Rivalry between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards good for Kenyan football

Now that there isn't much sports to cover because of the threat of coronavirus, I might as well jog your memory about a typical match involving mahasimu wa jadi (eternal rivals).

I’ll dwell on Gor Mahia around 1977, 1978 and 1979. Perhaps my friend J.J Masiga can give the AFC Leopards perspective.

If Gor were drawn to play Leopards, say on a Saturday, the chronology of events would be as follows: Gor players would be picked at Extelcoms House and head to Survey of Kenya grounds every evening.

That would be facilitated by Gor chairman Peter Anyumba who was Director of Survey of Kenya at the time. The whole week from Monday to Friday, you would not find Gor players in bars.

That was self-policing. If it was not Leopards, apart from Maurice Ole Tunda and Ochieng "Sonyi" who were teetotallers, the rest of Gor’s players had a peculiar relationship with the bottle.

The training was tough, with two permanent opposing sides. You would find one Mike “Machine” Ogolla tackling the opponents so badly and when asked why he was doing so, his answer would be ‘anataka kunichafua jina’ (he wants to soil my reputation).

On Friday, we would pass through Nairobi’s Ziwani Estate for boiled beef and ugali and thereafter end up in dingy lodges in Eastleigh near Kenya Air Force.

There, washrooms were communal and slippers were provided, but you would be given similar pieces for either the left leg or the right to deter theft. Towels were also disfigured to discourage lodge lifting.

If you made it to the squad of 18, you were happy. If you donned uniform by being in the squad of 16, you had made a big achievement. If you were fielded, you were on top of the world because representing the community in a high octane match was every player's dream.

Financially, things were not as robust. Our allowance then was Sh20. A bottle of beer was retailing at Sh1.25.

During big matches, one Duncan “Anyoso Jonyo” Migan would pretend to be pulling his socks before the match starts, and then would quickly communicate with Jerry Imbo to send word to the officials that the stadium was full which necessitated a review of allowances. It worked, at times, more so when we won.

In order to calm the nerves of players, Saturday morning was time for the movies at Cameo Cinema, then, after lunch, Peter Ouma “Pele" would manufacture stories in camp to ensure players were not tense. An hour before leaving for the stadium, our boots would be collected for polishing, but we knew it was not so.

That was when ‘invincible forces’ and "Radar department" did their work. Whenever they felt that what they had was not potent enough, belated reinforcement would be done.

There would be a lot of pre-match coverage. The only reporters/sports editors who were neutral were Guy Spencer and George Obiero of the Standard (Dan Odhiambo's brother).

At Daily Nation the neutrals were Polly Fernandes, Norman Dacosta, Larry Ngala and Roy Gachuhi.

Then there were sworn Gor and Leopards reporters who did not care and manifestly took sides when reporting. These were Hezekiah Wephukulu, Harry Were Silas and Hector Wandera for AFC Leopards, and Ochieng Angela for Gor.

City Stadium would be guarded the whole week by scouts/youth from both sides. On Friday (eve of the match), there would even be fights at night when one side suspected that unwanted paraphernalia was seen in the vicinity.

Calm was only restored when they reached "no man's land" which was an imaginary line dividing the Centre Stand in two, with Gor occupying one side and Leopards the other.

Birds around City Stadium also knew that when the two sides met as they had to change their flight paths and plans.

Whenever a bird moved near a goal before the match started, the boos alone would make it fly away. As to gestures/taunting, Gor fans would display their arms as if mimicking chicken to drive the point home that our "Ingwe brothers” have peculiar relationship with chicken.

Likewise, our ‘Ingwe' brothers would be seen ‘‘cutting Abdalla" to signify that Gor fans were yet to have their foreskins removed.

There was hardly a drubbing. Most matches used to end up in draws or one nil. Fans would throng the stadium as early as 10 to 11am, mostly after passing through Burma Market next to City Stadium for early lunch.

To entertain the crowds, Okeya Olum and Gilbert Olet were visible. The songs were a rare genre occasionally degenerating into unprintables, but that was how they gave the whole thing character.

From City Stadium, we converged at Public Bar (Kanyim) where a crate of beer was guaranteed. If we got an extra one, more so after winning, you were in trouble if Migan Anyoso did not like your face because you would have the luxury of having two.

A quick post-mortem would be done but in jest.

Fans would analyse the game for even one week. At Landi Mawe, I lived with my uncle who worked as a Travelling Ticket Examiner at Kenya Railways.

He had a penchant for ‘sick-offs’ until Human Resource (called Personnel Department those days) officers at Kenya Railway started analysing the timing, and they discovered it coincided with matches between Gor and Leopards.

As for officiating was concerned, whenever Gor fans saw Williams Ngah, they knew their goose was cooked. Likewise, ‘Ingwe' were not comfortable with Gabriel Ngesa of Mombasa.

Those days it was a taboo for a Luo to play for Luhya team. It was also suicidal for a Luyia to play for a Luo team.

The players who defied this, despite being harassed, were Edward Wamalwa, John Okello Zangi, and Peter Zimbo Owade (I think he is Luo). There was more drama outside the pitch.

Life would be boring without the two teams. Gor and Leopards are also great brands which private sector players have not taken advantage of.

Some people in the media have tried to associate Gor with violence, which I think is stereotyping. Gor does not have the capacity to control crowds. That is the work of the police.

Hooligans must be banned from matches. If goodwill was abundant, authorities would have made use of cameras to identify hooligans. Tafakari hayo!

Okello is a former player for Gor Mahia. [email protected]