Fans courting death in the name of support
What you need to know:
- May I take this opportunity to appeal to our beloved AFC Leopards supporters, and indeed supporters of other clubs, to be very cautious and observe traffic rules while travelling to matches.
- It’s just a few weeks ago that a bus carrying Amani Woodley branch members of the ‘Ingwe’ support battalion was involved in an accident near Voi.
- But despite this, the fan behaviour on the road is getting worse.
May I take this opportunity to appeal to our beloved AFC Leopards supporters, and indeed supporters of other clubs, to be very cautious and observe traffic rules while travelling to matches.
It’s just a few weeks ago that a bus carrying Amani Woodley branch members of the ‘Ingwe’ support battalion was involved in an accident near Voi.
But despite this, the fan behaviour on the road is getting worse.
I was shocked when buses carrying ‘Ingwe’ branch fans arrived at the Nyayo National Stadium while placing thousands of lives at risk through speeding, at the weekend.
Death was avoided by a whisker when a car carrying the supporters landed in a ditch near the stadium due to reckless driving.
Drink driving and blatant disobeying of traffic rules are among the leading causes of road tragedies and traffic police should always apply the law to the letter to protect over-enthusiastic fans as much as other road users.
While Football Kenya Federation is busy devising ways of enforcing serious measures at stadiums to avoid accidents, I equally appeal to our fans to observe traffic rules while travelling for matches.
The importance of contributing to stadium safety can also not be over-emphasized.
During the traffic incident near Voi, several fans were injured with one supporter losing her right hand which had to be amputated to save her life. Over 20 people were on board at the time the bus swerved and landed on its side.
Could there be a warning more stern?
Instead of setting up an inquiry to investigate the accident and hold those culpable to account, AFC Leopards instead released a lukewarm statement urging their travelling fans to be more cautious.
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After parting ways with Dorian Marin and his entire technical bench, AFC Leopards needed to fill those positions immediately to enable the new coach Robert Matano do his job better.
Currently, the club’s technical bench has only three men — Matano, Tom Juma and Josephat Odanga and must restructure instead of doing away with some of these important posts.
Since Tony Lidonde was sacked, Odanga has been acting in his capacity as the office claims to be looking for a substantive team manager.
In their short-term plans, Leopards have ignored the post of a technical director “to allow the head coach and his assistant space to manage the team towards achieving the objectives and fans of the club desire.”
After their hopes of clinching the league title faded, Matano is now making deliberate efforts to ensure that the club’s goals and objectives of winning at least the GOtv Shield and qualifying for continental action is achieved.
The team manager’s position should have been filled immediately and the new man be responsible for advising the executive on player matters.
Leopards have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Shield, in which they face Super League side, Wazito FC, and as he plans to turn the club’s fortunes Matano needs support from fans and the executive to deliver.
After losing 0-1 to Western Stima on Saturday, ‘Ingwe’ are now in the SportPesa Premier League’s relegation zone.
Worse still, they could be staring at the mammoth task of fighting to avoid the big chop.
The club’s officials, who had a pre-season blank cheque to sign any player deemed important, must now justify why they should continue holding office yet, with all resources required, they continue to fall short.
