By Lorraine Ruto,

We cheer them on the pitch; admire their lavish lifestyles and their flashy cars. Women line up to talk to them calling themselves fanatics. After all is said and done we go home and they go home after an amazing career. The big question is, what are they going home to?

Several players who played in the past have made something of themselves but the sad reality is majority of them do not live the lives they led as football players. Some even sink further into debt because they are still trying to live the same way they did in their playing days.

The  Football Kenya Federation should devise a way of helping these players improve their lives. This should start while these players are still playing. Give sponsorships for courses related to football, provide micro financing institutions specifically for these players at special rates, loans, even schools that cater to football players.

As a country and even more so as football lovers, we should strive to create anonymous self help groups of sorts that provide life coaching in as many fields as possible, from making the right investments to improving the psychosocial lives of each player.

A few groups have been formed to try and address this problem; Kenya Footballers Welfare Association (KEFWA) for one, is an association that was formed in 2011 by a group of players, Nicholas Ndubi Muyoti ex-AFC Leopards and James Omondi Oduor ex-Mathare United.

Football should not just be about the physical and the glory associated with it, it should be about brotherhood, about helping one another grow, about helping a young man be more than just his talent.