Kihamba: Why North Rift football is dead despite abundant talent

Football lovers in the North rRift region can vividly recall the days when KCC FC and Rivatex FC were football giants nationally between the years 1985 to about 2000.

That was the time players like Mark Sirengo, Tom Rero, Francis Xavier, Franklin Obare and Salim played for either of the two teams in the then Super League and were also regulars in the national team, Harambee Stars.

The Kipchoge Stadium would overflow with fans whenever the two teams were hosting matches and football was on the lips of everyone in the region.

Peter Kihamba,  63, was the coach at KCC at the time. He has since retired to private life in the farmers’ town. He recalls how things have changed to a level where football is now almost non-existent in the region.

Kihamba regrets that despite the abundance of talent in the region, there seems to be no hope of tapping the same to help bring back the glorious days when fans would fill up the grass and soil terraces at Kipchoge stadium.

“Sometimes I tell myself that maybe we are in a different town and not the Eldoret I knew as home to great football players. Football was even more popular than athletics at that time but it’s now the other way round,” he said.

He watches helplessly as some of the top players he coached waste away in advanced age.

Some are still energetic and would have contributed to the revival of football. However, they have been forgotten by those managing football in the country.

“Some of the veterans who did duty for the national team Harambee Stars would have been useful if we had football development centres, where they would have helped to nature talent. But as it is, we have nothing in place and our football is actually on its deathbed,” he said.

Kihamba, a former number nine, said like many others, he had an inborn love for football — as a player and, eventually, a coach.

At the age of eight years, while living with his parents in Nairobi’s Ziwani Estate, he loved playing with fellow estate kids.

He attended Muslim Primary School, where teachers identified his talent and supported him. In 1971, his parents relocated to Vihiga County, where he played in local schools, mostly as a goalkeeper.

After sitting for his Class Seven examinations, he joined Nyangori High School. In the third term of his first year, he was picked to join the school team, where he played until he did his Form Four examinations.

It’s here that his talent shone. He was among four students picked by National League side, Motcom, who were sponsored by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

He briefly moved to Nairobi but returned to play for the then Maragoli FC but his father rejected the idea due to heated politics, which affected football in Vihiga at the time.

His family relocated to Matunda in Uasin Gishu County where he played for a local team Loreto Kings. It’s here that Kihamba was identified by KCC scouts — who were looking for young players.

Kihamba joined the Eldoret-based team as a player in 1985 and helped the team get promotion to the Nationwide League. He remained with the team until he became their assistant coach in 1993.

He took over as coach in 1997, serving for four years until 2000 when KCC FC started facing challenges amid the withdrawal of company sponsorship. At the time, he went for coaching courses and recalls how KCC FC advanced to win the then Moi Golden Cup, pushing aside giants like AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia.

“That was my best moment in football. I saw myself achieving what I had not imagined. I think it turned out to be the pick of my career,” he said.

The club qualified to represent the country in the then CAF Cup and hosted the first-ever international football match in Eldoret, against Mozambique side Costa Dol Sol in 1998.

Both teams won their home matches (1-0) thus forcing a shoot during the reverse fixture in Eldoret, prompting a penalty shootout which went Dol Sol’s way.

He led KCC to the Moi Golden Cup final the following year but lost to Mathare United in what he claims were unfair practices.

KCC finished third in the Super League but things went south the following — 2000 — after the milk processors pulled the plug on their sponsorship. Players would fail to turn up for training before the exodus hit as most left for AFC and Gor Mahia.

Kihamba recalls how Rivatex, then a top team, followed in the decline and eventually collapsed under similar circumstances.

To rescue the situation, well-wishers brought together players from the two sides to form Eldoret Combined, which ran into headwinds and folded due to financial challenges. At one point, former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his successor William Ruto were invited in Eldoret to help raise funds for the team. It was never enough.

In 2002, Kihamba was approached by the then Premier League side Chemilil FC to be their coach. he took the job but resigned two years into his mandate, citing ‘too much football politics’ in the region.

In 2004,  he returned to Eldoret and decided to nurture young boys at the Eldoret Rescue Centre, where he stayed for another two years before moving to the National Super League side Mahakama FC, as their coach.

Mahakama, whose patron was the Supreme Court Judge Mohammed Ibrahim was poised to win the North Rift Zone play-offs and join the top tier. However, Kihamba says they were unfairly pushed out through what he again calls ‘backdoor boardroom decisions’.

This, he said was the most discouraging moment for him and that also angered Justice Ibrahim — who was a diehard football fan.

“I had reached the point of completely giving up but in 2014, I was approached to join the then Eldoret United, who were being supported by businessman Dan Kiprotich. They finished 12th in the Nationwide League but later diminished,” he recalls.

In 2021, Kihamba opted to hang his boots and move to private life. He says sponsors play a big role in the development of football clubs.

“The rain started beating us when KCC collapsed — as a sponsor,” he said.

Kihamba says the country has football talent but poor leadership, lack of support (sponsorships) and lack of facilities have seen the game stagnate. Only proper measures will turn around the game, he observes.

With the Football Kenya Federation heading for the elections in December, Kihamba says it’s time for those with genuine interest in developing football to rise and bring back the glory days.

He said unfair practices and interests are to blame for the near-death of football in the country, arguing that young talented players can’t thrive in a ‘system controlled by cartels who harbour personal interests other than developing football’.

“It has become impossible to thrive in Kenyan football. It is dominated by favouritism and other interests,” alleged Kihamba.

Despite retiring, he still involves himself in churning prospects at Gulab Lochab School in Eldoret.