Gor Mahia and AFC fans sing praises for their respective teams. Fans are
tied to their match, growing with it every step of the way. PHOTO |
JEFF ANGOTE
By CANUTE WASWA
In Summary
- You’d expect fans to know chaos hurts the local game and by extension the players.
Thirty-one years ago this month, 150 England fans
were arrested for vandalism, fighting and theft in Luxembourg. Their
riot caused £100,000 (Sh14 million) damage.
Spurs were also fined by Uefa after violence in Rotterdam
left 30 fans in hospital with stab wounds and other injuries. Sports
ministers from the Council of Europe convened to discuss how to stop
what one called “soccer terrorism”. As usual, the British government
offered solutions that were neither here nor there.
Fast forward 31 years later. The television
audience for the English Premier League is a possible 4.7 billion. The
prospects for future growth are immense, as millions more Asians go
giddy for the league.
In fact, we don’t even know who owns the famous
English football clubs any more. Is it the foreign investors who own
most of them? Is it the television companies whose billions draw so many
foreign players to the league? Or is it the local fans — keepers of the
institutional culture in which most of the clubs’ brand value resides?
As I write this, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards will
play their remaining matches this season behind closed doors. The two
teams will also compensate their opponents for the loss of revenue in
case they are playing away. The clubs have been fined Sh500,000 payable
within seven days and are required to pay for the medical expenses
incurred by the injured match officials and fans.
Now, for your information, Gor and AFC Leopards are
not just ‘normal’ teams. Credit goes to the two teams’ fans for raising
the level of attendance and revenue to clubs through gate collections
in the Kenya Premier League.
According to details revealed by professional
ticket handlers, Tickets Masters, attendance for Gor games, either home
or away, accounted to 64.9 per cent of ticket sales this season. AFC
Leopards account for 20 per cent. This shows these teams account for 85
per cent of KPL ticket sales.
AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia are the two football
clubs in Kenya which have many fans. The support of Kenyans towards
football is evident by the numbers of people attending matches their
matches. Those who cannot attend matches in various stadiums watch on
TV.
You would expect the fans to know that when they
cause chaos they are hurting the local game, and by extension their
brothers who play pay for it. The competition is for the ‘neutrals’ who
prefer to follow foreign leagues. The goal is to deny them the excuse
that the local game is at the mercy of hooligans.
A fan can’t live without his match. He grows up
with it; perhaps he plays himself, but at the least he is an observer on
the sidelines. This is the point where the football-marketing machine
comes in.
The marketing of football is naturally made up of
the entire package. Football is known the world over as a game where
almost everyone can actively or passively contribute something to it.
But the game as such would have never become a
global brand, if each club didn’t have its emotional fan base standing
behind it. They guarantee the economic cornerstone and the commercial
potential for expansion.
A football fan doesn’t need to “understand” the
game to get excited about it. He achieves satisfaction from the moment,
from the unfolding story, the exchanges, as well as the communication
before and after the game. His devotion even survives the occasional bad
game.
I believe Matthew Chapter 25 gives us a very appropriate parallel. This is in the Parable of Talents.
The master who went on a journey gives talents
according to the ability of the recipients. The third servant told his
master he was a difficult man who reaped where he did not sow as a
reason for not doing much with his gift. The little he had was taken
away and given to the first two who had brought returns.
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