graffiti has played a significant role in framing and times changing public opinion.”
Whether or not graffiti is considered as a medium of revolt against the authorities, or just as a channel for self expression, what is depicted is in clear print, a true and faithful reflection of a people’s attitudes toward a non-yielding system on the one hand, and on the other, a call to action by the ‘infringed’. In a nutshell, thoughts become things.
References:
Writing’s on the wall for greedy MPs Daily Nation March 4, 2012
Looking at the Writing on the Wall: A Critical Review and Taxonomy of Graffiti Texts Jane M. Gadsby (1995)
Graffiti: Expression Unadulterated Irfan Muzaffar Parray
Public opinion Versus Political Influence over the Media
The Hague Suspects (two among them) presidential hopefuls have been accused of engaging with the local media, with an aim of swaying public opinion against the ICC.
The International Crisis Group (ICG), which has been monitoring the Kenyan cases at The Hague, in its report, reveals that the said suspects along with the local media, have employed a scheme casting the “suspects” as victims of the court, and of ‘sinister plots’ by their political opponents, aiming at barring them from participating in the 2012 elections.[“During the recent hearings at The Hague, the media… (Covered the cases as if) Moreno-Ocampo was prosecuting Kenya, not individual suspects.”]
Very well done! That must have worked its way to some level of success I should say. It is however prudent to note that a vast majority of Kenyan youth, who constitute a major sector of the electorate, have matured to be free thinkers, through the teachings of their life experiences, and interpersonal interactions. There has been a collective ‘paradigm-shift’ in the thoughts of today’s Kenyan youth’s-something that is sounding a loud and clear ‘revolution’. The Kenyan youth has realized that this is the ‘age of the mind’, and has started to ‘think’. A famous line goes, “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” The future of this country lies on the hands of the youths of today not on ‘whoever’ frequents the TV screens in the living-rooms at prime-time.
References:
Media in the dock over hague cases All Kenya News 4th March 2012
The Hague judgement causes Uhuru, Ruto sleepless nights The Citizen 5th Mrch, 2012
It’s Time for goal line technology
Goals are the ultimate measure of success in any football competition; big and small alike. Most recently in one of Europe’s top flight leagues – Serie A, in a pulsating match pitying two of the league’s biggest sides; Milan, and the old lady of Italian football Juventus, the referee failed to spot Milan’s Sulley Muntari’s clear goal. Perhaps the best example of a goal denied in the biggest stage in competitive football has to be England international’s Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal at the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa. Up until the 38th minute when the moment that could ultimately be the game changer in football refereeing occurred, Germany was leading by two goals to one. The England team was pressing hard for an equalizer before halftime and just when they thought they had it, their celebrations were cut short . Uruguayan linesman Mauricio Espinosa failed to spot Frank Lampard’s rasping shot that had rebounded from the cross bar and crossed the line. The match ended in a 4-1 convincing victory for the Germans inflicting the biggest loss to the England football team in a world cup tournament. This loss left a bitter taste in neutrals as well as English fans who thought had Lampard’s goal been allowed then just maybe they would have won the match or lost honorably.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter who was initially opposed to the introduction of technology reversed his position following that incident and has since then been at the fore front of advocating for technology in the game to avoid a repeat in subsequent world cups. However UEFA’s president Mitchel Platini (the favourite to take on Blatter’s post), is skeptical about the issue preferring instead the addition of match officials. Platini is quoted as having said “What scares me is that if we start to use technology for things that have little point, we will also move onto offside technology, because there are five offsides per match,”.
My opinion on this issue is that goal line technology needs to be implemented as soon as possible .Other sports such as Tennis, rugby, and cricket have adopted it and the controversy and continuity in these sports is less important than the clarity the technology provides. Making a mistake in the course of duty in any profession is inevitable and referees and their assistants are no exceptions but do we really have to put up with their imperfections when we can help them? The answer to this question is a huge no something has to be done and fast. A decision on goal line technology as well as other critical decisions affecting the modern game such as a fourth substitute in extra time ,assistant referees, the triple punishment in red cards ,the hijab and vanishing spray is due in July 2 this year.
References
Ifab agrees to test goal-line technology systems before decision in July Gurdian.co.uk 3rd March 2012
Sepp Blatter says he can convince Ifab to bring in goal-line technology Gurdian.co.uk 2nd March 2012
Denied Muntari goal causes ripples Africaplays.com 26th February 2012
Jijuze 