The 73rd Fédération Internationale De Football Association (Fifa) Congress came to a close last Friday in Kigali, Rwanda.
It brought together about 2,000 delegates from 211-member associations and football stakeholders.
This was the first Fifa congress to be held on African soil and it was organised inside the Rwanda Football Federation’s $4.7 million (about Sh 597,805,220) brand new centre built using cash from Fifa Forward Project.
It is this source of funding that seems to have irked many Kenyans on social media and they are already wondering if our local Football Kenya Federation (FKF) ever gets any funding from Fifa; if they do get it, do they use it or could they accomplish such a feat as did their Rwandan counterparts? We do not have any answers to these queries.
Our take is that we have become real crybabies in the past three decades. The mtaa teams that used to play in the lower leagues were usually the pride of the locality; the young boys playing for these teams were local lads and they were sponsored by willing men and women in the vicinity.
Those were the people who made it possible for these teams to exist. They provided bus fare for the players to go and honour their away matches; buy them footballs and jerseys and some could even afford to give some little allowances to the players.
These men and women of yore seem to have disappeared into thin air! Their place has been taken up by penny-pinching, liquor guzzling loudmouths that are you and me.
We are fast becoming a disgrace. The youth teams have fizzled out of the estates and the rudderless youth are left to veer towards muguka, drugs and cheap liquor without ever knowing perhaps they had sports talents. When they take that path, we sit down and complain while sipping drinks in bars!
Most of the former players honed their talents in such a set up and even contributing small amounts can make it possible for the teams to thrive. It is a time for soul-searching; look at your surrounding and think if you ever supported any youth team!
Here we are wondering about the Rwandan feat and pointing fingers at FKF and yet the little boys and girls in our hoods forfeited an away match for lack of fare! Here you are yapping about youth programmes to be set up by FKF and the team near you is fizzling out!
The Rwandan federation has its huge centre and hotel; FKF have their own things which they know best; but what about your local youth team? What have you done for the youth?
It is in this respect that we wish to salute the men and women of Kiembeni estate of Mombasa for coming out to help their local outfit Mantubila FC.
The Sh200 and Sh300 contribution has done wonders already. This ought to be the model for the rest of the country, and we shall bash FKF only after we have done our small part.
