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KENYA
NIGERIA
In the world of football, there are different ways of judging clubs.
As a yardstick, mainly three ways are used.. One is by the history the club has, another the success rate and thirdly, the worth of the club.
If you by any chance follow the English Barclays Premier League, you may hear of the rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool.
You can argue that they are the biggest clubs in England in terms of success and history.
Liverpool were for a long time until the nineties, the most succesful club in England by a long way; domestic titles, European titles and many other trophies.
United took over
But then in the mid- nineties, fuelled by a great coach in Sir Alex Ferguson, a hard-working CEO in David Gill and a maverick marketing guy in Peter Kenyon, United took over.
Those three made United a force both on and off the pitch and built their label to the level it is today; the biggest football club in the world.
The foundation was built through good performance on the pitch, good decision making off it and great marketing
You can go elsewhere in the world too.
Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are the same too, success on the pitch followed by more off it.
Which is why the derby clash between the two heavyweights is considered a big catch the world over. Why? because it represents two powers, football wise, fan wise and money wise.
Who would miss out on the Classico?
Big derby in Tanzania
In Tanzania, it is estimated that the Dar derby between Simba and Yanga pulls in an estimated five million dollars, in terms of money spent in advertising, television and other revenues that are related to the match.
When the derby is around town, everything comes to a standstill: shops are closed, the president attends.. etc, etc..
In South Africa, the Soweto derby is just as big, maybe even bigger.
As is the same in Uganda, when it comes to Express and SC Villa, life in Kampala stops because of the match.
But what about Kenya?
Why is our biggest derby so poor, why is there not much going in it's way.. What are we doing wrong?
Build a brand
Considering the history of the clash and the amount of noise usually made, you would think that the match is worth millions of shillings.
But it is not.
Because we have not built it as a brand. Here it is a football match, elsewhere in the world, it would be considered a money making machine.
Football and business go together, they are like love child's. If we have money and a name, the derby will grow and grow, the two clubs will get many grand players on board and sponsors will want to be a part of it.
We need to build the value of our one and only great derby. So far, the clubs are doing well, they are stable and are performing well on the pitch.
Now is the time to build a name for it, get the brand going, get people interested in what is a truly good spectacle, we must sell it in someway.
Live on TV
A derby of such proportions should be on national television. It should already be all over the news, billboards radio and so on. Just like the way the Safaricom sevens rugby is being hyped, it should be on everyone's lips.
To this day, I can tell you that there are many millions who have no clue that the derby is over the weekend. On the other hand, the Safaricom sevens was in the news months ago. People have planned and planned and trust me, it will be somewhere on air for the full duration.
Until we lift the derby's profile, it will be just another game, just among the 38.
Which is a real waste.
