Which is Kogalo’s biggest rival locally?

K’ogalo’s match with AFC Leopards is normally considered the biggest rivalry in the Kenya football scene. This is mainly due to the fact that the two are the most successful clubs not only in the country but also in the East African region. Between them, they have won over thirty trophies in the region.

However, I beg to differ. The reason for my different point of view is two words: AFC Leopards. Their form has been quite erratic in the last three seasons. It appears that all Ingwe does is mainly to avoid relegation. Secondly, though they are very inconsistent on the pitch, they are the most consistent team when it comes to one thing: firing their managers.

So, then the million dollar question is, which team is K’ogalo’s biggest rival locally?

Some four teams would best fit this role mainly because of their results over the last four to five seasons. These teams are Ulinzi, Sofapaka and Tusker. These have been the most consistent teams in the Kenya football scene in terms of results and trophies won.

Ulinzi vs K’ogalo is starting to take the form of a grudge match whenever the two meet. The two have faced each other thrice this season and the results have been as follows: 1-0 to K’ogalo, 0-0, and 1-0 to Ulinzi. The Ulinzi “win” was a boardroom decision since the match was never concluded on the pitch.

Sofapaka vs K’ogalo is apparently about the teacher versus the apprentice. This is the team that wishes to dethrone K’ogalo from our patch. They desire to be the dominant team of the region. They are fighting tooth and nail to be counted among the football giants in this region. I must admit that they are a team to watch and if we ignore them, it will be to our peril. Their only duel with us this season ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Tusker FC is a very different proposition altogether. After both K’ogalo and Ingwe, they are the third most successful club in the country. Arguably the best team locally over the last decade. At the beginning of each season, their name Is usually mentioned among the title favorites.

Their undoing is that even when K’ogalo was struggling, they have always found it quite a difficult task to conjure a win against us.

They have had a succession of top coaches and their current coach, Sammy Omollo, is also their former player as well as a former player and coach of K’ogalo. During the match between Ingwe and K’ogalo, this coach was rooting for an Ingwe win and he has always stated that he considers us one of their main rivals for the KPL trophy this season.

The first match between the two was played away from the city in Mumias and ended 0-0. According to the majority of K’ogalo’s fans, the match was switched to Mumias to reduce the contribution of K’ogalo fans. How disappointed then Tusker must have been when they discovered that as long as a match between K’ogalo and any other team is played within the boundaries of this nation, then K’ogalo fans will always show up in their thousands?

My conclusion? Tusker FC is K’ogalo’s biggest rival locally. For this reason the second leg tie between these two teams on Wednesday this week, is a must watch match what with the huge prize of the three points on offer whereby should we win, we will continue with our unstoppable move up the table.

AFC Leopards and Congo United in perspective

What a week this has been for the Kogalo fraternity. The highlight of this week and probably of the season up to this point was on Sunday when we mauled our “shemejis” 3-1. This is one result that Kogalo fans won’t be in a hurry to forget any time soon.

Then on Wednesday, we travelled to Mombasa to honour our FKL Cup match against Congo United which we lost in penalty shoot-outs but still stand to progress further as one the best losers. In over 90 minutes, we were unable to score a goal against Congo United.

While the AFC Leopards win was the sweetest one, let’s not forget that at the end of the day, we only got three points in addition to the move up the table and finally reaching the magical number of thirty points. At one point we were nine points behind the leaders which we have now reduced to only three points albeit with a match in hand.  

The score line was a bit flattering because it’s getting increasingly rare for Kogalo to win any match by more than one goal.  While most would say that a win is a win irrespective of the scores, it would do them well to remember that this is Gor Mahia FC we are talking about.

All the three goals against Leopards were scored by our attackers in Ochomo, Selenga and Makori with the direct contribution of Lavatsa in all the goals. While our attackers are always struggling to score goals with aplomb, our best department thus far continues to be the defence. It is just the best.

Forward to the Congo United match and what clearly comes out is the need for consistency. It is a known fact that all teams continue to motivate themselves to play their best whenever they come up against Kogalo. But to be the best, we have to find a way of beating the best and the worst teams more consistently.

Kogalo will not have easy matches any more. You can bet on that. Teams will continue to make it very hard for us to play our usual game against them.  

What Kogalo needs right now, is for the emergence of one or more players who in a split second, can unlock even the toughest and tightest of defences. I believe that such players are already within the team. All they need is the belief within them that they can do it.

Our next two matches are against the teams with very good defences just like us. These are Tusker and Western Stima. I hope these fixtures present our players with the chance to finally emerge to greatness.

We win these two matches, the momentum will be with us and the whole CECAFA region will rise up and take notice because we will be occupying the number one position in the league.

The K’Ogalo Nation

Earlier this month, the world witnessed the birth of a new nation, South Sudan. While the international community has been quick to offer congratulatory messages to this nation, few have noticed the silent emergence of yet another great nation, the K’Ogalo Nation.

Last weekend I got the privilege to attend two very special events. The first one was the Kenya National Athletics trials organized to select the teams that will represent our country in both the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and the All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique. The second special event I attended was the Slum Boys versus K’Ogalo Nation in a KPL match.

Athletics and football are the two sports disciplines most loved by Kenyans. Football matches are frequent and are organized everywhere from the streets, village and estate playing grounds to the football stadiums. Football fans are already used to paying entry fee to watch their favorite teams in action. Athletics fans, however, long used to watching their superstars in action only on television rarely get the chance to see them in action locally. There are very few athletics events around such that the few that take place do not charge any entry fee.  

Saturday, was the final day for the national trials and Nyayo stadium was packed. Sunday, was the day of the match between Mathare Utd and K’Ogalo Nation. Considering that the athletics event was free while the football match had an entry fee of either 100/- or 400/-, the attendance to the football match probably exceeded that of the athletics event. There is only one reason for this: the emergence of The K’Ogalo Nation and their message was that they don’t need free things. We’d rather pay to watch our team than be allowed free entry.

The K’Ogalo Nation seems to be bigger, and more passionate than the Kenyan Nation. They have their own “national” colours i.e. green and white which are easily recognizable.  They also have their national uniform which is also easily recognizable. They have their own special songs which they sing to cheer on their team.

It is worth noting that none other than the K’Ogalo Nation coach was once quoted as saying that coaching K’Ogalo Nation was more stressful than coaching Harambee Stars. The citizens of this K’Ogalo Nation pay their taxes promptly i.e. entry fee. The revenue authorities, Ticket Masters, usually report record gate collections in all the matches involving the K’Ogalo Nation.

While national teams struggle to hype their events and bring fans to the stadium, K’Ogalo Nation doesn’t. The venue, time, date and entry fee are challenges that are welcomed and embraced with passion. The days leading up to a match involving the K’Ogalo Nation, are filled with lots of excitement and debate about the team players, their opponents, the strategy the coach will use, the sponsorship issue just to mention but a few.

One thing indeed is clear; the K’Ogalo Nation has been born and is here to stay. Perhaps the international community should also recognize it the way they did South Sudan. Perhaps, we should open up diplomatic missions abroad starting with South Sudan.

Long live the K’Ogalo Nation. Long live the team that has been representing the K’Ogalo Nation very well, the Mighty Gor Mahia.

WHO BENEFITS MOST FROM KOGALO’S TUZO SPONSORSHIP?

This year, the most talked about issue among the fans of K’Ogalo, has been the Tuzo sponsorship to the club to the tune of a whooping Kshs. 38 million for a period of two years.

At first, the sponsorship was warmly received especially after K’Ogalo’s arch-rivals, AFC Leopards, received their sponsorship from Mumias Sugar Co. Ltd. K’Ogalo fans were heard grumbling that their club was being left behind when almost all the main football clubs in the country seemed to be getting corporate sponsorship from the left, right and centre.

However, the excitement dissipated quickly when it started emerging that there several details had either not been properly thought out or had not been properly explained to the fans. The question was, and still is, who benefits most? Is it the club or the sponsors?

This issue was compounded further when it was revealed that the team jerseys, traditionally green and white, had been slightly altered. The exact shade of green had not been achieved. Tuzo and Legea, responded to this outcry by stating that the jerseys’ manufacturers, Legea, did not have the exact shade in their catalogue and had opted to use the shade in their catalogue temporarily till the end of the season with the assurance that this problem would be sorted out come next season.

All this is balderdash. Nowhere in the world do shirt manufacturers come up with their own colours which are even slightly different from those of the team they are clothing. This does not just happen. The colours must match with the team colours. Period.

So, once again who has benefited the most?

Definitely, it is not Kogalo. The main beneficiaries here have been first, Tuzo and secondly, Legea. Tuzo have been the biggest beneficiaries for the sole reason that these days Gor Mahia is mentioned in the same sentence with Tuzo. Gor Mahia and Tuzo are mentioned in the same breath.

It may be impossible to quantify this benefit to Tuzo in terms of the sales they have made since they started sponsoring the club. How many litres of milk have they sold? How many of these buyers are Kogalo fans? How many fans of Kogalo have shifted their loyalty to Tuzo from other milk brands in the market?

The sad inescapable fact for the Kogalo fans is this: the sponsorship deal will still run for one more year. We probably, still have to bear with them.

Hopefully, the club has learnt. The next sponsorship Kogalo enters into, has to be beneficial to the club first and foremost. Sponsors are not bigger than a club, especially when that club is Kogalo.

No disrespect to Tuzo but Kogalo must be respected for its achievements. Kogalo is older and wildly known compared to Tuzo. If this partnership is to go beyond the projected two years, then Kogalo’s concerns, especially that of its fans, must be taken on board.