Last week my respected fellow columnist Professor Makau Mutua laid into Kenyans for following English rather than Kenyan football. The good professor was concerned about this new “colonisation” of the minds of Kenyans by its former ruler.
Now, I have raged against inauthenticity and mindless mimicry myself many a time on this page, so why should Prof Mutua’s diatribe worry me? I am usually incensed by those Kenyans who don’t teach their children their mother tongues, and by those who twist their mouths into unnatural shapes in a misguided attempt to sound like they were born American.
But the support of English and European soccer, I would like to suggest, has different roots. The professor is quite right to observe its obsessive nature; many Kenyan men can think of little better to occupy their spare time than the manic pursuit of their favourite footballing side. But why do these Kenyans spend so much time, money and effort following a “foreign” team, rather than patriotically supporting “one of their own?”
The professor knew the answer, but chose not to dwell on it. He wrote: “You are going to say that the state of Kenyan soccer is so mediocre that no pleasure could be derived from it.” If he had watched Harambee Stars lose to Mozambique last Sunday, he would know that his statement is utterly, comprehensively true. Kenya’s English Premiership fans are not rejecting their nation; they are embracing excellence.
When I was a boy, Kenyan soccer had some substance and some excitement around it. The exploits of the AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia of the day were real talking points. But let us never forget that we are referring to Abaluhya and Luo Union respectively (until the cosmetic name change). These were palpably tribal teams, supported to the hilt – by their tribesmen. If we have left that tendency behind and started supporting multicultural teams (even if they are foreign), I would argue that this is progress.
What else are Kenyan football consumers rejecting? The awful shambles that is football administration in this country. I don’t believe I have the words with which to describe how bad our running of football is. It should be a case study in managerial incompetence, corruption and parochialism. We have put thugs, comedians and charlatans in charge of our national game. If the result is that no one wants to watch it any more, we should not be surprised.
The procession of failed national coaches, each one complaining about payment not received, says it all. The refusal of our best players to play locally speaks volumes. The haggles over allowances, the shambolic elections, the name-calling and mudslinging, the breakaway leagues – none of it bears repeating. No one in their right mind would want to be associated with this mess.
Where the professor is unrealistic is in asking individual Kenyans to be patriotic and support their local and national teams regardless of how bad they are. The average consumer will go for the product which offers the greatest entertainment, value and accessibility. In the past twenty or so years, that product has been the English Premier League (EPL). And it is followed not just by Kenyans, but by football lovers all over the globe – including those with great leagues of their own, such as Spain and Germany, and who were never colonised.
Professor Mutua is also wrong in attributing this to a love of things English. The intense attachment to the EPL grew when it turned into a global product attracting the best players in the world – not when it was a scruffy English affair. This should be obvious when you consider that most Kenyans turn to supporting Brazil, not England, when it comes to country tournaments. And I predict that if and when Spain’s La Liga surpasses the EPL in attracting the best players, our interest will move in that direction.
So this is no colonial hangover – it is globalisation. Asking Kenyans to buy a bad local product is the same thing that was done by our toilet-paper manufacturers in the 1990s. I remember when they ganged up to place adverts pleading with Kenyans to “buy Kenyan and build Kenya.” But what they were asking Kenyans to do was buy something that bore more resemblance to sandpaper than soft tissue, at high cost. Needless to say, there were few who risked their backsides. Kenyan toilet paper was only improved by the foreign competitive onslaught, not by misplaced patriotism.
Salvation may come from the private sector – when someone is given the incentive to make money from good football. But here too frustration rules the day. The recent debacle with renaming Nyayo stadium sent Coca-Cola, a huge global patron of soccer, running for cover. At a stroke, we could have had a refurbished and renovated national stadium. But we chose to play narrow politics, and Kenyan football fans switched off. They will delight in supporting local sides – when someone gives them a reason to.
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6 Responses:
October 14th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Dickie:
The problem is fundamentally one of ethics. It is obvious what needs to be done. We don’t do it because the people running football are not doing it for football. They have every possible agenda other than promoting the beautiful game.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:44 am
Sunny,
Its just about good marketing of products in the age of globalization and nothing really about patriotism. Deep down, Kenyan EPL fans still harbor feelings towards the national soccer team or a club of their choice. The difference is what is being consumed. e.g. news on the EPL is readily available in one form or another say the internet and web sites. Look at the KPL/KFF/FKL websites, nothing to talk of. No branding of products, media glitz, betting etc. I have been to Singapore and Malaysia, minnows in their football standards at global ranks, with a fervent EPL support base, including local support clubs, but equally great is the support local football gets as well. A sports store for instance stocks both EPL products and local league merchandises, and one comes out buying items from both entities. I have a Man Utd shirt and equally made effort to get a AFC Jersey sent to me after the latter availed the product. More can be done. Pity I cannot get a Harambee Stars jersey, even adidas has not availed of it in its online store. FKL/KFF or whoever manages the team should make such available through e-shops for instance. Clubs can do the same. In sum, I say its all about making products the apple of the eye of the consumer.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
CC:
Your point about our famous runners getting empty stadia here and full ones overseas is something I have also noted. But what’s the real issue: are our people so apathetic about the success of their own, or are the foreigners just better at marketing and selling their sports products?
September 14th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
First, we have to admit that the media have opted to give more attention to foreign sports other than local. The interesting fact is the media will only promote local sports when there is lot of money poured in e.g. Safari Sevens , KNRC and now they are slowly promoting FKL. However, with no money poured they would rather promote foreign sports (I wonder if they are paid for this).
Secondly, there is the lack of appreciation of local sports, this is seen best during the national athletics championships and Cross Country Championships. In spite of having the best runners in the world (long and middle distance) and the fact that sometimes entry is FREE (!) the stadia are at most quarter full. Yet when these athletes go to run abroad, stadia are full (even when Usain Bolt is not participating!). I recall one time when Kenya had a 15-a-side rugby match at home against either Namibia or Tunisia and we won. On the same day the FA cup final was played – On the front page of all the local dailies there was a story on the FA cup final.
Thirdly, there is attitude. People will tell you that we will only support sports that do well. The private sector and government will only talk of rewarding achievers. There is a clear lack of understanding of what is required and what it takes for a team or an individual to be world class. It is nothing to do with the reward, it is more of the investment. After years of trying hard, Virgin Atlantic came on board to sponsor the national sevens team and … (we have seen it all).then suddenly the government wants to be associated with the team, telling other sports federations to emulate the Kenya RFU! The coca cola/Nyayo stadium story is similar though contrary Hard work and investment is required to achieve.
However, all local sports federations need to learn how to market their products and make Kenyans have an interest in their respective sports then, and only then maybe we will stop having basketball players watching league matches!
September 14th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Our Kid:
The ’someone’ I referred to is not Kaka – it is the person who finally reforms football in Kenya once and for all. That could be any one of us.
Good people have tried to get involved in running football – but they have always been stonewalled out.
The best thing would be to commercialise the sport like is done everywhere else. When people make good money out of something they nurture it, protect it and develop it. That is why the Coca-Cola deal was so important. But it was blocked on ridiculous grounds.
If I take your argument on its merits, then there is no hope, since Kenyans are mindless mimics and worshippers of distant gods. If the problem is really in our minds, then we are cooked.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I think most of the so called fans of the EPL teams are actually ‘logo groupies’ if your point about the fact that they watch this league due to its marketability is right.
Some people have never bothered to watch a KPL match but will tell you how FKL is ruining football in the country (even forgetting that FKL does not run the KPL). It is a ready excuse to watch EPL. The KPL even modified its match times to 3pm so that people could watch them and still watch the EPL but attendances haven’t improved.
It is a typical Kenyan mentality that you can say ‘people who run this-and-this are terrible’ as if those people elected themselves (be it councillors, MPs, football administrators). It is such a ‘Save Us From Ourselves’ mentality. How come god people don’t step up to run our football? Who will run it if we claim we have turned our backs on it until ‘they’ put our house in order.
Prof. Makau was right. We love things foreign and moan a lot about local scenarios. And in so doing, sometimes albeit unintentionally we fall back into the neo-colonial throes. Ask anyone who has ever been in a pub and the Barcelona-Real Madrid match comes up and people leave. Its all about logo worship of the Big Four teams in England.
In Mombasa, they even have a band playing tunes in the street to celebrate a teams victory in the EPL. We even have songs about ‘Man U na Arsenali’ and some radio stations continue broadcasting EPL matches from the comfort of their couches.
As we continue to promote the EPL from all corners of media, less than 1,000 fans attend some of the KPL matches. But in England, the stadiums are full even for lower league matches.
So to say ’someone’ (perhaps Kaka) has to give Kenyan fans a reason to support their teams is to be off the mark.