Extreme Sports Limited, the company that runs the Sportpesa Super 8League, continues to lead from the front in showing how best to run football in Kenya.
From the apparent flawless arrangement, to general organization to ease of management et al, this entity appears to have its finger on every pulse of football this part of the sporting world.
If what happened on Sunday is anything to go by, coupled with its recent spread of wings to other far flung parts of the country, this nation is well on the road to good tidings going forward.
SUPER SUNDAY
As continuation of its football league calendar, last Sunday was aptly dubbed ‘Super Sunday‘, with several fixtures taking place at the Nairobi City Stadium, the culmination of which was a juicy fixture pitting Kayole against Jericho Allstars.
The passion was evident, the football was entertaining, skills aplenty and the youth were at ease,but what drew the most attention was the crowds that turned up to form part of the fiesta.
In stark contrast to matches played in the top tier that attract paltry or sometimes no fans at all, City Stadium was packed to the rafters, with food and snack vendors doing brisk business serving the masses.
The stands accommodated football enthusiasts only seen in top derbies across the region, never mind the Kenyan derby that has lately been watered down to only pockets of diehard fanatics. Lest it escapes our collective psyche, Super Sunday gate charges were pegged at a standard affordable fee of Ksh. 50, an equivalent of 1USD for every two people, making it an apt family day out with adequate security providing a further incentive and spur to attend.
What was interesting was that the total gate collections were shared out amongst the participating teams for the day, translating into more and much needed income into respective club coffers.
Granted, the massive attendance also finally demystified the often bandied narrative that people are paid to coerce them attend matches organised by Extreme Sports Limited. The unpopular myth was deservedly put to bed as fans trickled in irresistibly.
Another vital perspective that came out of the day was the monetary opportunities created from the event. At the end of it all, a fine number of stakeholders left the arena an elated lot. Super Sunday created wage opportunities for a host of people.
Branding personnel, match officials, ushers, coordinators, event planners, security agencies etc all made good bucks.
Extreme Sports Limited has indeed raised the bar and strongly exemplified the slogan “How to properly and effectively” run the game.
BORROW A LEAF
What was disappointing but probably not surprising was the wide berth shown by the country’s mainstream media in giving coverage the event deserved. They shunned it like the bubonic plague. Whether by design or default, there appears to exist mute reportage from leading news houses towards the Sportpesa Super 8 League something that is not beneficial to the harnessing of talent from the grassroots going to the top.Football is the beautiful game the more it grows the better as players are the main beneficiaries.
However the games flowed and as we all know progress is a process, sometimes a slow and painful one at the end it was jubilation of success as Super Sunday turned into one of the biggest football spectacles in Kenya bringing together everyone from kids,youths,adults and families to the City Stadium.
A crucial observation is that perhaps its time the FKF and KPL picked the cue and burnt the midnight oil trying to figure out what makes Extreme Sports tick and easily identify with the football masses the former struggle to attract.
Being the two top football bodies, it should naturally be the lesser entities looking up to them as a perfect case study, not the other way round.
