The sad story of former Harambee Stars’ defence lynchpin

The story of George ‘Jojo’ Waweru typifies that of several former footballers struggling to eke a living after shining for the national team and their clubs.

Just a decade after he partnered Musa Otieno in defence as Harambee Stars qualified for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations, Waweru’s life has taken a serious downslide.

The lanky former Kenyan international nowadays spends much of his time at Maringo Estate, where he grew up, drinking and chewing khat (miraa) with his pals; life has hopelessly rendered him to this situation and there seems to be no avenue out of it.

Waweru is trying to rehabilitate himself from alcohol addiction and he says he is slowly succeeding while at the same time trying to do some little farming in the village a venture that brings him very little money which is barely enough for his subsistence.

Yet, in that sorry state, Waweru, a Kenyan Premier League winner with Tusker clings on the hope that things will one day get better.

“I blame nobody. I believe things will one day get better for me. I work hard every day and I need nobody to feel sorry for me,” Waweru says.

Having played in Europe too, Waweru represents the last generation of Kenyan footballers to have played in the Africa Cup of Nations. But that was probably the last time he played at the top of his game.

A neck injury, he says he sustained during training, was aggravated in the first game Kenya played at the Nations Cup losing 3-0 to Mali.

NAMED BEST PLAYER

He never recovered fully and despite the fact he later played in Sweden for Vasteras and was named the best player in the lower tier league, his football career took a sudden nosedive.

Although he would attempt to make a comeback, things never really worked out for him.

“People say bad things about how I got injured. Some have said I was mugged but the truth is, I got injured during training and the medical staff did not attend to it well. I think I am lucky to be alive today.”

With no better thing to do apart from farming and hanging around the estate with his boyhood friends, Waweru has nothing much to show for his illustrious football career, other than a few photos of him in national team and club colours.

But the retired player insists he he has no regrets.

Waweru says when he got the injury, the federation neglected him coming up with a story that he had been attacked by thugs, his club Tusker fired him and he was left to struggle to get medical attention.

But he says that all that never dampened his spirits and he continued to live for the sport he loves most – football; a game that took him from the squalid life at the Maringo Estate and put him into the limelight where he would rub shoulders with the high and mighty both on the local and international stage.

Waweru’s story is a classical case of from grass to grace story and back to grass. His mentor, a teacher called Makumi and ex Harambee Stars captain Musa Otieno convinced him to take up the sport, which he did and excelled.

In his heyday, Waweru played for Kenya Commercial Bank, AFC Leopards and later Tusker in the process winning several medals.

“During my playing days, I had so many friends. I would buy them drinks and we would enjoy my little earnings. But now that I have no source of livelihood, a good never of the so called ‘friends’ have long deserted me. But i am thankful to the true ones that have stuck along me to encourage and support me.

“I have learnt a lot of valuable life lessons from my experience. But the most important of all is that when you have good fortune look into the future. The life of a footballer is so short, a slight injury and you are out of a job for good,” says Waweru who was also gifted in basketball.

JUST JOJO

“I would come here with jerseys and other sports equipment and give to the boys in the estate, they admired me, I was their hero. Today, I am just ‘Jojo’”.

In the Maringo, Jericho/Lumumba E$state’s ‘U’ zone, one out of every five households has a son jailed, shot dead, or a criminal. It is a place notorious for for an endless crime wave and is a no-go zone after 6.30pm.

The stretch between Lumumba Dispensary and Jericho Social Hall along the famous Toyoyo playgrounds, has produced some of the best known footballers in the country among them Waweru, Otieno and former Harambee Stars coach Jacob “Ghost” Mulee, but is ironically the most dangerous place in the country to walk at any hour of the day.

Three to five robberies occur in the area daily and Waweru himself has been a victim.

But the former Harambee Stars defence lynchpin chooses to look on the brighter side of life. He says his past is now behind him and he holds no grudge against anyone.

The former player has maintained contact with his former team mates, among them Dennis Oliech, and says given a chance he would be more than willing to help the game grow.

Now in his late 30s, Waweru, a father of one has one burning desire; to see the government and football authorities looking into the welfare of players and finding a way of ensuring that current and former players have a meaningful life when they retire.

He has words of praise for his former national team mates Nicholas Muyoti and Simeon Mulama for spearheading the formation a footballers’ welfare association, a move he said should be embraced by all stakeholders in the sport.

This story first appeared on SportOn!