Blog: The sleeping giant; Mathare United

When or where did the rain start beating Mathare United, a team which has well establised structures and teams of almost all age groups, from the under 10's to under 18's, and each year they participate in tournaments held all over the world.

They used to take young  players abroad for such tornaments before the emergence of the likes of Ligi Ndogo, thus exposing the young talents that we had in Kenya.

Establised in 1987 by Canadian Bob Munro in the slums of Nairobi, Mathare United has some achievements under its belt, notably, the KPL championship in 2008, Presidents Cup in 1998 and 2000.

However, they have become a pale shadow of themselves; last year narrowly escaping relegation by a whisker and currently in the lower reaches of the KPL with a goal difference of -3, wheres their brothers Mathare Youth whom were once in the top flight league, sitting pretty at bottom of the nationwide league with 18 points and a goal difference of -19.

So it begs the question... what really happenned to the once mighty Mathare?

Mismanagement

What went wrong, as a team that once had a chunk of its players playing for the national team, and has produced the best players in Kenya.

Players have at times complained of delayed or lack of payment of their allowances, a team that has lucrative sponsorship deals with G4s and Real Insurance as the official shirt sponsor; Dennis Oliech, Austin Makacha, Titus and Simeon Mulama, Jamal Mohammed, Francis Kimanzi and Francis Ouma ,all products of the once great team. 

What do you think is the quick remedy that will help salvage Mathare United? I do not think I will be happy to see it go down like in the case of Kagemi United.. and now their brother Mathare Youth.

We need these estate teams, we need to see the likes of more Kariobangi Sharks, Kibera Celtic, Umoja Renegades and Embakasi Combined. We have talents in the grassroots that should be tapped at an early age and help keep the youths away from the streets where they are prone to crime and drug abuse. 

Structures

We need Mathare United.

My appeal to the management of such clubs is to ensure that you have the right structures and set policies that will aid in the smooth running, achievement of set goals and nurturing of raw talent that we have in our country.

If you do those well, there is no way the club will go down. People know how to differentiate between the good and the bad.