By Festus Kamau,

As the 2015-16 SportPesa premier League draws to a close, we cannot lose sight of some of the things that have made it a must watch for many soccer fans across Kenya.

Key among this is seeing some previously unheard players showing exciting, raw and pure talent in the game.

Some of these players include the discovery of one Michael ‘ Engineer’ Olunga plying his trade in the champions in waiting Gor Mahia FC.

The lanky forward has beaten all odds to be a serious contender for the golden boot and one cannot omit his name in the list of local top strikers  of recent times. Another player that has been a revelation is Farouk Shikhalo, Muhoroni Youth’s first choice goalkeeper, signed from lower tier’s Talanta  FC intoTusker FC as a third choice goalkeeper and through fate became first choice keeper after Boniface Oluoch and Samuel “Abawa” Odhiambo left for Gor Mahia and Ushuru respectively. His stint at Muhoroni Youth so far has surpassed the expectations of many as he has proven to be very dependable between the posts.

Other new kids on the block include Thika United’s duo of  Collins Okumu ,who has really stood tall at the heart of that defence and Ray Omondi,who is the current leading scorer for the Brookside boys, Steve Wakhanya who  has proven to be a midfield marshal for the sugarbelt based Chemelil Sugar even earning himself some national team’s call ups(both Under 23 and Senior sides)

However as fate would have it , the ‘new’ players are not so many , as a matter of fact the top tier teams have made it a tradition to play the same old faces year in , year out.

Even when the season enters into the transfer period the teams have a demonstrated a lack of zeal to sign ‘new’ players from lower tier leagues or locally established football academies or secondary schools preferring players that can only be described as ‘journey men’. Players who have made it a habit to move from one club to another every mid and end season for years .

While arguably they are entitled to this right in search for greener pastures one cannot help but wonder, what value do these journey men add to the league or the teams they so frequently move into? the growth of  club level football? or the national team? Looking at these journey men, it is evident that some are in their sun set years perhaps searching for a ‘retirement ‘ team. Some are very mediocre in terms of their style of play, playing slow, outdated football that would not even excite a one year old child.

While this is not a blanket condemnation of all the old players, a few of them have continued to demonstrate that age is nothing but a number  and play very good football namely Charles Okwemba, John Baraza, Michael Baraza, Vincent Okello, Noah Abich , Joackins Atudo, Duncan Ochieng and Humphrey Mieno .

Notwithstanding this lack of value addition, the coaches and technical benches who are at the heart of signing players have continuously favoured signing these journey men as opposed to picking an unknown, new player from lower tiers, the academies and schools which is a point of concern.

Some  technical benches will sign the said upcoming players and relegate them to benchwarmers citing them as inexperienced and too young to ply their trade in the league.

However a question has to be asked, how will they gain experience if they are never given a chance to play anyway? Would it not make more sense to give them a chance every so often? For instance any team in the top tier has thirty (30) competitive league matches, a chance to play in the

GoTV Shield Cup and Top 8 cup (depending on whether they finished among the eight top  teams in the previous year’s league ),  why then not give these young  players a chance to play and gain the said “experience”?

There are very few teams that believe in nurturing and signing young players generally.

Of special mention is Thika United and Mathare United . The former is known for grooming youngsters into stars such as Stephen Waruru, Chrispin “Alphy” Olando, Francis ‘kachi’ Kahata, Peter ‘Pinches’ Opiyo,  Cliffton Miheso among many others.

The latter  has over the years developed lots of players through its youth structures(MYSA) where most Kenyan footballers horned their skills such as the Mulama brothers, Dennis Oliech, Jamal Mohammed among many others.

These teams have held on to this culture for years. Whether this is by design or default, other top tier teams have behaved as if these structures are not important and continuously have failed to set up youth structures and solely depend on recycling over and over again.

While the teams have a selfish  focus on competition i.e winning the league  and somewhat are justified in ignoring the youth players, the management of the league  which has a duty in ensuring  a sustained  growth of the league  have failed to entrench and encourage the teams to embrace the young players .

KPL  for instance has failed in enforcing the rule that clubs must have a youth (under 19 ) team. This was a progressive idea that would have seen many more players advancing to join the senior teams.

In the years that KPL tried albeit to enforce the same, players such as Kevin ‘Kepha’Okoth, Dennis Sikhai, Vitalis Akumu( All of Western Stima), Jackson ‘Marsha’ Macharia, Levis Opiyo, Eugene Moses Mukangula, Timothy Ludda and Mike Mutinda (All of Thika United) Antony ‘Baggio’ Mbugua (playing in an Israeli Team) were able to capture the imagination of the senior teams and advance to where they are presently.

A huge criticism of this rule however  was that some teams when forced to set up the under youth structure, they would half heartedly comply and eventually when the organized tournament would end that was the last time you would hear of the tem .

The only club that has maintained its under 19 team , even though largely unfacilitated by  the club and appears to be a project of a section of the passionate fans , is Gor Mahia FC.

The National Federation, FKF, is equally not blameless, its hardline stands caused the abandonment  of the grass root tournaments such as ‘Sakata Ball’, Nairobi Super Eight(8) that used to nurture and expose untapped talent .

It does not take a rocket scientist to tell that this problem of recycling old players has found its way into our national team,

Harambee Stars, resulting in very poor results and a downward spiral in the position of the team in FIFA Rankings. While we cannot overrule the contribution of some old players in the team in their hey days, it only makes sense that the future of team lies in allowing the young players too to join the team and help in transitioning it to modern day football.

It goes without saying that a footballer is only as good as his age, so some of the players have to retire and must retire to create room for young upcoming players if Kenya is to find its rhythm back into the international football scene.

This is a clarion call to all football managers and stakeholders to embrace young and upcoming players by ending this menace called recycling.

Festus Kamau is known as Charles Blackman on Facebook

Preamble:The article does not in anyway represent the views of Soka25east.com

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com