The 19th Century builders of the so-called Uganda Railway that set off from Mombasa on its way to the source of the River Nile left us a legacy that included football, Kenya’s national pastime. We took to the new game as nestlings take to flight – it was magically simple and exciting. Mombasa is the cradle of Kenya football; it is where, some 100 years or so ago, the story of our game begins.
The railway builders, and the colonisers and missionaries who came with them, gave us names for ourselves and for our football clubs. The personal names endured and are the identities by which we are known today. Yet we did not always have names, at least not as far as the media of the years before World War II was concerned. Pioneer African footballers were nameless people; we shall never know who they were, much less distinguish the exceptional from the ordinary. This only began happening in the 1940s.The only people who had names were Europeans.
This one paragraph report in the East African Standard of July 20, 1938 was typical coverage of the early years: “A native football team from Eldoret paid a visit to Nakuru last weekend. On Friday, they were beaten by a Nakuru side by 4 goals to 2 while on Saturday they played and drew with the holders of the Buxton Cup. The score was 3 all.
“The Eldoret team”, “the Nakuru side” and “holders of the Buxton Cup”, whatever their identities, were anonymous entities. Compare this with a report in the same paper exactly 10 years earlier – June 2, 1928 – on another match involving the European community.
On Empire Day the Caledonians entertained the YMCA and a very poor exhibition of the Association code resulted. Miskicking was the order of the day and when kicks were effected no one seemed to know where the ball was going to. Passes were very loose and the ball was too much in the air to be of any great assistance to those who suffer from lack of inches.
The Callies won the toss and faced VI Avenue and were offside in the first minute. Then the Young Christians were off and with both backs missing the call, Rosenstone had a great opportunity but presented the sphere to the goalkeeper who walked about half a dozen steps with it in his arms. The YMCA again pressed and hands in the penalty area saw Rosenstone balloon the ball – another gift goal missed.
The same player was soon on the run and sent in a hot shot which the goal-keeper had to put over the bar. Temporary attacks by the Callies were frustrated and then the men in black worried Ramage with three good shots but these were well saved.
The Scotsmen forced a corner. From a distance out Thompson, the ex-Parklands half-back dropped the ball into the goal and Eastwood being baulked by one of his backs and with the sun in his face allowed the ball to enter the net off the upright. After some mid-field play Douglas gave a good pass to Tate who lifted the ball over the back’s head when close in and then tapped the ball into the goal. This put the Callies two up and this was the ultimate extent of their victory.
Reports of the 1920s and 30s followed the same pattern. The biggest tournament of the day was the Gossage Cup played between Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. But not even that one could get reporters to mention African players. The substantial space allocated to the match reports was negated by this key omission. Note, in the excerpt below, that only two people are mentioned in the report of the final of 1928 when Uganda took the trophy with a crushing 4-0 victory.
Who scored Uganda’s four goals? Who were their outstanding players? Who were Kenya’s best players? Who were mainly responsible for the big loss? The goalkeeper? The defenders? The coach’s tactics… In a word – who played in this match? But even if we shall never get to put names to the football of our pioneers, there is much comic relief, especially in the more controversial matches.
The less than 30 year-old FIFA did not yet have its iron grip on the game and referees took liberties in interpreting or making their own rules. For instance, a Cup final in Kisumu was decided on the number of corners taken when no team could find the back of the net and a winner had to be found.
Last Saturday saw practically the close of the native football season when the CMS met the Catholic Union in the final of the Father Farmer Cup. It was a great struggle though very straggly during the first half but the teams played better in the second half. Plenty of hard knocks were given and taken as they should be and the players proved themselves sportsmen in that sense.
Time arrived with the score 0/0.
Extra time was played and the score still stood 0/0, a second extra time was played and no goals were scored but during this latter extra time the CMS scored two corners to one by the Catholics and this captured the Cup in the opinion of Mr. Noble the referee and the award was made.
Now a good deal of controversy and discussion has arisen over the award not only amongst natives and a replay probably will be demanded. Personally the writer has only seen corners count in five-a-side matches and he is sure no Football Association ruling exists to award a Cup on corners. We would be glad of an official ruling at this end of the Colony if the Kenya Football Association has one covering such an incident as this. The CMS had already won the senior league and possesses a good solid side worth putting up against better teams than the majority they meet there.
This, of course, was not restricted to football. African names appeared in the media only so rarely, whatever the circumstances surrounding the news. The following excerpt from the East African Standard, was typical of the reportage of the time.
The Kikuyu lorry driver who had driven a naval lorry loaded with high explosive two-pound bombs at Mombasa while under the influence of liquor appeared in the Resident Magistrate’s court on Tuesday on a charge of committing an act of tending to serious risk of property. Mr. H. Harvey, who gave evidence, stated that had the bombs exploded, they would have killed a number of people. Accused now pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four weeks’ hard labour and a fine of 30/-, in default two weeks’ hard labour.
The accused had no name, unlike Mr. Harvey. But something seemed to happen after World War II and during the Emergency years. Africans started having names. Reports of the Gossage Cup and its club variant, the Remington Cup, begun to contain the names of the players. This is an abridged version of the East African Standard’s report of the Remington Cup Final of March 19, 1945 as the war drew to a close.
Central Kavirondo won the Remington Cup for 1945 (the Arab and African inter-district Association football competition) by beating North Kavirondo in the final at the Nairobi Native Stadium on Saturday by 4-2 having led 3-2at half-time. It was a fast, interesting game, despite the fact that the football was of the Cup-tie, kick and run variety rather than the close, cohesive game which some of the better league sides can display. Central Kavirondo won on their merits.
They owed their victory largely to the outstanding play both in attack and defence of their centre half, Okombo and to the excellent shooting of Galib, their centre-forward, who got all four goals and did not give the opposing keeper a chance with any of them. Okombo was the best player on the field and, on Saturday’s form, should be an automatic choice for the Gossage Cup side.
Play started at a fast pace and both sides took some time to settle down, several scoring chances being close in the early stages. In the ninth minute, however, Central Kavirondo attacked and Galib collected a pass from Gordon and shot hard.
There was a terrific amount of spin on the ball and the North Kavirondo keeper failed to hold it, Galib followed up quickly to collect the rebound and drive it in just inside the near post. (1-0). North Kavirondo equalized within a minute.
They raided the opposing half and from a throw in, Shem, their inside right lobbed the ball over his head clear into the goalmouth behind him. The Central Kavirondo keeper stepped back to gather and took the ball with him over his own line in the process. (1-1). In the 23rd minute, Central Kavirondo attacked strongly again and a penalty was awarded for hands, Galib making no mistake for a beautifully placed shot. (2-1).
Once again, North Kavirondo equalized almost from the kickoff. This was the best move of the game so far. Their forwards combined beautifully and Bhuti sent over a well-placed, low pass that Joshua Nyinso, in the centre met to beat the goalkeeper all the way with a nicely-angled drive. (2-2). Both sides livened up after this and a free kick was awarded to Central Kavirondo, about 20 yards out, half a minute from the interval. Galib took the kick and secured his hat-trick with a magnificent shot that went in inches only under the cross bar, to give Central Kavirondo a 3-2 lead at the interval. Four minutes after the resumption of play Galib took a beautiful pass from the outside left and shot hard. The North Kavirondo goalkeeper failed to gather and Galib ran in and scored with an unstoppable drive from there bound. (4-2). That decided the issue.
This was refreshing! Kenya football fans could finally start building a catalogue of heroes. It has been said that our pioneers were people of the generation of Elijah Lidonde, Shem Chimoto, Nasir Omar, Peter Wasiembo, Amrani Shiba, Peter Oronge, Joe Kadenge and Ali Sungura. It is not true! They were just the first Africans to have names. Many of those who played before them came and went in anonymity, thanks to the media of the day. As Independence approached, African players logged as much space as their European counterparts, even in the pages of the pro-establishment East African Standard. Just to put matters into perspective, contrast this abridged October 1959report in the Standard with those of the 20s and 30s.
In a fitting climax to the series, Kenya retained the Gossage Cup by beating Tanganyika 2-0 at Ilala Stadium, Dar es Salaam. Everything hinged on this match. Tanganyika needed to win to retain the trophy. Kenya needed at least one point. Kenya made no mistake. They were faster on the ball, more constructive and never relaxed their grip. Hard as Tanganyika tried, they never looked potential winners. Ambrose and Owiti formed an effective link between defence and attack and the centre-forward, Kajo and wingers, Munialo and Kadenge, constantly menaced the Tanganyika goal. Kenya’s first goal came after 14 minutes. Ayubu misjudged a lob from the right and Ambrose pushed a perfect pass into the middle for Kajo to flash an unstoppable shot past Wingi. Against sustained pressure another Kenya goal was inevitable. It came five minutes from the end. Kadenge burst through on the right and fired in a hard shot. Wingi – as he had done on previous occasions– failed to gather it cleanly and it rebounded to Munialo, who had the simplest of tasks in placing it into goal.
Mombasa, where Kenya football begun, only so reluctantly let go of its English heritage. There never was a concerted effort to change the names of the clubs that mimicked those of the English League. Those clubs just died as a new and harsh economic reality set in the 1980s.As late as the 1960s, the table of the Mombasa District Football Association League (MDFA) still resembled that of England, with a native sprinkling here and there.