Stop treating football hooligans with kid gloves

Hooliganism is fast becoming a threat not only to sports but also to peace and national cohesion, if the events at Gusii Stadium in Kisii County over the weekend are anything to go by.

It is unacceptable that 72 people, who went to the stadium to watch the football match between Gor Mahia and Shabana and have fun, left with injuries.

What should essentially be moments of unity and celebration are being overrun by chaos, destruction, and violence. Kenya is still behind in sports commercialisation, and to witness incidences ranging from pitch invasions to fans clashing in stadiums, means we should forget about football producing the next Kenyan millionaire.

Such chaos must end if Kenya has any dreams of creating a multi-billion-dollar sports economy like the European countries and now the Arab nations.

Gor Mahia, the most decorated and perhaps most followed local club in the country, should lead by example when it comes to fostering peace, calm and unity on the pitch.

Gor’s popularity in Africa is due to the number of times the club has represented Kenya at the continent’s top-tier club football league, the CAF Champions League.

Even though they rarely hit the group stages, that is enough to earn the team respect. Sadly, that respect is not reflected in the local league.

Instead of celebrating athletic excellence, we are left cleaning up broken seats and broken spirits. Today, some football fans have vowed they will never go back to Gusii Stadium to watch matches. That is lost revenue for Shabana that collected Sh5.1 million in the weekend match alone. Such are the consequences and many more like sponsors withdrawing their support might follow.

Kenya will host both CHAN and the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and faces an uphill task convincing the continental football governing body, CAF, that they can handle fans' security, considering that just a handful of local league fans are giving them a headache every week.

To that end, the Football Kenya Federation must crack the whip and ensure that all the clubs in the league work hand in hand to end hooliganism.

We have seen clubs being issued with stadium bans, a few coins fine, and renovation expenses, a norm that doesn’t shock any of them. Fines are meaningless if they do not lead to behaviour change. There must be firm and visible consequences. Arrests and prosecutions should follow.

Clubs must stop turning a blind eye to their violent fans. These goons must be identified, reported to the police, and banned for life from stadiums.

Law enforcement must treat stadium violence with the seriousness it deserves. A fan who throws a stone or assaults another is a criminal. Such acts should not be treated as being “part of the game.” Courts must handle these offenses swiftly and set an example.

Fans must also choose the culture they want to build because sports go past our cultures, tribes, class, and even politics. Kenya cannot afford to lose its sporting soul to violence