World Cup visitors arriving to find Kenya in deep slumber

Africa is already abuzz four months to hosting the globe’s biggest sports extravaganza — the FIFA World Cup — for the first time. Keener calculations are going into the whole affair to give it the best shot for a big score that will see reviewers across the globe marvel: Africa’s done it!

Stakes are too high for the continent because it is going into the sophisticated game of hosting as an underdog.

Doom sayers are waiting in the wings for a chance to celebrate Africa’s failure and shout: We told you so!

Critically, the focus is shifting to the floundering economics and management of football in the continent. It is not written anywhere but it is possible all countries, especially South Africa’s neighbours, including Kenya, are jittery and wishing they had their football houses in order long before June 2010.

With all eyes on whether South Africa –– the host country –– will meet both the tight deadlines and high standards of infrastructure, set by FIFA for the event, concerns are piling over mismanagement of football in Africa.

Analysts say football management credentials in the continent have fallen below par, even as South Africa and her neighbours brace themselves to cash in on the influx of tourists by offering accommodation and travel packages as well as hosting some of the participating teams.

This, analysts argue, is going to be big business, which the countries should use to lift the faltering status of the game in the region.

“Soccer is emerging a very good business in the region but people appear to be going in it for the money,” says Vimal Shah, a renowned business leader, who chaired a committee set up by the Ministry of Sports to probe the wrangles of the game in Kenya. “This has ruined the sport. There is need to urgently get rid of the misuse of funds meant for this,” said Mr Shah.

For Kenya, this could be a wake-up call to its sports managers, coming at a time when the country is smarting from one of its biggest sports embarrassments –– a failed bid by its top mid-fielder McDonald Mariga to sign for big-spending Manchester City from Italian side Parma.

Mariga, who has since signed for Inter Milan, was set to make the historic move at a price tag of an estimated £7million (Sh847 million). He will get far much less at Inter.

Due to Kenya’s ranking at a lowly 98th position out of 203 countries, the Football Association — the body that oversees the running of soccer in the UK — denied the 22-year-old Mariga a work permit on the premise that only players from the top 70 nations would ply their trade in the most lucrative deal.

Sports analysts blamed the poor ranking on mismanagement of the sports by the Kenya Football Federation (KFF).

Even a last-minute intervention by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to see the move to fruition proved too little too late.

Tug-of-war

This is happening when the Football Kenya Limited, a private company, and the KFF are tussling over the administration of the game.

This tug-of-war in the football field, is one of the things analysts attribute the dismal rankings to.

In the wake of Mariga’s transfer delays, Mr Shah is confident of the calibre of players and urges that this pool of talent be refined.

“We have world-class soccer players and it is important to focus on the opportunity around what the players can provide,” he said.

An accusing finger has been pointed at the leadership of the sport, even though both FKL and KFF see the need for working together in running the affairs of the sport.

“There needs to be total support for those elected to run the affairs of the sport,” says Patrick Naggi, the FKL technical director.

“Everybody is pulling on to his own side which is not good for the game,” he said.

According to Mr Naggi had the Mariga transfer deal succeeded, doors would have opened up for other players to try it out in the lucrative European leagues.

“We were going to gain a lot as a country,” he says noting the increased interest in Kenya on the soccer world map.

But the incessant wrangles among the officials has meant little time and effort has been spent on the development of the game despite the interventions from the government including a Sh1 million-per-constituency kitty in the 2008/2009 budget meant to build the game from the grassroots.

Also in poor state are some of the stadia with the country only boasting of two venues that can hold international matches.

This, say experts, is part of the reasons Kenya has failed to host the African Cup of Nations on several occasions.

The falling grades in football, experts said could deny Kenya further opportunities as the World Cup tournament kicks off in June.

Consulting firm Grant Thornton says the World Cup will pump around R21.3 billion (approximately Sh213 billion) into South Africa’s economy alone, with neighbouring countries benefiting.

However, all is not gloom and doom for Kenyan football.

Over the last two years, corporates have been trooping into clubs with sponsorship deals –– a signal that if the sport was well managed, it would become a big business in the country.

A host of benefits await players, sponsors and the country in the development of the game.

Kenya Premier League champions Sofapaka received a Sh12 million sponsorship from cement manufacturer East African Portland Cement last year with the deal set to increase to Sh25 million in the second year.

This is seen as attempts to build symbiotic relationships where the sports team and the company behind the sponsorship benefit, sports experts said .

“We share the same goal with Sofapaka of wanting to build a strong brand locally and in the region,” said East African Portland Cement (EAPC) managing director John Nyambok in an earlier interview with the media.

Another local club Mathare United got a Sh20 million package from ICT firm Kenya Data Networks (KDN).

But analysts warn brand-building will not bring instantaneous results and urge consistent performance and a solid strategy to back the brand.

Attract sponsors

These are the key qualities which corporates look for when supporting teams in the developed world.

Rugby is a sport that has generated a lot of corporate interest as the star of the sevens team has shone.

Without losing a stride, the sport attracted the sponsorship of mobile phone services provider Safaricom, for the Safari Sevens, a sport growing in stature with the participation of more teams after the exit of long term sponsor East African Breweries Limited.

Part of the success of rugby has been attributed to the strides taken to ensure the sport runs professionally, keeping wrangles at bay. Insiders say it is the close knit corporate affiliations that have been the strings tying the union together, avoiding any public feuds.

“Most of the deals and the running of the sport have to do as well with the corporate favours that go around,” said an insider who did not want to be named for sensitivity of the matter. “It is a case of scratch my back I scratch yours keeping the game intact.”

For example, the Safaricom sponsorship is said to have been pushed by top officials at the mobile phone operators who were at one time officials of the Kenya Rugby Football Union (KRFU).

The same is said to have influenced how national carrier Kenya Airways got to dislodge Virgin to be the preferred sponsor for the national sevens team.

This month, the rugby administrators face a stern test of how much goodwill they have been able to build as they seek Sh63 million to acquire land for upgrading the Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) grounds — the main rugby stadium.

“Selling sports in Kenya is one of the hardest things,” says Mr Aoka Gecheo the general manager of the KRFU.

It includes partnering with some contractors for a Build Own and Transfer (BOT) model.

The contractor builds it and owns it for a couple of years, to recoup his investment hopefully, before transferring it to the union.

“We are looking at monthly but yearly ball park figures for repayment from the financial institutions,” says Mr Gecheo.

But still, there are challenges facing the game. Key being increasing the local crowds especially for the Kenya Cup, the eight team 15-a-side league.

At least for soccer, there has been the live broadcast which has served the game well. For rugby, it has been toying with the possibility of having evening fixtures.

“We have been asking what we do with people on Friday’s evening?” ponders Mr Gecheo. “The Friday night games were popular last season and we are looking towards their success this season.”

Quickly faded

Friday night league fixtures played under floodlights were a revolutionary idea as close to 1,000 people attended the Kenya Cup match between hosts Impala and Mwamba last year.

With sponsors making a bee-line for soccer and rugby, other sports have been in the cold with little attention to them.

The chief culprit has been athletics whose star has slowly dimmed as the Ethiopian rivals slowly start to dominate the middle- and long-distance races, which, for long, were a preserve of Kenyans.

This year, Kenya plays host to the African Athletics Championships set for July 10 to August 1.

But while the administration of athletics has not pulled so many hairs, it has been the stories of athletes falling from grace in their performance and in the management of their earnings.

For example, Pamela Jelimo, the first Kenyan to win a whopping $1 million in the 2008 IAAF Golden circuit following her sterling performance at the Beijing Olympics where she also won a gold medal has dipped in performance in the current season.

Her star has quickly faded with very few appearances in the current season.

Cricket is another sport that has fallen from the highs of the yesteryears with the country unable to produce another performance equalling the semi-final appearance at the 2003 cricket world cup.

Other sports such as basketball, motorcross, swimming, squash and boxing among others, remain in the periphery of public interest as they struggle to reach a national appeal.

“For now, such sports are spared the public scrutiny but if the interest were to grow in them they would have to improve their management,” says Richard Wanjohi, a sports marketing consultant.

“Constant intervention by a single individual shows weaknesses in the structures of organisations and people entrusted with such responsibilities... with all due respect to the Prime Minister,” he adds.