This article (edited version) appeared in The People Daily newspaper SportON magazine on Monday 2nd April 2012.
A local daily reported an April fools day prank that Gor had been banned for the rest of the season. It made me to think so hard on the implications on the local game and Gor Mahia fraternity if that was to happen. All the same, there is a new coach at K'ogallo, though It is not an answer to Gor's perenial fan troubles. I believe in sound leadership in our clubs, KPL and FKF, to this end, I have tried to bring out why the K'ogallo cow (where I come from we name cows after people) has refused to produce Tuzo milk.
There is trouble at the K’ogallo stable in as much as the fans may put up a square face. When Brookside
Dairies came on board with their TUZO brand to sponsor Gor, fans thought bad
times are gone. Money and big money at that can add more problems than solve
them depending on how it is utilized.
Gor has been on the news in the recent past and that is good
news. Publicity is publicity, good or bad. Good for you to ride on and bad for you
to make your way out of it and win people over. As they plot to go back ‘home’ to City Stadium
aka
tok
K’omwanda, there is need to go back to the drawing board.
This reminds me of that Tuzo advert of days gone by where a
house help comes back to tell her boss that “the cow has refused,” only for her
to be shown a packet Tuzo milk. The K’ogallo cow (whatever the species) has
refused and Tuzo has done its part. The good thing is that even as the cow has refused, Tuzo
has not gone bad, and things can be salvaged.
Everything rises and falls on leadership, and so I will take
it up with none other than the ‘learned fellow ‘ Ambrose Rachier. The chairman
is the house help here, to be candid to him, his cow has refused. It is one
thing to dazzle fans with a full Gor playing kit and another to run a community
club.
The problem started at City Stadium during Gor elections last year when
Rachier was elected.
The social media revolution that brought in George Bwana was
not enough. It is no good mixing old and new wine. George Bwana has been in the
limelight taking it up with Alex ole Magelo, where is his chairman? That is
where the buck stops and GB cannot be the secretary and the chair at the same
time.
I will take you to a club I love- all the way in Catalunia;
FC Barcelona. In the 2003 spring, Barca was facing a worst crisis in its 100
year history. Current President Sandro Rossel told BBC how he received a call
from Joan Laporta in 2003 when it had
become shameful to call yourself a Barca
fan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKJSDCcp6kE :- Barcelona The Inside Story Part 1
Barcelona finished 6th in the 2002-03 season, 22 points behind
winners Real Madird.
Joan wanted to run for Barcelona Presidency, and he wanted
Rossel on his team. They assembled a team of trusted friends and won the
election on a lie that they had agreed with Manchester United to bring David
Beckham to Camp Nou. Every member of his board had to put in about Ksh.100
million as a bond, and the positions attract no salaries.
We all know where Becks went to but that did not bother the
new kids on the block. Rossel’s Brazilian connections snatched Ronaldinho from
Paris St. Germaine beating Real Madrid and Manchester United to it- speak of poetic
justice. The next day Barca launched Ronaldnho’s number 10 jerseys worldwide.
The Barca accounts which were asleep in shambles were awakened.
He brought in Frank Rijkaard, a
former player but an untested coach in big clubs to take charge. His first months in charge
were disastrous, but Laporta stuck with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zux5qYMH2Us- The inside story part 4.
At one point they were fourteenth
but managed to finish 2
nd and play in Europe. He went ahead to win a UEFA champions League
and two La Liga titles. Laporta fought racism at Camp Nou, earning death
threats from a section of racist die hard Barca fans. These fans were entitled
to free tickets, which Laporta stopped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_JztX0RVGk- Barcelona Inside Story part 3.
The rest as they say is history, he left Barca a better club
and is credited as the best president in Barca’s history. Rossel took charge to
usher in a new era with Pep Guardiola and branded team jerseys. Today,
Barcelona is flourishing on and off the pitch. Where does this put Gor Mahia?
Something needs to happen at the helm of K’ogallo. The
reason why Gor attracts media attention is because they don’t deserve to be
where they are on and off the pitch. I hope the fans and officials feel that it
is a shame to be associated with Gor at such a time. If they dont get that
inner itching then it will be business as usual.
A club like Gor needs guts, the kind of guts that can stand
up to hooligans. The courage that can risk to take Gor to grounds the club has
never traversed. I will repeat that I don’t think Ambrose Rachier is the man
cut out for the job.
Gor has a history, and I know clubs with rich histories
always want to stick to them. Let us take a look at Laporta’s successor, Sandro
Rossel. He took over after Laporta had put Unicef on Barca’s first team jersy,
another first for Laporta. The club had stayed for over a century without shirt
sponsors. Rossel realized that to stay afloat in the uncertain economic times,
culture had to give way. It was painful but Qatar Foundation bought a five year
rights to Barca’s first team shirts.
Who said Gor must be led by a Luo? What ole Magelo as a Maasai has done in a Leoprads (a Luhya club) is evident that it is time cultures were looked into at Gor. Elly Kalekwa has been reported to say that if he could get Gor fans, the whole world will know of Sofapaka. Then it is time Gor looked deep and hard, ego, bravado and chest thumping never solved anything.
As things look, the club may be barking up the wrong tree.
Zdravko Logarusic, may have taken over as coach, but if the real problem is not looked into, people will go back to square one. Regarding the troublesome fans, what is condoned or rewarded is repeated. A stand like Laporta's is what is needed to end the fan troubles.
Going by the officials and fans reaction, I don’t see anyone
who has been touched with the shame of being a Gor fan so far. The cow
may have refused on the Rachier committee, but they can stretch their hands to
pick a packet of Tuzo- all is not lost. The Laporta-Rossel team was a bunch of businessmen and
technocrats, who will be remembered in Catalonia for a long time to come. Take
the cue Gor and all the best, you are a BIG CLUB.
