Gor Mahia fans against early league kick-offs
A section of football supporters affiliated with Gor Mahia has urged Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to rescind its decision to schedule the club’s league matches to 3 pm from 1 pm, arguing that the move will help the club raise more revenue from the gate takings.
The fans say the early kick-offs have denied them a chance to watch their favourite team in action as they are mainly engaged in hustle when the games are played at around midday.
Most of the mid-week matches have been played from 1 pm this week with sources informing Nairobi News that decision was arrived at so as to accommodate the interests of the league broadcaster.
Further, the fans have requested their games to be played either at the Nyayo Stadium or Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, so as to accumulate a huge fan base. They’ve also suggested a 50/50 revenue sharing from gate collections when the team is playing away from home, arguing most teams in the league, save for AFC Leopards, do not have supporters.
“How can a team like Posta Rangers which barely has ten fans get the whole share of monies from gate collections yet it is Gor Mahia die-hards who are paying to watch the match? posed Frank Ogwanjo, another fan.
“This league has no sponsor and we want to support our players’ fully through money from gate collections. How will I leave my Jua Kali job on Saturday or in the middle of the week to attend a match that kicks off at 1 pm,” posed Joseph Otieno, a fan.
Another fan who only identified himself as Wuod Karabondi argued that the 1 pm kick-offs could be a ploy to frustrate the team by denying it numbers to cheer on the players during matches.
The supporters have also supported the ongoing audit of the FKF accounts and called for the formation of the normalization committee to run football affairs in the country.