Ingwe Fan

Team Munro Created

2012-02-16T22:50:00.001+03:00

Bob Munro was stressed, feelingthreatened of losing his job and his lifestyle, since his abusive boss hired aStanford geek to work in their company. Bob promised his wife Jamie Munro, histeenage daughter Cassie Munro and his young son Carl Munro to spend vacationsin Hawaii, but his boss demanded that he prepares a presentation and attend abusiness meeting with the owners of a family company in a merging operationscheduled in the same period. Bob hid the truth to his family, rented a recreationalvehicle and tried to convince his dysfunctional family that a road trip to theColorado Rocky Mountains would be good to bring old values back to theirfamily.

Incase you are lost, then you haven’t watched the movie RV starring Robbie Williamsas Bob Munro.

Butthe Bob Munro we are talking about isn’t the same one. This is Robert Munro, whois a Canadianwho changed the face of Kenya (or so it is said).

But for most people BobMunro is Mathare United and for a long time, Mathare united has been Bob Munro.

In his paper called GreedVersus Good Governance, Munro states that the club was founded in 1994which was thirty years after the formation of AFC Leopards SC. It cateredmainly for the youth in the Mathare slum which led to the annoying ‘Slum Boys’reference by the Kenyan press.

The club enjoyed orderand organization in an era where community clubs, and in particular Leopardsand Gor Mahia were floundering after they lost the state backing though thehiring of its players in state corporations.

Mathare United wasable to attract sponsors and was soon playing football in the lower leagues andtaking part in Cup competitions.

Munro stated thatthey found the lower league corrupt with the team losing many of the awaymatches due to compromised referees. But in 1998, this apparently changed. He says:-

For the 1998 season, one of my friends kindly donateda video camera to our team. It wasn't one of the small and light modern modelsbut a huge and clunky camera with a shoulder bag for the heavy battery pack.That year our Team Manager became really fit. During all our away matches heran up and down the sidelines with the camera constantly pointed straight atthe referees.

Not used to being movie stars, the referees becamefar more cautious and correct. But we had a dark secret. What the refereesdidn't know and never discovered was that the camera was broken. That cameranever worked but the technique did. In 1998 Mathare United earned more pointsfrom away matches and won promotion to the Premier League. But that thenexposed our team - and me - to new and tougher forms of corruption whichcouldn't be countered with only a broken video camera.

Of course thisseems a bit over the top since the facts seem to have been different. In 1998,Mathare United finished FIFTH in the Eastern Zone of the Super League behindKCB, Red Berets, Co-op Bank and Postbank. The second tier league to the Premierleague was arranged in two zones and the top five finishers in the Western Zonewere Brooke Bond, Kisumu All Stars, Gilgil Telcom, Pan Paper and Nakuru Police.

Not all theseten teams (five from each zone) qualified for the League. Mathare United wasparachuted into the league courtesy of some questionable decisions by theruling football authorities who reasoned that because Mathare had won the MoiGolden Cup for that year, they needed top flight football to horn their skillsin the continental ties. At first, their admission into the league was unfairlyat the expense of Red Berets but later, both teams remained in the League.

When Mathare Unitedwas admitted into the Premier League in March 1999, few would have imaginedthat it was going to lead to a blossoming rivalry with Leopards, then among thetwo or three undisputed kings of Kenyan football. That set the stage for theCup Champions of 1998 against the League Champions of 1998 to play in the sameLeague.

In the first leagueclash between the teams in June 1999, Leopards emerged the victors and itlooked like the Slum Boys were there to make up the numbers. But they ralliedand in fact beat the leopards in the second leg played in November of the sameyear and finished eighth in the league as Leopards finished fourth.

For Munro, this wasjust the beginning of the transformation of the Kenyan football scene. In 2000,the league was played in two Zones and his team won its Zone whereas Leopardsfinished fifth in the twelve team Zone. In a final mini-league of the top fourteams, Mathare finished fourth.

But Mathare was againin the Moi Golden Cup Final for that year meeting … who else but AFC Leopards.Munro’s team won the Final beating the sad Leopards 2-0 in a result that didn’tshock many.

In 2001, whilstMathare played in the continental matches, Leopards was cooling its heels athome. The superiority over Leopards continued in the 2001 league as Mathare finishedsecond whilst Leopards were placed fifth.

However, there wasthe Cup final again and Mathare United was in the final again and the team theymet … was none other than AFC Leopards again! Clearly a rivalry was brewingbetween the teams. This time, Leopards avenged the loss in the previous year’sfinal by beating Munro’s team 2-0.

Having finishedsecond in the league that year, Munro gave a funny anecdote of what happenednext:-

The last awards ceremony was for the 2001 season.KFF officials presented the winners with trophies but no cash awards. MathareUnited won the Premier League Runner-Up trophy. The Mathare Captain andAssistant Captain were still admiring their new trophy just minutes aftercollecting it when the owner of a local sports store approached them, presentedhis business card and asked "KFF just borrowed these trophies from my shopthis morning for this ceremony. Could I please have the trophy back now?"

That seemed to spurhim on to act. But as he acted, his team was continuing its impressive run overthe Leopards. Dennis Oliech, arguably Kenya’s best ever player was in the ranksof Mathare United and in 2002 he was involved in a contentious encounter withthe Leopards where he was sent off after he had scored and the match was later abandonedwhen the Leopards fans disputed the referees decision to disallow an equalizinggoal by Francis Xavier. Leopards took the award of this match to Mathare bitterly and in factwent to the High Court through lawyer Eric Mutua seeking to reverse thedecisions. Mathare had beaten the Leopards 2-0 in the first leg and it seemedthe Leopards were seeking revenge on the team and were willing to go to alllengths to restore their wounded pride.

Luckily for thebuilding bad blood, the teams were not placed in the same Zones for the 2003and 2005 leagues and thus did not play each other.

To his credit, Munro had a great relationship with Leopards then Chairman Voltaire Kegode and they exchanged cordial e-mails.

There was confusiongalore in the 2004 league and according to Munro in his paper on the Kenyan soccerscene, he states:-

In late 2000 the Mathare United officials took aleading role in starting inter-club consultations and launching unprecedentedjoint initiatives by clubs which led to the presentation to KFF of over 50constructive reform proposals for saving and improving Kenyan football. WhenKFF ignored those proposals and especially those on financial transparency andaccountability, Mathare officials again took the lead with other clubs andinvoked Article XIV of the KFF Constitution on the right of the KFF member clubsto inspect the KFF accounts. For the next three years the Mathare United cluband its officials remained among the leaders in the reform activities of theInter-Clubs Consultative Group (ICCG) and its corporate successors, the KenyanPremier Football Group Ltd (KPFG) and Kenyan Premier League Ltd (KPL).

In 2006, Leopards seemed to have gotten the better of Mathare Unitedbeating the so called Slum Boys 2-1 in both league encounters. However,shockingly, Leopards were relegated from the league that year in a series of unfortunateevents that most Leopards fans blamed on one man: Bob Munro.

In a report on a local football website, it was even quoted that thecurrent Football Kenya supremo Samuel Nyamweya had poked fun at some Kenyan footballadministrators who couldn’t do anything without Munro. The site reported:-

…Shabana FC Chairman Sam Nyamweya shot up as retorted to Thika Uniteds' GeraldChege "You are waiting for Bob Munro to come and make the decision foryou?" That seemed like a cue to Gor Mahia chairman Andrew Sule whoimmediately shot up to his feet in typical Gor Mahia style of solving issuesphysically, folding his sleeves and charging towards the KPL official intendingto beat him.

When Leopards were relegated, most Leopards fans thought Munro wastrying to send their team to its deathbed so that his Mathare United team couldassert control over the soccer scene. The joke often made by Leopards fans isthat he converted the FIFA slogan: Kick Racism Out Of Football to Kick LeopardsOut of Football.

At some point there were people who wanted Munro deported. There werealso claims his team had fielded an ineligible player and ought to have beenrelegated. But in the end, the leopards were the one that sat out the League.

In fact, whilst Leopards was in purgatory, Mathare United won its firstPremier League title, to rub salt in Leopards fans wounds.

And Munro grew into a colossus. FIFA seemed to consult him and take hisword on the state of football in Kenya. In 2010, there are thosewho said he was behaving as if Mathare United was the only team in Kenya.His club even benefitted from FIFA projects. It looked like they were going torule Kenyan football for a long time as the Leopards seemed to be dying.

Fast forward to now and the Leopards seem to be back. The financialmuscles that Mathare United had over the Leopards during those dark days seemto have vanished.

Though Mathare holds a slightly better record to Leopards sincethe Second Coming of the Leopards, the teams have drawn half the matchesplayed.

Premier League

1^st Leg1999: AFC Leopards 1-0 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg1999: AFC Leopards 1-2 Mathare U. (City)

1^st Leg2000: Mathare U. 1-1 AFC Leopards (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg2000: AFC Leopards 0-2 Mathare U. (Oserian)

1^st Leg 2001: AFC Leopards 2-1 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg2001: Mathare U. 2-1 AFC Leopards (Nyayo)

1^st Leg2002: AFC Leopards 0-2 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg2002: Mathare U. 1-0 AFC Leopards (Nyayo)

2003: AFCLeopards and Mathare U. in separate zones

2004:

2005: AFCLeopards and Mathare U. in separate zones

1^st Leg2006: AFC Leopards 2-1 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg2006: Mathare U. 1-2 AFC Leopards (Nyayo)

2007: Relegated AFCLeopards did not play in any League.

2008: AFCLeopards and Mathare U. in separate Leagues.

1^st Leg2009: AFC Leopards 0-1 Mathare U.

2^nd Leg2009: Mathare U. 1-2 AFC Leopards

1^st Leg2010: AFC Leopards 1-1 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg2010: Mathare U. 3-3 AFC Leopards (Nyayo)

1^st Leg2011: AFC Leopards 0-1 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

2^nd Leg2011: Mathare U. 2-2 AFC Leopards (Nyayo)

Leopards League RecordAgainst Mat U: P 16 W 5 D 5 L 6

KnockOut Cup

Oct 10, 2000: MathareUnited 2-1 AFC Leopards (MISC, Nairobi)

Oct 10, 2001: AFCLeopards 2-0 Mathare U. (Nyayo)

In The Den: Week 6

2012-02-12T17:29:00.001+03:00

· 2,485 Fans

AFC Leopards SC, holds itself out as a big club and most of the Kenyan commentators will always speak of how the team has 6,000,000 fans.

Well, two thousand four hundred and eighty five (2,485) fans paid gate entry charges this weekend to watch the Leopards as they played against Chemelil Sugar at the teams home ground at Nyayo Stadium along Lang'ata Road in Nairobi.

The stadium is a 30,000 seater stadium and there were large spaces of empty seats the Leopards played. Granted, in other matches save those of Gor Mahia, the crowd is even less but this was a poor show for an opening game by the Leopards fans.

According to the report on the official website, this crowd raised a total sum of Kshs. 337,100 which was broken down as follows:-

Main Stand: Kshs. 118,000 from 295 fans paying Kshs. 400 each

Terraces: Kshs. 219,000 from 2,190 fans paying Kshs. 100 each

By any standards, if this is any indication, the team is going to struggle to raise a sum of Kshs. 15 million in gate collection during the course of the year. There are even worse news since the game was a double header and thus the costs were shared at a 75:25 ratio with Tusker Fc who had hosted the curtain raiser, meaning thatour club only got Kshs. 184,300 'after costs'.

Earlier in the week, a section of fans had complained that the intended figure of Kshs. 200 as the terraces charge was going to keep away the fans. This was after a report appeared on Futaa quoting the Acting Secretary general Duncan Angode indicating the fee rise. Despite the lower charges, the attendance wasn't as expected leading Angode to express shock at the fans who have a penchant for criticizing the actions of the office and administration but doing little to help the club in its endeavours to increase its income.

It also appears that there may be other measures that have to be put in place to regulate the fans who attend the match. A cursory look around the stadium pointed at at least 5,000 fans in attendance if one counted the number of the terraces that were filled up and divided it with the number of terraces that are in the stadium and based the total capacity of the stadium at 30,000 fans.

It is time Ticket Masters came up with a way in which it could identify those who have purchase tickets and entered the stadium to assist the club separate the wheat from the chaff. It doesn't make sense for 10,000 people to turn up at the clubs elections each year yet only a few people attend matches. It is for this reason that the proposal is given that each ticket purchase should have the names given and recorded so that we can know the 2,485 brave fans who paid to watch the Leopards and who may once again be the ones who attend the other matches of the the team.

A few fans had indicated that anyone who did not turn up in official replica jerseys would be 'disciplined'. Such comments are unfortunate and in an era where the club is struggling to get the stadium to be one tenth full, merely come across as more insecurity concerns for other fans who would otherwise attend.

Some avid Leopards fans chose to watch the Manchester United versus Liverpool match on TV rather than come to watch the Leopards. At the end of the day, we owe it to ourselves to come out in large numbers to cheer on the Leopards.

The club had indicated this week that they have released season tickets. In the face of the attendance this is one thing that needs to been encouraged. There are queries over the matches that will be 'away' though they are home matches but perhaps this will not be a reason for a lower uptake.

· Ingwe Ladies Represent

All the Ingwe Ladies...

Now put your hands up...

In Week 6, the Ingwe Ladies went to spread cheer at the Lang'ata Women's Prison in a successful Community Social Responsibility (CSR) event before the opening clash of the Leopards in the Kenya Premier League.

The all-girl group's CSR mainly focused on the inmate’s children some of whom were as young as one year and who live in the prison with their mothers. The children were face painted and they also played on a hired bouncy castle.

The Ingwe Ladies also presented gift items such as napkins, drawing books, colouring pencils, crayons. In addition, they also shared a meal with the inmates and also met the Lang'ata Women's Prison football team.

Leopards is a commUNITY club and events such as this call us to be more unified and dignified as we care, share and repair the lives of those in our commUNITY who are less privileged or whose privileges have been curtailed.

It is such acts of altruism that make this club non-pareil and congratulations are in order to the Ingwe Ladies for improving the image of our club and putting a smile on people who will remember they were visited by fans of our great club.

Post Match: Chemelil (H)

2012-02-11T19:23:00.001+03:00

Leopards started their Kenya Premier league campaign for 2012 with a 0-0 draw against Chemeli Sugar FC.

John Munene of MichezoAfrika filed this report on the award winning website

AFC Leopards and Chemelil FC settled for a barren in their opening 2012 Kenyan Premier League fixture played at Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The match came minutes after champions Tusker had booked themselves a 2-1 opening win against City Stars at the same venue.

The hosts-AFC Leopards- began the match on a high and strung passes that gave the crowd hope of an early goal that was never to be. A harmless back pass almost gave Ingwe the opening goal early in the match after Chemelil keeper Fred Onyango misjudged the ball but luckily he was far off the post and it rolled out for a corner.

Chemelil’s reply to the leopard’s strong start were masterminded by new signing Hadji Mwachoki but the solid combination between Nahimana Pako and Eric Masika proved hard to beat at the defense.

Midway through the first period, Salim Khamis and Jonas Nahimana misdirected their long range shots while Mike Baraza squandered the last opportunity in the first half.

Hadji Mwachoki had the first effort on goal immediately after the interval but keeper Patrick Matasi made a meal of his shot with an easy hold. Minutes later, a goal mouth melee at Chemelil ‘s end almost broke the deadlock but the ball did not cross the line as the sugar men held on to their good run against Ingwe.

Ugandan Abbassi Kiwalabye tried a grass cutting shot midway in the second period against his former masters but the Chemelil keeper read him well as he comfortably held the ball in his gloves.Jonas Nahimana and Masika tried to capitalize on another goal mouth melee but the ball was cleared by the Chemelil defense before further damage could be inflicted.

AFC Leopards Substitute Jimmy Bagaye who had come on for Oscar Kadenge beat keeper Fred Onyango but could not direct the ball into the net. Mike Baraza’s header after a neat free kick went wide as Ingwe intensified their attacks and Chemelil padded their defense.

Another substitute Laurent Tumba had the final effort in the added minutes but keeper Oyango again rose to the task to end the match on a stalemate and secure visitors Chemelil a vital away point.

After the match Chemelil Sugar coach Edward Manoah said he is satisfied to have opened the 2012 campaign with a single point away and against a good team.

“It was a good match and am satisfied with the performance of the boys. One point is not bad for a start considering we were playing away and against a very solid team.” He said.

Wilson Mathu of Futaa had this report

Chemelil Sugar ensured that their clean away record against AFCLeopards was not tainted after holding them to a barren draw at the NyayoNational Stadium.

The season opener however witnessed a host of chances fromboth sides but neither was converted for a goal.

AFC Leopards started on a high with Mike Barazashowing flashes of brilliance on the left flank but failed to direct hisefforts.

Chemelil Sugar keeper Fred Onyango was on thespotlight early in the match after lazily missing a back pass but escaped punishmentwhen it rolled out of play.

Matasi on Leopards goal was first tested in the 15^thminute from a Haji Mwachoki strike at the egde of the area.

The game then slide back to a balanced one with each teamgiving as much as they got to ensure a draw into halftime.

The second half registered increased pace with Ingwe themore ambitious side of the two. However the same plague of missed chances followedthem despite injecting pace through Jimmy Bagaye.

Bageya squandered a glorious chance in the 82^ndminute after Fred Onyango left his line but his flick rolled out of play.

New signings Masika also had his bicycle kick blocked in thedying minutes with the follow-up losing direction in the hands of Tumba.

The result ensured that each team snatched a point whichgives them a platform to kick start season.

Line ups

AFC Leopards: 1. Patrick Matasi, 5. Edwin Baraz, 40. Eric Masika 17. Jonas Nahimana, 3. Abbassi Kiwalabye 22. Bernard Mangoli (Cpt) 10. Charles Okwemba 18. Salim Khamis, 7. Oscar Kadenge (50. Jimmy Bageya – 69), 34. Victor Ochieng (8. Laurent Tumba– 69), 11. Mike Baraza

Substitutes not used: 19. Barnabas Tiema (Gk), 26. Robert Syongoh, 14. Amon Muchiri, 15. Francis Chinjili 12. Augustine Etemesi

Chemelil Sugar: 30. Fredrick Onyango, 26. Smith Ouko, 13. Willis Ouma, 5. James Agembe , 9. Charles Odero (Cpt) 15. Victor Omondi, 12. Daniel Mutahi, 10. David Ojuang, 4 Georson Likonoh (6. Peter Mwachi – 76), 7. Wycliffe Odhiambo (17. Tonney Opondo – 69), 16. Haji Mwachoki (8. James Musasia - 90)

Substitutes not used: 1. John Wawu, 2. Moses Chikati, 23. Christopher Litwsa, 11. Michael Muiruri

Officials: Match Commissioner - Paul Kaunda, Centre Referee - Tom Onyango, First Asst. Referee - Hassan Omondi, Second Asst. Referee - Dorcas Moraa, Fourth Official - Fidelis Wekesa

The Sunday Nation gave it two lines... but at least there was pic of Bernard Mang'oli.

And of course the league table courtesy of KPL website

Pre Match: Chemelil (H)

2012-02-11T11:44:00.003+03:00

It is the start of a new season and the long suffering fans of AFC Leopards will be hoping that this is their year when they finally clinch the trophy that can make them the champions of Kenya once again. The last time that tag was used next to Leopards was during the year 1999 after the Leopards had won the 1998 championship.

It is a journey that Leopards have been taking part in for a long time and you can read about the story of the Leopards in a blog that was posted here last year.

This year, the outlook is positive with the Leopards having recruited established players who on any given day, can win any given match.

Allan Wanga is a former Golden Boot winner and though indications are that he may not play in the match today, the striking force is not entirely blunt. Victor Ochieng scored a basketful of goals in half a season last year. Mike Baraza was thought to have departed form the leopards but he made a quick return and it is probable that he will on the line up this afternoon.

Eric Masika made the BIG switch from Gor Mahia to Leopards this season. He joins a steady defence that last year did not lose a match in the league for the last fourteen matches. in fact, the last game they lost was against Masika's then team Gor.

In a strange statement, this blog has stated that the best thing to have happened to Leopards was that lose to Gor Mahia! Read it here.

Chemelil drew both matches with Leopards last season, effectively picking four points off the Leopards. But this is a new season and this is an entirely different ball game.

MichezoAfrika in a report filed by former Kenyanstar pundit Timothy Olubulu previews this match as follows:-

AFC Leopards have never beaten Chemelil since their come back to the league in 2009, whether home or away. The best result they have achieved against the sugar millers is a draw. Out of the six games played between the two clubs, Chemelil have won thrice and drawn thrice.

2009- Chemelil -2-1 Leopards, Leopards 0-1 Chemelil
2010- Chemelil - 0-0 Leopards, Leopards 0-1 Chemelil
2011- Chemelil 1-1 Leopards, Leopards 1-1 Chemelil.

The most interesting bit of the encounter this season will be the input of Victor Ochieng and Abbas Kiwalabye. The duo moved to AFC Leopards at the beginning of the season from Chemelil. Ochieng who was one of the league top scorers last season was an important entity of the Sugar belt side helping them to an 8th place finish last season with Abbas also a key member of the Chemelil “Hit Squad”.

Both teams have their full squads at their disposal with Erick Masika expected to make a debut for Ingwe after shaking off an ankle injury from training.
Leopards’ attack line will also be boosted by the input of former HAGL striker Allan Wanga. Complementing Mike Barasa’s input in the attack line will be one of the most lethal in the league this season. But will they live to the expectations?

Chemelil are also boasting of some good additions to the club. Hadji Mwachoki was snapped up by Edward Manoah after he fell out of favor with Gor Mahia with only six months of action, with Wycliffe Opondo also joining his former team mate with the sugar millers.

Supersport in a report filed by Collins Okinyo states:-

AFC Leopards popularly known as Igwe will be hosting a Chemelil side that lost its most potent striker in Victor "Lotodo"Ochieng the player having moved to Leopards after a sparkling perfomance that saw him net ten goals for Chemelil.

However Chemelil coach Edward Manoah is not worried and hopes to turn the tables on Leopards who heavily recruited big names in Allan Wanga,Victor Ochieng and defender Eric Masika with coach Jan Koops hoping that the boardroom battles will not affect the team in the field of play.

Our Predictions:2-1

Futaa in a report by Dan Ngulu states:

AFC Leopards will hope that former Chemelil Sugar starsunlock the secret codes that have prevented them from beating the millers sinceLeopards’ promotion in 2009 when the two sides lock horns in the Kenyan PremierLeague (KPL) on Saturday 11 February at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Leopards will be lining up defender Abbas Kiwalaabye andlethal striker Victor Ochieng who is also a Kenyan international after havingsigned the duo from Chemelil in the recent transfer window and will aim for afirst win in six attempts against the millers. Leopards have managed just three points from a possible 18in meetings with Chemelil in the past three seasons, all having come from drawsafter sharing spoils courtesy of 1 – 1 draws in both games last season and abarren draw in their first meeting of 2010. The first three matches have allended in Chemelil’s favour.

Apart from drawing blanks in the Chemelil fixtures, anotherbad statistic that Ingwe will beaiming to put to bed is the fact that since 2009 they have lost all three oftheir opening games with two goal margins.

In 2009, they went down 2 – 0 to Western Stima at BukhunguStadium, they were then vanquished by KCB with the same margin in 2010 and thesame was repeated when they met Tusker at the beginning of last season.

Despite the statistics however, Leopards go into this gameas strong favourites not just for the match but also as title contenders butthat is only on paper, the statistic after 90 minutes is what will count. The gameis one of the season opening double header at Nyayo Stadium and will kick offat 1600hrs.

The line ups for the match are as per the report MichezoAfrika:-

AFC Leopards: Patrick Matasi,Edwin Baraza,Eric Masika,Jona Nahimana,Abbassi Kiwalabye,Bernard Mangoli (Cpt),Charles Okwemba ,Salim Khamis,Oscar Kadenge,Victor Ochieng,Mike Baraza
Subs: Barnabas Tiema (Gk),Robert Syongoh,Amon Muchiri,Francis Chinjili,Augustine Etemesi,Jimmy Bageya,Laurent Tumba

Chemelil: Fredrick Onyango,Smith Ouko,Willis Ouma,James Agembe,Charles Odero (Cpt),Victor Omondi,Daniel Mutahi,David Ojuang,Georson Likonoh,Wycliff Odhiambo,Hajji Mwachoki
Subs: John Wawu,Moses Chikati,Christopher Litwsa,Peter Mwachi,Tonney Opondo,Michael Muiruri,James Musasia

Savvy Kenya, one of Kenya's top blogger has covered the pre-season story here.

From the league table, it shows that this is the Top Two clash! Enjoy the ride.

The 1980 Champions

2012-02-10T19:38:00.001+03:00

In 1980, AFC Leopards SC won the top nationalfootball league in Kenya after a six year drought. By the time the team secured the title, they had been unbeaten and went on to lose the matches that were perhaps meaningless in the scheme of where the title was headed.

Leopards (then known as Abaluhya Football Club) were a resurgent team having been crowned the East and Central Africa Club Champions and they felt that since they were the regional kings, they could secure the league title as there was no point in beating the best in East and Central Africa and not winning the local title. The last time the Leopards had been champions was in 1973.

The top two standings at the end of the seasonwere:-

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	AFC Leopards	24	17	4	3	47	18	29	38
2	Gor Mahia	24	13	6	5	39	24	15	32

Leopards clinched the title with five games to go. As they had become the first side to ever win the league that early in the year, this feat earned them the Guinness Stout Effort Award for the month of November. They also won the Orbitsports Award for October 1980. They also had the best goal difference in the league,m the most wins, the least losses and finished the entire league season with a 100% record away.

Gor Mahia finished six points behind the champions which was the second time the leopards finished six points clear at the top since 1967 when they edged out Kisumu Hotstars with a similar margin.

Josephat Murila, the leopards dependable defendere was also awarded the Player of the year Award at a ceremony that was presided over by Mr. Jeremiah Nyagah, the minister for Culture and Social Services on November 30th 1980.

The Leopards coach was Robert Kiberu, a soft spoken coach who hailed from Uganda.

In the 24 matches played, the Leopards kept aclean sheet in 12 which was half the matches played.

During the season, Leopards had a stormy encounter against Kisumu Hotstars on 30th August 1980 when a fan threw a panga (machete) that narrowly missed Nahashon Busuru of Leopards. In the 70th minute, Washington Wabwire, the leopards right back broke his leg in a rough tackle by the Hotstars left winger Francis Musolo. A section of the fans clapped cheerfully as Wabwire was stretchered off and rushed to hospital.When the game restarted, fighting broke out amongst fans and police were forced to use tear gas to disperse the fans. The game was called off and replayed in November.

The biggest win of the season came against Abeingo and Gema whom Leopards beat 4-0.

Only one player, Haggai Mirikau scored a hat-trick for the Leopardsduring the season in the replayed match against Kisumu Hotstars.

Joe JJ Masiga had the longest goal scoring streakas he scored in four consecutive league matches from 5th April against KFA, and then against Kahawa Cannons, Luo United and Maragoli.

Of the 47 goals for Leopards, none was an own goal and none was a penalty. Abdul Baraza scored a goal direct from a corner kick during the season.

Francis Kadenge scored a goal against the Leopards. At that time, Kadenge was playing for Maragoli FC.

The full final table standings were as follows:-

The leading goal scorer was JJ Masiga with 13 goals whilst Aggrey Lukoye followed with 6 and Haggai Mirikau with 4.

The full league results are as follows:-

* Date, Versus, Opponent, Venue, Scores (Leopards score always first shown), Leopards goal scorers [minute goal scored]

30 Mar v Gor Mahia (City) 0-0

05 Apr v KFA (Afraha) 2-1 JJ Masiga [65] T. Madonye [85]

19 Apr v Kahawa C (City) 4-3 JJ Masiga [10] [82] B. Musuku [47] B. Masiga[54]

1May v Luo United(****) 2-1 JJ Masiga [50] [84]

10 May v MoW (****) 2-0 JJ Masiga [*] [*]

11 May v Ksm Hotstars (Ksm)1-0 B. Musuku [*]

21 May v Maragoli (City) 2-0 R. Makumbi [*] [*]

28 May v K. Breweries (City) 0-0

04 Jun v Abeingo (City) 4-0 JJ Masiga [9] A.Lukoye [*][*] J. Ndombi [48]

14 Jun v Gema (Afraha) 4-0 A. Baraza [*] [*] T. Lidonde [*] N. Wanyama [*]

21 Jun v Ramogi (City) 2-1 T. Lidonde [*] [*]

28 Jun v Hakati (****) 3-0 JJ Masiga [*] [*] P. Maungu [*]

09 Aug v Ramogi (Msa) 4-2 J. Ndombi [13] [22] T. Mamo [19]

13 Aug v Luo United (City) 1-0 T. Mamo [*]

28 Aug v Maragoli (****) 1-1 N. Wanyama [87]

09 Sep v Gema (City) 1-0 A. Lukoye [*]

16 Sep v K. Breweries (City) 2-1 B. Musuku [42] A. Lukoye [50]

28 Sep v Abeingo (Afraha) 3-1 JJ Masiga [5] [10] S. Oyando [53]

08 Oct v Kahawa C (City) 1-0 A. Lukoye [30]

12 Oct v Gor Mahia (City) 0-1

29 Oct v KFA (****) 2-3 H. Mirikau [79] A. Lukoye [85]

09 Nov v K. Hotstars (City) 4-1 H. Mirikau [*] [*] [*] A. Lukoye [85]

15 Nov v Hakati (City) 1-1 XXXXXXXX [*]

29 Nov v MoW (****) 1-2 JJ Masiga [*]

*this is also a rebuttal to this and this

*acknowledgements to EmmanuelMketu, Francis Nandi and Victor Bwibo for their lead role in the Leopards Archiving Project (Project Golden) for the years 1964 to 2011. Further thanks to Trevor Mbati and Dennis Mbakhila for their assisting role in Project Golden. Youmay request for any seasons results by e-mailing magazine@ingwefans.com

*our reader Fidel wins two season tickets from the blog for his previous e-mail requesting for the results of the 80s. We have already given the 1986 results here.

I Accuse The Press

2012-02-06T18:57:00.002+03:00

Kenyan journalists are oftenaccused of being a shallow lot that do not ever try to get balanced news in thenewspapers thus leading to very unresearched articles appearing in print. Thismorning, we woke up to the Standard newspaper screaming:

“AFC woes deepen as fans reject financial statement”

This headline first pre-supposedthat our team has ‘woes’ which is far from the absolute truth. Woes aredescribed as ‘deepdistress or misery, as from grief; wretchedness; misfortune; calamity’.

Each community of persons has differencesand the differences at Leopards are far from distressing or a calamity.

The wrangles at Kenya Premier League (KPL) side AFC Leopards took a newtwist yesterday when a section of fans dismissed the club’s financial returnspublished on the local dailies on Friday, claiming it was flawed and demandedanswers from the outgoing office.

Here, the journalist shows that thisis a section of fans; and does not even say how many fans comprise this sectionof fans. Just this statement alone would have made the headline be morecredible if it indicated: Some AFC fans rejectfinancial statement.

The club has been dogged by infighting that has seen them hold twoelections within two months and the latest development is likely to fuel therift.

No elections have been held atthe club. Just a simulacrum of elections. This is the reason the Registrar ofSocieties has not recognized any of the so called elections. To thereforepresent this as a ‘fact’ is sheer idiocy.

Led by Kenya Football Fans Association (Kefofa) chairman Joash Amuhaya,who is also a self proclaimed diehard Leopards’ supporter, the fans said theclub needed sound structures to ensure transparency in the running of itsfinances.

Here the journalist tries tothrow doubt in the KEFOFA gentleman by saying he is a ‘self proclaimed diehardLeopards supporter’. Surely, if it is not a fact that he is a diehard supporteror recognized as such by his peers and that he is merely self proclaiminghimself, then why give the next statement from him such weight?

According to the published balance sheet, the club had a deficit of Sh1,577,638, a figure that the fans claim cannot be genuine since the clubreceived a major sponsorship deal from Mumias Sugar.

The key word here is CLAIM. To claim is to assert in the face of possiblecontradiction. The fans are basically making a supposition that just becausethe club received sponsorship, then it cannot have an excess over expenditurefrom the income. Surely, a journalist who deals with matters sport will easilysee that this isn’t the absolute truth as even teams with huge sponsorshipshave been known to run into debt. The saving word for the journalist here isCLAIM.

They also questioned the whereabouts of the Sh 3 million Ingwe TVrights payment from local pay television Smart TV, since the figure did notappear as part of the club’s income in the balance sheet.

By insinuating that the missingheading means the money is lost is taking this a bit far. It appears the journalistis joining in the condemnation without having any facts. There is mention ofextra ordinary income of Kshs. 4.7 million. What if the Kshs. 3 million is partof this package? Rather than ask what comprisesthe figures, an accusatory language is encouraged by the reporter.

“It was made clear that Mumias would give the team Sh 15 million lastseason then increase it to Sh 25 million in 2012 and Sh 35 milion in 2013, sohow come the figure we are seeing in the balance sheet for 2011 is Sh 11million? We also want to know where the Sh 3m from Smart TV went to because itis not indicated anywhere,” said Amuhaya.

One of the things people don’t realizeis that by always going to the press and crying wolf and giving the club badpublicity, even the Kshs. 35 million we expect to get from Mumias Sugar willdry up. Some of the shareholders of Mumias Sugar may wonder why the companygives a rogue club sponsorship money if it is wasted. It is a case of bitingoff your nose to spite your face.

He added: “The sale of replica jerseys has also been put at Sh 948,500and since a jersey costs Sh 1,500, it means only 632 fans bought the jerseysthe entire season. We are not blind because the stadium is always full withfans wearing the team’s jerseys and we want answers to such things.”

This is elementary. Of coursethere are costs of purchase, import, retail and so on that are loaded to somemerchandising items before the profit is worked out. The person who read thestatement may have said, they are not blind, but they aren’t that clevereither.

The fans also questioned the Sh 7 million raised from gate collectionsthe entire season, noting that it was unrealistic after a single match againstGor Mahia fetched more than Sh 3 million.

Again, any reporter will need toknow about a club he is writing about before carrying some blanket statementssuch as this one. The clubs official website has carried some stories about thegate collections in the past. And eventhe website IngweFans.com carrieda statement that said: The match hadthe highest gate collection for AFC Leopards in the whole season at a sum ofKsh. 3.06M - combining all other home matches may not even get close to thegate collection! That appears to be someone who is close to the clubspeaking not wild rumours. In some matches such as leopards v Western Stima,the club raised a paltry Kshs. 141,000! Just a Google search can get you thosefigures. Or this.

Outgoing chairman Alex Ole Magelo could not be reached for comment, butdocuments signed by assistant Secretary General Geoffrey Mulanya on behalf ofthe club, indeed confirmed that the club received Sh 3 million from Smart TV, afigure which has been omitted in the published financial statement.

By stating that the figure isomitted, it appears the journalist knows what each figure in the statementstands for. Quite a funny way to jump to conclusions when there are always twosides to a coin or every argument.

The fans also called on the Registrar of Societies to stop meddling inthe club’s politics and demanded a certificate after the elections that wereheld a fortnight ago.

Again, this is very basic. The Registrarof Societies is the authority that is mandated to deal with any disputes at theclub including disputes on its elections. For the journalist to simply letthrough a statement that calls upon the Registrar ‘to stop meddling’ is quiteunfortunate. Everyone ought to know that our constitution grants peoplefreedoms to go to court in case they think that any public officer is overstepping their mandate. But rather than challenge the said fans with questionsthat are reasonable, the journalist takes the shirt cut which is to simplyswallow the line, hook and sinker and bolster the picture created to the publicthat the club is in ‘woes’ = ‘calamity’.

“The Registrar of Societies called for elections but the winner is yetto be declared, we don’t understand why. We demand the certificate so that bythe time the Kenya Premier League is starting, the team can focus on playingfootball,” said Amuhaya.

The team has been playing football,and the journalist concerned will understand that the team has been in camp inMumias and played in a tournament, the Ashitiva Cup which it won. It wasn’t playingvolleyball or netball. It was playing football. There are other misstatements thatare created by the simple sentence ‘The Registrar of Societies called forelections…’ In fact, the Registrar did not call for elections. The Registrarcalled for a Notice of the Annual General Meeting to be issued; a faulty noticewas issued; the person who issued the notice then didn’t even attend the ‘elections’after the same Registrar found the notice defective and asked to be given timeto give a ruling on the matter. Any self proclaimed diehard fan of the club wouldbe serving the interests of the club better by being patient rather than beinga loud mouth that goes to the press to show off how he or she is the only onewho can give their thoughts about what is happening at the club. But it callsto questions the intentions of some journalists who are more excited aboutcreating fear and panic amongst Leopards fans and amusement amongst fans of therival teams with sensational reporting.

For a more balanced view on the Accounts, read this. But don't read this.

In The Den: Week 5

2012-02-04T12:48:00.003+03:00

· Welcome Aboard

AFC Leopards SC, has in the past owned a team bus. And as buses do not last forever due to their depreciating nature, they had to get another bus.

Sadly, this bus met a sad end in Tanzania when it broke down and the club was unable to have it repaired and the journey for the particular bus ended as the same was cannibalised to a state of disuse.

It is now 2012 and there has been a clamour for a new team bus for the team.The other KPL teams have been turning up fore their matches in their team buses.

New boys Sofapaka will always be seen at the stadia alighting from their own team bus.

Traditional arch rivals Gor Mahia last year acquired their own team bus.

And defending champions Tusker FC had a reward for winning the league last season when their sponsor unveiled a bus for the team to use.

Hired transport, it appears, is not in most persons favour. And the Leopards have decided that they also do not wish to continue depending on hired transport. In the late 90s, the leopards turned up at the stadium in a Buruburu matatu that was christened Western Bulls. Currently, the team has been using Star Bus in its travels.

Some fans have indicated that the travels in an uncomfortable hired bus where you cant make adjustments to the seats and other positions could be the reason for the teams loss last year against Western Stima away.

Such fans have argued that in the face of what is usually derided as the club having no fixed assets, as the blog on the financial statements has shown, it may very well be time to have one major fixed asset.

The downside of having a bus is that one also takes up other costs. You hire a Driver whom you pay, you get a parking yard for the bus and take up repair costs as the assets depreciates. Last year, for instance, our noisy neighbours and traditional arch-rivals took out their frustration of losing a match against Ulinzi Stars by making some adjustments on the bus.

The boat has however sailed now. Or to be precise, the bus is on the way. The Executive Committee of the team announced an ad hoc committee to run the fund raising for the bus. The committee comprises Reuben Wambwa (Chair), Pamela Lutta (Treasurer), Monica Ngere (Secretary) and Shikuku Kisaka, Remmy Mudi, Duncan Angode, Patrick Ngaira, Charles Bukeko, Richard Ekhalie, Phineas Mugallo, Joe JJ Masiga and Highway Aywa.

The target is to raise Kshs. 6 million and amongst the plans put in place is to sell t-shirts and to have an Ingwe Nite mini fundraiser (which was held at Egloos on 3rd February).

The dream of a Leopards bus will soon be a reality.

A Financial Chat

2012-02-03T20:47:00.002+03:00

Itis said that football fans are the hardest category of people to please andthis manifests itself in many ways. For the past few months. Leopards fans havebeen insisting on being given the “Financial Accounts’ of the society, which isthe legal form of the club and today, they woke up to the advertisement noticeplaced in the Daily Nation newspaper at page 38 that was an extract from the Accounts.

Thisled to an interesting debate on the Wall of the Facebook Branch after Aidah Bunoro posted the figures on theWall of the Group.

Olyver Sikuku asked: Accountants wako wapi (where are theaccountants), hii (this) revenue reserves, does it mean we used reserves tofinance the team or money was put in reserves. Now that its figure is same asthe profit deficit, what does that mean?

Tuti Eliab observed: Our club is broke, how dowe boost out accounts? And what happened to the 2 pieces of property on inKasarani and the other I don't know? Are those not part of Assets.

Fanuel Amadi stated: We need an independentasset valuation. Players are bought at a fee and hence should be treated asasset depending on their valuation. Our assets are greatly undervalued, does itmean we are this broke? What about comparison with previous years performance?We need to compare our current status with that of last periods performance toascertain whether we are making progress or not. What about the statement ofcashflows, can the EC also publish this? As much as this is a step in the rightdirection, let the issues raised be addressed and corrections made.

Suleiman Angulu said: Our club has been made brokeby those in control. Smart TV, Ingwe Nites have not been factored in thebalance sheet.

Simiyu Katiambo proferred: I am told they were prepared by Deloitte. Naona maswali mengi lakini (Isee many questions but) no expert opinion.

That is just a sample of thecomments. There are many other comments that one may read on the said Wall andperhaps other fora. One thing it shows, is that football fans sometimes don’t knowwhat they want. To quote Phil Gregory, anyoneneeds at least a rudimentary financial knowledge to make heads or tails of aclub’s financial reports. Naturally only a very small portion of the fan basehas this and so they take what the club says at face value. This leads toissues where the club can shift the goalposts.

Footballis not like any other business, where only the stakeholders in a firm hold afinancial stake and so apprise themselves of the situation. Every football fanhas an emotional stake in their club, and so a football club has aresponsibility to go the extra mile to make sure fans know what is going on. Fromthe above, and what Amadi has stated, how can a fan know what is going oninside their club if they only have a general figure for turnover, with nobreakdown into constituent parts?

Asa quick basic accounting guide to my fellow fans the following can be said as away of definition. (Noting that this blog is written by a non-accountant)

Balance Sheet

Property Plant and Equipment: Are non-current assets thatcan only be ascertained though inspection and valuation to determine values.

Cash & Bank: This is the liquid cash andbank balances as per the bank statements and cash held in the offices.

Deposits and Prepayments: These are assets for they arefunds paid to suppliers in advance before the goods or services are supplied.

Creditors & Accruals: Are amounts not yet paid tosuppliers after goods have been delivered or the services rendered.

Revenue Reserves: Are retained losses which areattributed to the club.

Committee Account: Is a capital account which stipulatesthe amount introduced into the club.

Income & ExpenditureAccount

Committee Account: Is income attributed to (perhaps)the member contributions to run the club.

Gate Collections and Sale ofJerseys: Selfexplanatory income

Interim Management Board: payments made by members for registrationand perhaps nomination fees and which were handed over to the club perhaps netof expenses (due to the low figure of Kshs. 470,800. This would have meantabout 4,708 members paid up members but there must have been others costs likehiring the venue of the elections etc)

Mumias Sugar: These are the sponsoramounts. Perhaps should have listed Smart TV likewise if there was need to listsponsors separately.

General Expenses: Normal expenses associated withrunning a club such as accommodation at away trips, transport costs to stadia,payment to stewards and so on.

Stadium Expenses: Self explanatory

Other expenses: Not clear but is somethingone has to look at the breakdown to differentiate from the General expenses.

Thatis the short version. To get into comments, I first thank the ExecutiveCommittee for taking the step to share the financial information. Hopefully,those fans who wish to peruse the accounts themselves will be given an opportunityto do so. That shows a level of professionalism at the club.

Therewill be questions raise as to whether the auditors were in the picture of whathas been transpiring at the club. Rumours have been doing the rounds that eventhe gate collection from the Gor Mahia match that we hosted in the second legnever made it to the bank. If such was the case, I am sure the auditors wouldhave raised in their management letter to the club.

Generally,the balance sheet is very unhealthy but not surprisingfor our club. In fact, the Income and Expenditure Account is in millions ofshillings and the Balance Sheet in thousands of shillings. That is such a big contrast.That is not always a good thing, though not of particular concern.

The club has no assets, has no fixed assets (maybethe recently mooted idea of a club bus may finally be one fixed assets), andhas no receivables.

It will be interesting to note what the accounts state about the much talked about piece of land that was given to the club by President Moi sometimes in the early 90s. Under the Question Number 437 asked by the current Prime Minister Raila Odinga and answered in Parliament on 6 July 1994, it was confirmed that the club had been allocated land in Embakasi after the Kasarani allocation was cancelled. This would be a huge fixed asset for the club.

The three year sponsorship by Mumias Sugar is also usually spoken of as being worth Kshs. 15 million. Admittedly, some of this may not be in terms of cash and as noted, the same is listed as Kshs. 11.3 million in the accounts. With the total expenditure being pegged at Kshs.27.7 million, it was observed by Dr. Anthony Walela on the debate on online media, that the non-Mumias expenditure therefore is about Kshs. 16.4 million, which dwarfs the sponsorship deal.

Though not broken down wholly in the Income Statement, the club raises funds from gate collections from fifteen Premier League home matches, sale of merchandise (and this has included not only replica jerseys but CDs and posters to name those seen at club functions), revenue from TV deals including the rumoured Kshs. 3 million from Smart TV, grants including the monthly payments from Kenya Premier League, donations and legacies (in the course of the year there was debate about some Kshs. 50,000 given by the Town Clerk as a donation), membership registration fees and nomination fees (this seems to have been largely handled by the Interim Board but at the end of the year, the club was registering branches at a fee of Kshs. 10,000 each and by the close of the financial year, there were a few takers), transfer fees (it appears the club has been releasing players without getting any transfer fees though there is a current dispute over the controversial transfer of Collins Kisuya to Germinal Beerschot where the club expects some payment) and so on. There could be other sources of revenue not particularly listed here from an outsiders perspective.

Without previous accounts (and this also points tothe previous EC), it is hard to make out things like the progression of therevenue reserves. Ordinarily, this should be accumulated losses but it appearsthe figure of Kshs 1.5 is all starting from scratch.

The committee account that is a liability remindsone of the Sambu years when the club was always invariably indebted to the ECand especially the Chairman of the Club. One hopes that this is some form ofloan with clear re-payments. There are people who may make demands on the clubor saddle the team with debts that are unclear and which cannot be verifieduntil one carries out a forensic audit. Hopefully, the committee account issupported by receipts that one can verify the items on the expenses that thisneeded.

There are other things that perhaps could beclarified. It has been stated by other fans that we still had some jerseys onsale at Imenti house and they could be part of 'stock' and hence could formpart of the debtors or current assets. In the event the club has also orderedsome more replica jerseys which may have been on sale, then they would formpart of the stock.

Considering the volume of expenses (close to Kshs.27m) and the cash, one really can’t do much with the funds in the bank. Forthose of us who have followed the goings on, they wouldn't go to say, there ismuch wrong in some of the figures at a cursory glance. In fact, if one was toadd figures plucked from the atmosphere (eg. saying we averaged Kshs. 300K incollections except the Gor match where we got about Kshs. 3m will lead you tosomething like 7.2m against the 7.4 reflected so it doesn’t seem to be too offthe mark but that is engaging in speculation... sorry).

That is the difficulty of understanding thiswithout the other information. You can only guess. One can’t tell for instancewhether our trademark is capitalized as an intangible asset; and one cant alsotell whether the costs of acquisition of players should have been capitalizedas intangible assets and amortized over their periods of their contracts.

There are no taxation issues in the statementthough on the basis of the net deficit or net loss, there would be no taxes payable or due to the Revenue Authority.One is however left wondering whether our players’ salaries are taxed.

Speakingof the net deficit, usually the operating profit shows the core strength of thebusiness or of a club, and is often referred to as EBITDA (earnings beforeinterest, taxation, depreciation and amortization). Depreciation is just thegeneral fall in value of club assets due to age, the other two being fairlyobvious.

Formost clubs, the “ITDA” bit doesn’t account for a massive amount of moneycomparative to wages and the like, so even if they made a profit, one can’t trustan operating profit figure. If a club can’t make an operating profit, whichtakes into account the main costs and revenues, then it really is in a totalmess. If any other business in a more sane industry was making an operatingloss, the banks wouldn’t lend them money to cover their losses hand over fistdue to the risk of default, but logic seems to go out of the window when peopleconsider football clubs.

But good to see some published financialstatements and I do thank the EC for this.

In The Den: Week 4

2012-02-03T20:44:00.003+03:00

· Ashitiva Cup In The Bag

The first trophy of 2012 has been won. The Ashitiva Cup taking place in Kakamega is the first in the trophy cabinet for the Leopards.

The Leopards beat Homeboys in the final on penalties.

Fred Maingi of Supersport wrote:

AFC Leopards put up a gallant show to win the annual Ashitiva Memorial Cup 4-2 against Homeboys FC on post match-penalties after a goalless draw during the normal time. The match was staged at the Kakamega High school.

Leopards’ goals were converted by Eric Masika, Jonas Nahimana, Amon Muchiri and Jimmy Bageya. AFC romped into the finals after silencing Mautuma FC 2-0 in the semis and walloping Makhokho FC by the same margin in the quarters.

Leopards win however came with a heavy prize after their attacking midfielder Augustine Etemesi was send off in the second half for accumulating two yellow cards.
The two day tournament was a perfect opportunity for Dutch born coach Jan Koops to test various combinations with the entire 28-member squad.

Leopard’s new signings did not disappoint as they all proved to be worthy signings. The team won the glittering Ashitiva Cup and a small token of Kshs.15, 000.

The official website had the story:

AFC Leopardshas won the Ashitiva Cup 4-2 against Homeboys FC on post match-penalties aftera goalless draw during the normal time. Leopards’ goals were through EricMasika, Jonas Nahimana, Amon Muchiri and Jimmy Bageya. AFC romped into the finalsafter silencing Mautuma FC 2-0 in the semis and walloping Makhokho FC by thesame margin in the quarters. The intense and tight finals saw Leopards Etemesiget a red card in the second half on conceding two yellow cards. The two daytournament was a perfect opportunity for Coach Jan Koops to test variouscombinations with the entire 28-member squad. Leopards new signings did not disappointas they all proved to be worthy signings

MichezoAfrika also c arried the story

In The Den: Week 3

2012-01-28T17:48:00.000+03:00

· Elections Put off.

The election saga came to and end when the Registrar ordered that the elections scheduled by one faction to be held on 22nd January 2012 would not be held on that day. In a terse statement, the Registrar noted that proper mechanisms needed to be put in place before credible elections are held for the office bearers of the club. This had common sense written all over it and it was therefore surprising when one group went ahead to hold 'elections' on the day that the same had been cancelled and used the excuse that the letter was not copied to them.

Clearly there is a lot of growing up that needs to be done at the club and it appears that sections of aspirants for office would wish to have shortcuts to the leadership of the club. Hopefully, the Registrar will give further directions as promised in her letter. - VB

· Leopards In Action.

The pre-season build up matches continued with Leopards turning up at the university of Nairobi for a friendly clash with the University of Nairobi lads. Futaa.com had an excellent pictorial here.

The Leopards drew 1-1 with the fit varsity lads and the build up continued with another outing against Nakuru Combined. It is early days and the team still needs to get fit for the season so there is no need for some fans to worry. But the team has to get it absolutely right on 11th February as there should be no margin for error. - SE

· Gor In Pre-Qualification.

The Leopards arch-rivals Gor Mahia came out with an advert seeking suppliers. As expected, this was fodder for Leopards fans. Enjoy. - EM

In The Den: Week 2

2012-01-18T11:39:00.000+03:00

· Six ofthe Best.

All transfer window periods always mean that the clubis treated to an airport arrivals and departures zone. Since December, Leopardshave had to say sad goodbyes to at least six players with news filtering inthat the players who had been released had been unveiled at other Kenya PremierLeague teams. It is always a wonder that the officials at the club releaseplayers from their contracts at no cost and then acquire players for high fees.This is the reason the player amortization is so terrible.

With Allan Wanga signing on, this completed animpressive end to the new-comers. Wanga comes with a high pedigree, his fatherhaving played for Leopards in the 70s and he holds the Golden Boot title thathe won with Tusker FC before having a professional stint in Angola and otherhorizons.

It is one thing to sign the players and it is onething for those players to perform as expected. Jan Koops has the necessaryimplements for his job with this reinforcement and the pressure must be high toperform. The Leopards nation expects. How the players will fit into the jigsawpuzzle and set out a campaign for the ninety available points as the seasonkicks off will determine the legacy of this team of true galacticos. - FN

· ElectionsCharade.

When bad things happen, it is impolite to tell people,‘I told you so!’

But predictions that with the warring factions atLeopards calling elections and the others saying they should be the onescalling the elections, it was only a matter of time before the incumbent chairwent to court. Apparently, this came to pass though the court declined to grantorders stopping the elections. Hmm… what to do? Place a notice in thenewspapers distancing the club from the elections. The Star and the Nation carriedthe notice countering the Annual General Meeting notice placed by the SecretaryGeneral.

Both parties then went ahead with lists of branchesand members being recruited. It is a tough time to be a Leopards fan when itcomes to looking up to people who can offer leadership. Hopefully, the commonsense that requires that elections be jointly held will be heeded and thewarring factions will come together, even if just for the sake of greedilyhoping they can win the joint elections. That, will be the stability andconducive environment the players, the sponsor and the fans would want to seeas the preparation for the new season goes on. - VB

· Stick toa Time Table.

AFC Leopards beat Gor Mahia on post match penalties toclinch the ‘Peace Cup’ on December 17^th last year. For the fans, thematch was memorable as it immediately restored the memory of the Leopardslifting a cup over their arch rivals after losing against them in a Cup semi afew months back. This was of course not an issue of ‘bragging rights’ as theLeopards have been superior to Gor in terms of games won in competitivefixtures between the teams from the league matches, Cup games and regionalmatches.

One would have expected that the government body thatwas in charge of the match or at least the match organizers would have alreadypaid up the prize money one month down the line.

They haven’t!This is according to a report that appeared in the Standard and penned by Gilbert Wandera.

Whilst a few murmurs have been heard from the fansabout the lack of accountability for the funds received, it turns out the fundshad not been received. It should always be important that people stick to atime-table when they have events so that for planning purposes, one doesn’thave to be inconvenienced by factoring in funds that have to go through variousprocesses before being paid. Planning should not be an alien concept in thisday and age! - VM

· Fans FansEvery Where!

Ingwe Fans are everywhere. They turned up in largenumbers during the unveiling of the players and on Saturday, they were inWoodley to witness CLAWS FC, the fans team take on a team from Kibera called AlSwaffa!

Clad in their Rio Tintos, the fans cheered on the fansteam who came from a goal down to level the scores, miss a penalty beforeeventually losing out 2-1 to the will drilled Kibera lads who had a team of 30 oddplayers to choose from and who made substitutions after every few minutes tobring on fresh legs.

But it was feeling that the season was back as fansshared banter on the sidelines and then shared a meal together with a few wordsof advice from Shikuku Kisaka, the wise Chair of the Supporters Trust. – SE

· ElPistolero.

Following our feature last week on the Baraza incident,this week we got a submission from one of our loyal readers of a photo of MikeBaraza, the leading scorer for the Leopards last season firing away! Here’s tohoping another season of great shots from Mikey! -EM

Kenyan Banter

2012-01-18T11:36:00.002+03:00

One of the crazy ideas that someone came up with was to have Leopards fans and Gor Mahia fans in a Facebook Group just exchanging banter.

So recently, Okil Kamaloka posted a photo of a bus bought by Azam FC of Tanzania and remarked: Azam FC of Tanzania acquires a new bus... At least Gor Mahia has a mini bus... AFC je? hasnt Kidero bought you one?

Okil then added a helpful link to boot: Read the whole story here

This set off this exchanges:-

Adede Mit Moloyi: Wamenunuliwa sukari na wakapewa chai. u kno they value the stomach.

Humphrey Situma: Sasa hii mulinunuliwa na Jakom munaringa nayo.?

Kevin Dabo Dabo Kuya: sasa how can u compare this bus with the kogallo one???serious joke.

Kate Katrina: hehehehehehe its like comparing a vitz to a range rover sport

Okil: the people doing the comparison are on foot, si you buy hata ka(wheelbarrow) kwanza. wacha watu wana magari waongee...

Kate Katrina: hahahahaha sasa vitz si ni wheel barrow ya miguu nne....mbona unai promote kuwa gari??

Kevin: hehehehe kate ...its like a bonga point redemption product...okil hiyo hata hamfai kusema mko na gari, just nyamaza.

Okil: so are we will still going to be treated next season to the eye sore of a Starbus delivering Abaluhya Football Club to the stadium...?

Kevin: we better use the star bus but u can be rest assured when we will get a bus...we will indeed get a bus...not some cheap school buses.

Okil: IF Kidero buys you a bus not WHEN Kidero buys you a bus...

Kevin: we have power in the den...and if we are to buy a bus then it will come from the wider republic.

Okil: hehe, what have you people done for your club that does not include mumias sugar?

Lugongo Wambulwa Shitemu: Okil we've supported the club fan wise. Saa hizi AFC is the most supported club in Kenya atleast as per the kenyan derby records

Okil: you guys lie to yourselves until you believe your own lies... Maybe Ticket Masters should tell us between September 2011 and November 30, 2011 which club grossed the most in terms of gate reciepts. Unless you are talking about facebook fans, in which case we still beat you hands down. Is there an empirical way that we can measure popularity and AFC comes out on top of Gor Mahia...?

Okil: News we got from Bomet is that 10,000 fans turned up to watch Gor Mahia... AFC cant even muster those numbers in Nairobi

Lugongo: Dont talk moneywise coz we Ingwe attend Gor's matches hence add to your gate collections. Last 3 kenyan derbies who had the numbers? Leave alone overall collections just concentrate on latest stats

Lugongo: Okil those were just curious onlookers. U counted them as fans?

Okil: they were curious enough to pay the admission fee...?

Lugongo: If am an artist then dropped ma pants downtown Nairobi then pple stop n stare are they ma fans? Yes they paid to watch Gor coz they never seen soccer in ages

Okil: so how much did you make at the gate last season?

Lugongo: Leave alone gate collections, we r talkin fanwise. What were Gor's last 3 attendences like?

Okil: you want us to judge the fan base on three matches?

Okil: Maybe you need to look at the FKL Cup Final. it was played at 4 pm on a weekday

Lugongo: Not on 3 matches but on latest fanbase

Okil: hehe, hiyo latest inapatikana wapi...?

Lugongo: Ka ulikuwa Nyayo 2nd july 2011,24th july 2011 na 17th Dec hauitaji kuambiwa

Kate: Na pia sanasana 2nd October;-)

Lugongo: Mwambie Kate. Popularity ya Gor ime slide downward. Ingwe the new kid on da block

Okil: Haha, ticket masters will tell us nxt month...

Lugongo: Uliza TM. Latest attendences? Mlikuwa wangapi mkicheza na KCB?

Okil: the kcb match followed the congo united debacle and fans stayed away in protest demanding Zico's resignation... Why dont you even take the last game against Sofapaka?

Lugongo: Exactly fan support is measured only in terms of attending matches. AFC fans supports team wether loosing or winning

Okil: You want to sit here making noise abt attendances. Have u attended a Gor Mahia match that doesnt involve AFC? I have attended most of your midweek matches and you are countable. You average 200k in gate collections, we average 1 million. But you want to keep on arguing... Nipe facts not information that cannot be verified

Lugongo: Ninakupa facts. Nimeenda Gor's midweek karibu zote. Support yenu inadidimia. Ukweli unaumiza. Seriously game yenu against Tusker was packed but support ilififia towards the end

Okil: And you think or hope the trend will continue into nxt season...? Shock on you. Moving on, do you guys even knw how to cheer? Or do you watch the match as you are entertained by the paid isukuti drummers?

Lugongo: Obviously the so called 'followers' will return. Season followers if u lyk. However its gonna be difficult matching Ingwe supporters

Kate: Ati cheering? Hapo sasa ndio 2napenda sanaaaaa, rem th last match we had...talk abt tht, th peace match

Prince Myke: Haha hawa AFC wanajichocha yet they know Gor lead n followed by others!!

Kevin: okil when it comes to cheering, we are way above the rest...the isikuti, poznans, chantings and the waves...these are some but a few of the beauties and obligations of ingwe...kogalo fans are drunkards, violent, wachokozi, arogant,hot tempered and spiced with stupid passion. This is easily tiped the wrong way when they foresee defeat...OKIL WE ARE THE REPUBLIC AND WE'VE BEEN HERE FROM THE BEGGINING...and next season we shall stamp our authority and claim our rightfull spot.

Oscar Ananda: nkt... sa io star bus ndio watu wa koro wanaeza ongea!!!

Samwana Shimzie Katamu: hahahaha oscar hapo umenena eti mini bus afadhali players wetu wapande matatu kuliko ..........

Now that is clean and mature banter found here!

In The Den: Week 1

2012-01-09T09:28:00.000+03:00

· EricMasika is a Leopard.

It was turning out to be the longest drawn transfersee-saw with unnecessary hullaballoo being created especially by George Bwanawho insisted that the Leopards had breached various FIFA protocols in theirquest to capture Eric. What was the transfer fee to be paid? Were thereinducements to sign him? In the end, it all came down to the transfer fees asLeopards forked out Kshs. 450,000 (approx. USD 5,400) to sign the defender.

But to a great extent, this transfer was more thanjust the capture of a good defender to cover our goalie. Gor Mahia has been thebitter rivals of the Leopards and last year they were quick to pick on a playerthe Leopards had released, stoking the long drawn hostility that meets any transferof a player from one team to the other. It appeared that the Leopards had toprove a point after the retaliation and in a fell swoop, did two things:captured one of the jewels of Gor andrubbed in the faces of Gor the fact that they took a discarded player whilstLeopards took a player who was voted by mainly the Gor fans to be their playerof the year.

Masika should fit in well with the Leopards andstabilize a defence that had been shaky at the beginning of the year and whichseemed unsure with the departure of Collins Kisuya. - EM

· ElectionsAnnouncement.

The Daily Nation edition of Tuesday carried theannouncement by Josphert Bukachi that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of theClub would be on 22^nd January 2012. He signed off as the Secretary Generalof the Club. That would surely be something not controversial, no? But this isLeopards where nothing is ever black and white. There are always some greyareas. In fact, the only certain thing in Leopards is blue and white.

Last year, Bukachi was suspended on 20^thSeptember as Secretary General. He wasquoted on online sites claiming he has resigned. Yet in November, he wasissuing a notice for an AGM. The Registrar ok’d it for 27^th Novemberbut on being shown correspondence that Bukachi was suspended, nixed the AGM.But the same Registrar was then confronted with a court order of a case filedby two fans over two months after Bukachi was suspended/resigned and whichorder stayed the suspension of Bukachi and the Registrar changed tune againsaying the outcome of the case should be awaited. The case comes up for hearingon 31^st January 2012. In the meantime, the Registrar when confronted with an Affidavit that showedthe Chairman Ole Magelo deponing that his term was to end on 31^stDecember changed tact again, from waiting for the outcome of the case toordering elections within 30 days from 20^th December, which Bukachihas now announced. But in the rush to unseat Magelo, the opponents have to becareful so they are not beaten at their own game. Predictably, the Magelo teamhas rejected the notice by Bukachi and indicated they will issue their ownnotice. It is a circus that shows the greediness and ignorance of a lot ofpeople. - VB

· New KitDesign Leaked.

There is never any consensus on what our home, away orthird kit should look like and when the EC representative Fredrick Lutta hintedat the design of the new kit for the 2012 season, there was an uproar on theFaceBook Branch Wall, the clubs premier discussion forum as hordes of fansvoiced their views most of which were protests. There can never be anydemocracy on such an issue with some fans having complained about the use ofthe 6226 number on the jersey last year still unimpressed on the choice ofLegea as the kit manufacturer on this kit.

But for the serious lessons, it is time the marketingwing of the club and sponsor took issues a bit more seriously. The 2011 seasonis gone and yet the 2012 kit is still not available. If the club was to do anunveiling of players, they would be handing them 2011 jerseys, most likely andif a team photo was to be taken, it won’t be with the new jersey.

Planning forward has to be paramount and the new kitshould have hit the stores already in the build up to the new season. But atleast the hoops have been retained for the home kit so out future is still asbright as the skies – blue and white. -FN

· LeopardsOffices Drama.

Reports posted on the official website indicated thatthe club offices had been broken into. But here is a theory based purely on speculation.The two sides of the coin are both very suspicious of each other and are keen topaint each other in bad light.

Getting info out of the club is often difficult asthose who have requested for information have found out. Last year, OscarKambona, a Leopards fan and registered member wrote to the EC and requested forthe club register and accounts but he hasn’t received any reply until today.Some people though, who are affected by such information, such as the allegednon-member of the club might be tempted to use force to obtain such informationand perhaps this was the intent on this particular day. That is wrong. Therehave to be proper ways to obtain information just the way there has to bepositive feedback when one requests as provided for in the constitution of theclub.

On the other hand, claiming that persons who aremandated to run the club are receiving money by false pretences is also quitewrong. The police have to be kept out of interpreting our clubs constitution orlack of constitutionalism. Both sides have to realize that the image of thisgreat team has to be maintained and decorum calls for people not throwing wordsat each other through the official website and other for a like the socialmedia pages. We need to return to common sense, Leopards fans. - SE

· YouShould Know People

Picture this. Mike Baraza is preparing for the clashagainst Gor Mahia on 18^th March, 2012 and decides to have a feel ofthe pitch. He enters the pitch from the dressing room and in his hurry he hasforgotten to carry his badge. A Gor steward notices him and asks him to stayaway from the pitch. Mike pinches the steward’s nose and tells him: You shouldknow people.

And in the course of the game, he gets into a greatposition and pulls the trigger by unleashing a shot that beats theappropriately named Mapunda in the Gor goal sending Leopards fans to chant: ElPistolero! El Pistolero!

You can dream. Go Baraza. But he has to contend withthe complaint by the steward about his behavior. - VM

How To Win The League Unbeaten

2012-01-05T21:01:00.000+03:00

In 1986, AFC Leopards SC won the top nationalfootball league in Kenya with an unbeaten record.

Since the 1979 season, the national diadem had beencontested and shared only between Leopards and traditional arch rivals GorMahia with Gor Mahia taking the 1979 crown before Leopards went on to win thetitle three consecutive years 1980 to 1982. But what Leopards could do,seemingly, Gor could do too and Gor went ahead to win the title three years ina row too from 1983 to 1985! That set the stage for the 1986 title showdownthat was always going to be another Leopards versus Gor Mahia issue and thistime Leopards did it in style winning the title unbeaten!

The top two standings at the end of the seasonwere:-

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	AFC Leopards	38	33	5	0	96	21	75	71
2	Gor Mahia	38	26	9	3	80	22	62	61

In an effort to outdo Leopards, Gor went ahead towin the treble (African Cup Winners, League and Moi Golden Cup) in 1987 beforeLeopards won the 1988 league unbeaten once again and also won the 1989 leaguetitle. Gor seeing Leopards win the league twice went ahead to win it twice tooin 1990 and 1991 before Leopards won in 1992 and Gor took it back in 1993.

The memories of 1986 when AFC Leopards became thechampions of Kenya with an unbeaten record will always however linger on.

Leopards all time leading goal scorer in theleague Wilberforce Mulamba finished the season as the top scorer at Leopardswith 21 goals whilst Francis Kadenge followed in second place with 15 goalswhilst Patrick Shim scored 14.

The Leopards coach was Graham Williams, who isfeatured in the third issue of the Ingwe Fan magazine.

In the 38 matches played, the Leopards kept aclean sheet in 19 which was half the matches played.

Twice against Gor Mahia and Re Union, theLeopards fell back to 2-0 scorelines but came back to win both matches 3-2.

To illustrate the industriousness of thisLeopards team, they played consecutive matches within twenty four hours playingboth on Saturday and Sunday for a total of 10 weekends. The league commenced inFebruary but by September, 38 matches had been played.

Leopards won both league clashes against GorMahia.

The biggest win of the season came against BlueTriangle whom Leopards beat 8-0 away whilst rthe biggest home win was 6-0against Nzoia Sugar.

Two players scored hat-tricks for the Leopardsduring the season with the first coming from Eliakim Amalemba against KisumuPosta whilst the other was by golden boot Wilberforce Mulamba against BlueTriangle.

Patrick Shim had the longest goal scoring streakas he scored in four consecutive league matches from 2^nd of Juneagainst Re Union, Kenya Breweries (now Tusker FC), Blue Triangle and KahawaUnited. The next goal scoring streak was by… yes, Patrick Shim for threematches starting from 31^st August.

Of the 96 goals for Leopards, 3 were own goalswhilst 3 were penalties.

Just like last season, the fastest goal was by aKadenge, this time within the first minute against Kenya Tailex mills (KTM) byFrancis Kadenge. The latest goal was the goal by Patrick Shim against Gor Mahiain the 90^th minute.

It was remarkable that the Leopards went throughthe season without top striker Jay Jay Masiga who had knee trouble and sat outthe entire season.

In a dramatic finale, Leopards played the last match against Kenya Breweries and were trailing 1-0 when David Akoi scored a last gasp equalizer. The Brewers disputed the goal and even knocked out Akoi's teeth. But the Kenya Football Federation upheld the result and it stood 1-1 leaving Leopards with an unblemished record in the League.

The only blemish to this unbeaten run in theleague was that shockingly, the Leopards fell in the first round of the MoiGolden Cup to an inspired Volcano United whilst also going out in the CupWinners Cup to FC Kalamu of then Zaire in the second round.

The full league results are as follows:-

* Date, Versus, Opponent, Venue, Scores (Leopards score always first shown), Leopards goal scorers [minute goal scored]

15Feb v Scarlet (Nyayo) 2-1 W.Mulamba [46] [70]

22Feb v Kitale (Kenyatta) 0-0

23Feb v Eld Posta (KipKeino)3-1 W. Mulamba [14] [68] E. Amalemba[62]

1Mar v KTM(Thika) 1-1 D. Akoi [43]

2Mar v Ksm Posta (Nyayo) 4-1 E. Amalemba [9] [40] [80]P. Shim [87]

9Mar v Mumias Sugar (Nya) 3-0 P. Ouma [3] M. Weche [65pen] T. Lidonde [83]

15Mar v Bata Bullets (Nyayo)2-0 F. Kadenge [25] F. Oduor [44og]

19Mar v Black Mamba (City) 1-0 T. Lidonde [79]

22Mar v Wanderers (Nyayo) 4-1 P. Shim [35] [77] F.Kadenge [40] W. Mulamba [80]

6Apr v Nkr Police (Nyayo) 3-0 J.Shoto Lukoye [80] P. Zimbo [44] M. Amwayi [31]

19Apr v Motcom (Bukhungu) 4-1 M. Amwayi [23] P. Zimbo [43] W.Mulamba [33] [69]

20Apr v Nzoia Sugar (Kdyi) 3-0 W. Mulamba[7] [65] F. Kadenge [17]

27Apr v Blue Triangle (Nya) 2-0 M. Amwayi [47] F.Kadenge [63 pen]

1May v Gor Mahia (Nyayo) 2-1 M.Amwayi [2] D. Akoi [63]

4May v Kahawa Utd (City) 2-1 W.Mulamba [43] F. Kadenge [77]

17May v Shabana (Gusii) 2-0 D. Musuku[36] W. Mulamba [70]

18May v Transcom (Afraha) 4-1 D. Akoi [43] [89] D.Musuku [25] B. Mainga [65 og]

2Jun v Re Union (City) 3-2 W. Mulamba [68] [86] P. Shim [75]

8Jun v K. Breweries (Nya) 4-1 P. Shim [12] [27] F. Kadenge [30] [68]

14Jun v Blue Triangle (Mks)8-0 W. Mulamba [26] [67][89] D. Akoi [30] [56] J. Shoto Lukoye [71] F. Kadenge [34] P. Shim [49]

15Jun v Kahawa Utd (Nyayo)1-0 P. Shim [31]

21Jun v Mumias Sugar (Kdy) 1-0 Wesonga [10 og]

22Jun v Ksm Posta (Moi) 2-0 D. Musuku[18] H. Omondi [71]

28Jun v Bata Bullets (Lim) 0-0

29Jun v KTM (Nyayo) 2-0 F. Kadenge [1] H. Omondi [37]

5Jul v Transcom (Nyayo) 2-0 T. Lidonde [4] [20]

6Jul v Motcom (Nyayo) 4-1 H. Omondi[18] D. Akoi [62] F. Kadenge [29] W. Mulamba [46]

12Jul v Wanderers (Msa) 1-1 D. Akoi [66]

19Jul v Re Union (Nyayo) 2-1 P. Ouma[65] D. Musuku [82]

26Jul v Kitale (Nyayo) 3-0 F. Kadenge [33] [46] W. Mulamba [50]

2Aug v Gor Mahia (City) 3-2 D. Musuku [61] [75]P. Shim [90]

9Aug v Nzoia Sugar (Nyayo) 6-0 D. Akoi [5] P. Ouma [10] F. Kadenge [27 pen] [40] P. Shim [54][84]

30Aug v Shabana (Nyayo) 2-1 W. Mulamba [7] D. Musuku[80]

31Aug v Black Mamba (Nyayo) 3-1 A. Isabwa [2] W. Mulamba [73] P. Shim [85]

6Sep v Eld Posta (Nyayo) 2-0 D. Musuku [52] P. Shim[58]

13Sep v Nkr Police (Afraha)1-0 P. Shim [75]

14Sep v Scarlet (Afraha) 3-1 P. Lichungu[79] F. Kadenge [22] D. Musuku [29]

20Sep v K. Breweries (Nya) 1-1 D. Akoi [89]

*acknowledgements to EmmanuelMketu, Francis Nandi and Victor Bwibo for their Leopards Archiving Project for the years 1964 to 2011. Youmay request for any seasons results by e-mailing magazine@ingwefans.com

Leopards in 2011 KPL

2011-12-30T20:41:00.000+03:00

Our 2011 KPL campaign in summary is as follows:-

* We won only 4 away matches out of a possible 15!

* We only took maximum 6 points off 1 team that finished below us!

* We did not score in a third of the matches (10) we played!

* We scored only 11 away goals and 25 home goals.

* We were scored 14 goals away and 13 at home.

* We registered a win against 11 out of the 15 teams.

* The only 4 teams we didn't win against are Mat U, Tusker, Chemelil and KCB

* We played half the games (15) at Nyayo and won 7, Lost 6, Drew 2

* We won more games than 'that team' but they still finished above us.

* We took 21 points from Top 7 teams, but only 17 points from next 7 teams (excluding relegated teams). We seemingly raised our game against the top teams.

Photos of the Year

2011-12-30T20:40:00.000+03:00

There were over 100 photos that we wishes we would use on this blog. We wish to credit all those who took the pictures for the great efforts. Most of the photos have been gleaned from the internet and newspapers and no claim is made by this blog against the photos.

There was the photo of Laurent Tumba blowing kisses at the crowd...

There was the one of the Leopards fan expressing thanks for a Leopards win...

There was a Leopards fan dancing in Mombasa right on the streets...

There was Mike Baraza on a stretcher in a moment every heart stopped...

And Mike Baraza wheeling away after scoring against Gor Mahia...

There was Fanuel Andwati with his shoes on sale...

There was the new kid on the block Ssemi Aina who caused a stir at the club...

There was the great defection all in good humour...

There was Lenny EmCee in all his glory...

There was the splash of colour in the visit to Ole Polos...

There was belief on the stands...

There was the Leopards and Gor 'shemeji' cordial relations...

There was the Dream Team known as Mututho FC and then Leopards FB FC and then CLAWS FC

There was the big error on TV calling Richard the Gor consultant...

There was Sinpare releasing the hit song on Ingwe...

There was a passionometer with flywhisks...

There was receiving of a trophy by Imbalambala...

And there was giving out of a trophy by Jonas Nahimana..

And the posing with the English Premier League trophy by an unidentified fan...

There was celebrating of goals by Leopards as they scored a basketful of goals in the season...

There was something to smile about by Angulu as they paid a visit to Female Fan of the Year Hanii...

There was the photo of Leopards players and Gor players sandwiched on the wall...

There was the fashion parade at the stadium...

There was Archie Achillah having the biggest smile this side of the Sahara...

And even a K'ogalo Diva promoting the Ingwe Fan magazine, related to this blog...

But in the end, these were the top twenty images of 2011

20. The Leopards were stuttering as the season came up to the half way stage. What was needed was a miracle for the Leopards to salvage the situation. What we got was some mid season signings during the transfer window. Bagaye was missing but the signings brought the Leopards back from the grave in an act that was the greatest resurrection since Lazarus.

19. The Leopards love to feast and there was the moment when the fans displayed how hungry the team was for success as they helped themselves to a hearty feast. This photo became an internet sensation after some sly Gor Mahia fans parodied it.

18. Captain Muyoti is known for his very acrobatic jumps when he scores a goal and one of the eagerly awaited moments was seeing him score a goal this season. And it happened against Chemelil at the City Stadium when he powered home a thunderous corner kick and the next obvious thing was to look out for his celebration. Awesome!

17. The transfer season is usually the silly season! Officials talk to players and before they even leave the place of negotiations, you read about it on Twitter or on Facebook. Any player who is associated with Leopards becomes a sensation and so when the news came that Paul Were was in the Den, some thought that photographic evidence was necessary. Aaah.

16. The fans have always been accused of being hellbent on begging from officials and not wishing to play their part in helping the club to posterity. But this year, more than ever, the fans played a crucial part in the club affairs. One of which was to positively market the club. The Facebook Branch fans played against their Gor Mahia counterparts in the run up to the first Derby of the Year and won 3-1. This reaction from Fan of the Year Vincent Were was a sweet moment for leopards fans present.

15. You are the leading scorer at Leopards and your team is counting on you to bang in more goals. Of course that means that fate is about to conspire to throw up some lemons. Mike Baraza was in tip top form and scoring at will when he was involved in a car crash. Within minutes, the Leopards fans of the Nakuru Branch were at the hospital with him checking up on him. That is true brotherhood at Leopards.

14. If there is an AFC Leopards match, Leopards fans will get there using whatever locomotion. Mah Mahntix got there using a bicycle. Others used boats, motor bikes, planes or trains or buses... Here is a pick of the best

13. When the Leopards were on fire, Sofapaka suffered a 3-1 hiding as ample revenge for the 3-1 defeat they had inflicted on the Leopards. One fan thought the best way to show how fiery the leopards were was to light up a newspaper and the other Leopards followed. This picture captured best what happens when fans let let their emotions take control.

12. When Leopards fans lose, they feel depressed. Phannie seemed lost in thoughts as the match progressed and this served up to show the great depression that befell the leopards as they plummeted from being third on the log to the relegation zone. Hopefully, such scenes shall not be seen again!

11. In the first leg clash between Leopards and Gor, the key battle came down to Nicholas Muyoti and Edwin Lavatsa. Muyoti is an experienced leopard whilst Lavatsa is a recent school leaver. Both players were born in September but years apart. Lavatsa was born on 2nd September 1993 whilst Muyoti was born on 8th September 1978. Clearly one had greater pace than the other and it showed on that day.

10. Some you win, some you lose. After the 3-1 beating by Gor, Leopards avenged the defeat in a 3-0 reverse in the second leg. You only needed to look at Lijoodilson Arantez's fingers to know the score!

9. When you have a sponsor that stays close to the club and takes part in the activities of the club, you have a winner as a sponsor. Mumias Sugar has had a great first season as the sponsor of Leopards and even took time to attend the Kawangware Branch event that was attended by the Facebook Branch. Now this is the picture of a true partner of the club.

8. You are waiting to see the clash of the titans and then just before the kick off you see the Leopards fans unfurl a banner. What a sight! But it moved down so fast that one had to be quick to take the shot. Kudos to the persons who took this shot but even more importantly, kudos to the one who thought about this great idea. Blue and White we remain truly forever!

9. When fans travel, sometimes what you see in the foreground may be too good to mask what is in the back ground. So you have to look at each picture very keenly. This one showed a break as the fans took off from the buses to take a 'health break'. There is a trail of Leopards all going to susu! But all that is lost on the viewer as the happy Jehan Adisah takes the thoughts away from that.

8. Sometimes much noise is made about the 'auld enemy' Gor Mahia and how the fans of Gor do not get along with Leopards fans. But the truth is that these two teams are not enemies - they are rivals. Nothing illustrated this better than this picture taken that shows Diamond Okusimba with his Leopards jersey and scarf with a Gor fan who has his jersey and flag. We are one people and though our rivalry dates back to the 60s, we can always be cordial to each other!

7. Leopards fans don't only show love to the Gor fans, they also show love for each other. A picture that captures the fans at the stadium simply happy to be following the Leopards and each other can warm any cold heart was one of Samuel Eyinda and his Plus One.

6. You are costing to victory against your traditional arch rivals. That surely is a moment to savour if you are a fan. But wait a minute - even when you are a player, you can savour the moment. Patrick Matasi was an iconic figure in the later stages of the season for the Leopards as he kept clean sheet after clean sheet! So it was a pleasant shock to all when he took a moment to smile and wave at the fans during the return leg of the league clash against Gor Mahia. An epic moment for an epic player.

5. It is back to the fans again and this moment was captured at the City Stadium. The Leopards fans treat each game as if it is a home game and even travel to the away matches and out-do the home team with their antics. On this particular day, it was if this was rehearsed, yet the beauty of it all was that it was spontaneous! The fans are in 'adulation for club' which could refer to the clubs initials AFC.

4. When three Leopards fans passed away after the clash against Karuturi Sports, it was the saddest moment for many Leopards fans. Fans came together and contributed funds for their interment and during the funerals, one of the photos taken showed a white coffin with blue colours in true Leopards spirit. This wasnt goodbye Aineah (and Ben and Duncan). This was 'see you later'. You will always shine upon us in the blue and white skies above.

3. There is always song and dance at the Leopards matches. If you leave the stadium without hearing and learning one chant, you haven't had the complete Leopards experience. During the year, there would be sudden bursts of song and sometimes the keen camera would capture one person in full flight. Here is one such moment.

2. The Poznan made an appearance at the Leopards games and the fans turned their backs on the team. Of course, that wasn't literal. It was done once and became a feature to celebrate the goals. What a sight to behold and the televisions cameras always captured it after the Leopards goals. It was perhaps a message to the team - we have got your backs no matter what! What a moment to be a Leopard!

1. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We shall let this one speak for itself.

*send any submissions to be considered at magazine@ingwefans.com

Vision 2012

2011-12-29T00:24:00.000+03:00

The following fixture list for AFC Leopards in 2012, is bound to change from time to time.

Kenya Premier League

11 Feb    v     Chemelil     H      Nyayo 16.00

19 Feb    v     Mat Utd       A      Nyayo 16.00

25 Feb    v     Oserian       H      Nyayo 16.00

04 Mar    v     Ulinzi          A      Afraha 15.00

10 Mar    v     Muhoroni     H      Nyayo 15.00

18 Mar    v     Gor             A      Nyayo 15.00

25 Mar    v     W. Stima     H      Mumias 16.00

31 Mar    v     KCB            A      Nyayo 16.00

06 Apr    v     Rangers       H      Mumias 15.00

15 Apr    v     Thika Utd    A      Thika 15.00

26 Apr    v     Tusker         H      Mombasa 19.00

29 Apr    v     Karuturi      A       Naivasha 15.00

05 May   v     City Stars    A       Nyayo 16.00

12 May   v     Sony Sugar H       Nyayo 16.00

16 May   v     Sofapaka    A        Nyayo 19.00

24 Jun   v      Sofapaka   H        Nyayo 15.00

07 Jul    v     Sony Sugar A        Awendo 15.00

14 Jul    v      City Stars H         Nyayo 15.00

22 Jul    v      Karuturi   H         Mumias 15.00

12 Aug   v      Tusker     A          Kasarani 16.00

19 Aug   v      Thika Utd H         Nyayo 15.00

26 Aug   v      Rangers    A         Nyayo 15.00

16 Sep   v      KCB         A         Nyayo 15.00

22 Sep   v      W. Stima A         Bukhungu 15.00

29 Sep   v      Gor Mahia H        Nyayo 15.00

21 Oct   v      Muhoroni   A       TBA 15.00

27 Oct   v      Ulinzi       H        Nyayo 15.00

03 Nov   v     Oserian     A        Oserian 15.00

11 Nov   v     Mat Utd    H    Mumias 15.00

17 Nov   v     Chemelil   A        Green 15.00

Top 8

22 Feb* v TBA * TBA TBA

11 Apr* v TBA * TBA TBA

26 May* v TBA * TBA TBA

Presidents Cup

30 Jun v TBA * TBA TBA

04 Aug v TBA * TBA TBA

01 Sep v TBA * TBA TBA

06 Oct v TBA * TBA TBA

20 Oct v TBA * TBA TBA

Awards

27 Nov KPL Awards

TBA Ingwe Awards

The Kets 2011

2011-12-06T16:34:00.000+03:00

It’s the Kets 2011! The complete review of the past Leopards season

Ingwe Fan magazine editor Emmanuel Mketu delivers his end-of-the-year awards in respect of the AFC Leopards season that has just ended. It is a fresher look at ‘The Den’ as we call it and brings up all the good and bad memories of 2011 starting with …

Best Banner

Thankfully the plans to unveil the banner ‘JESUS SATISFIED 5,000 WITH 5 LOAVES AND 2 FISH, JAN KOOPS SATISFIED MILLIONS WITH 11 LEOPARDS” never saw the light as it was deemed too insensitive to the Leopards fans religious sensibilities. These were fans who prayed before each match!

So coming after the fans of traditional arch rivals Gor Mahia had been attacked at Luanda, the “LUANDA DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE” banner was as insensitive as it could get but easily one of the best banners of the season. For that day, the Leopards disciplined Gor on the pitch running away with a 3-0 victory.

Best Actor

Sometimes the in game entertainment can be dull with the loudspeakers simply blaring out some mournful tunes or some circumcision songs. So it was refreshing to see the players join the repertoire of entertainers the best of which was Patriqs Matasi who held the ball and smiled at the fans and waved. The Leopards Facebook Branch made a profile picture out of that one and even Ghost Mulee laughed at the gesture saying he had never seen anything like that in football! That’s is Leopards – giving you what you have never seen!

Best Celebration

Jan Koops. Yes, there may have been those hugs with Bernard Onyango on the touchline for many a goal but the most memorable one was when he started slamming the Nyayo Stadium turf repeatedly after the Leopards scored the third goal against Sofapaka in the return leg. For a coach who had delivered this team from grass to grace, this was a reminder that we wouldn’t hit the grass again for the rest of the season.

Best Promise

When handed the jersey number 50, Jimmy Bagaye allegedly said he would score 50 goals for the Leopards. He scored two in the Premier League and a few against Kenyatta Hospital. It is time to change Mike Baraza’s jersey number to 99.

Biggest Villain

The Sony goalkeeper was a character out of a horror movie when the leopards faced Sony at Nyayo. He went down with the frequency of a Koinange Street girl, and in the end took the match to almost 98 minutes proportions. The ball would be at the Leopards goal and he would go down once again to stop the match though he was a whole 100 yards away. But when the Leopards suffered a last minute goal, he sprang up and ran the length of the field to the leopards D and showed the fans a few cartwheels to the chagrin and utter disgust of the Leopards fans. What an idiot!

Best Opposing Fans

KCB. The whole ZERO of them kept quiet at the home match as the Leopards fans took over and cheered to their hearts fill.

Best Unofficial Merchandise

There was a host to choose from: the makarapas, the Ingwe Limited, the bandanas, the Ingwellets t-shirts, but the very best was the Ingwe Fan magazine. Providing detailed information about the club and especially the full results of the league matches between Leopards and Gor, I took my hats off to the editorial team for that dedication. There were also the benefactors of the project including Geoffrey Luyuku who made sure that the young at heart at least got to know the history of the team in detail.

Best Bet

You can bet with your friends about a Leopards victory but please do not say you will strip to your underwear if a certain player scores… because he will and you will!

Most Creative Headline

There were a number including the one that said ‘Catfights at AFC’ that appeared in the Daily Nation. Or the one by Trevor Mbati saying ‘Zico Is A Coward – Jan Koops!’. However, the one that stole it all was the one that said ‘Until Gor Score’ which appeared in the Standard on the day that Gor were baptized FC 98 after their match had eight added minutes, a red card for the opposing player and a goal.

Best Jersey Name

“LIKHANIAFU” was a hit as was “ESHIOMBO” but in the end we had the jersey that simply said “BA’MPYENGA”

Best Innovation

The fans at Leopards are known to come up with something new all the time to make the experience at the stadium worth the while. There was the giant flag that was unfurled during the matches. The flag was carried all the way to Mombasa and became the most travelled flag! There was also the Poznan celebration by the fans of the goals. However, the best of them all was simply the chant ‘INGWEE! INGWEE! INGWEE!’. Simplicity is always sometimes the way to go.

Most Ironic Chant

Sometimes, Ironic isn’t as Alanis Morisette thought, but there was the chant that saw Leopards fans sing, ‘Zico Must Go!’ as the Leopards rolled over Gor. Commentators weren’t sure if they meant his then position at Harambee Stars or whether it was a sympathetic sharing of feelings with Gor fans, but you had a feeling that a few Gor fans joined in on this one.

Best Video

Though the Haka of Injaka was hilarious, the best video hands down came about when Leopards were having a bad run of form. Hitler seemed to join in on the calls for the sack! Absolutely hilarious but at the same time, a few of its predictions came true

Best Goal

There were a pick of goals that were scored by Leopards players this year that were absolute beauties! There was the goal that Collins Kisuya scored against Tusker when he connected from a great corner routine and smacked in the ball from a near impossible angle, there was also his curling freekick in the comeback against Nairobi City Stars. But the pick of the crop, was hands down a goal that Kisuya played part in but didn’t score it.

AFC were leading one nil against Gor on 2^nd of October when Kisuya collected a ball that had been carelessly left hanging by a Gor defender, he beat the defender for pace and then released a cross that could only be made by a person of chameleon eyes. It was pin point and breathtaking to watch. As if on intuition, Mike Baraza was between two Gor players but he got the ball and smacked it in beating Ja-Goal all the way! What a goal. It was a goal that made the game safe and ensured Baraza had scored in two consecutive derbies and though he got a yellow card for celebrating before the Gor fans, no one, absolutely no one cared!

Best Match

One match stood out as the best match this season and that was the game against Mathare United that ended in a two-all draw. The Leopards were down two nil at half time and the game seemed lost for all intents and purposes, if it was the Leopards of the first leg. But there were not just Leopards, these were the troops of Koops! The pulled one back and then scored a leveler. You felt that if there was any more time, they would even have won it. But the match had everything: it had a penalty, it had a goalie howler, it had an own goal and a well worked corner goal. There was despair, the elations and the expectation. For once, you always knew that even when two goals down, we could still win it.

Best Stat

This came courtesy of 89:59 who stated that Leopards was an average of position 8.03 in the league this season. To quote him: As for AFC, your team, their average position is 8.03 and final is 5. That means AFC were confined in mid-table positions for long and their rise to position 5 was aided by a rich vein of form towards the end of the season. One Gor fan retorted: Ufala utaacha!

Best Match Report

Sending a text to someone at the stadium and asking him scores can be frustrating. Sometimes you could get the occasional, ‘EKK’ as your reply. But the best was during the Leopards match against Congo United when brief posts appeared on the Facebook Page with words such as: Barry Red! Matasi Swallows! Mbakaya Off!

Best Quote

Sometimes a loss can be a devasatiting thing to happen to any coach and when the Supersport cameras were rolling and Nick Yakhama was being asked how he felt after the match against Thika United in Mumias, Yakhama was shattered nerves as he said: I am happy that we lost.

If that doesn’t get you fired as a coach, nothing else can. There was also the Pharis Kamau quote in HardBall where he stated: Revenge is no longer a bitch; it is a Leopard!

Best Karma

Whilst Gor suffered the 3-0 humiliation, Leopards fans were busy singing ‘Musiwe kama Gor Mahia, wanaofungwa bao, na wanarusha mawe!’ which basically implored people not to be like Gor fans who threw stones after a goal is scored against them. The same month, the Leopards fans tasted a taste of their medicine as their fans threw stones after Gor scored a goal against them in the FKL Cup. Karma is a bitch.

Best Coach

The best coach is of course, as always, the fans. Any time a player missed a chance the impatient fans would start asking for the substitution of the player and when the player who had just gotten in fluffed a chance, the fans would be beside themselves in laughing.

Best Player

3rd Mike Baraza.

2nd Bernard Mangoli.

1st Jonas Nahimana. Nahimana was phenomenal during the season where he started off by scoring on his debut against Sofapaka. It was a goal that gave Leopards hope though they ultimately lost that match. But his presence on the pitch was assured and he diverted many attacking threats from the opposing players. He also netted a penalty against Chemelil and scored a beautiful goal against Ulinzi. Yes, a defender was in the top three scorers for Leopards! It was fitting that the last kick of the match this season was by Jonas as he tried to curl a freekick against KCB. A player for half a season but a player for all seasons!

Post Match: KCB (A)

2011-11-28T08:43:00.000+03:00

Leopards drew 0-0 with KCB in the final match of the season.

Fred Maingi of Supersport reported:-

AFC Leopards were held to a barren draw by stubborn Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in another entertaining KPL tie staged at the Nairobi City Stadium.

Following the draw, Leopards finish the season in fifth place on 46 points while KCB end teh season in ninth on 40.

It was Mike Barasa’ last match before leaving for Malaysia but he was unable to consolidate his scoring prowess. He finished second with 11 goals behind Ulinzi Stars Stephen Waruru who ended with 12.

AFC Leopards started the match strongly with their strikers led by Barasa, Oscar Kadenge, Francis Chinjili and Charles Okwemba giving KCB defenders hectic moments with goalkeeper Caleb Adola making several acrobatic saves.

Timothy Olubulu of Kenyanstar reports that Mike Baraza got a farewell gift:-

AFC Leopards striker Mike Barasa was awarded with a hen as a gift from AFC Leopards fans, playing his last match for the team before he departs to Malaysia where he has signed a contract with a top Malaysian club.

The fans awarded Barry as they have come to christen him with the award for helping them rise to fifth position in the league standings and for the six goals he has scored for them

Speaking to Kenyanstar after the match, Barasa expressed his gratitude to the fans adding that he will miss them when he goes to Malaysia.

"I felt really happy and it was an honor for me. I will always treasure AFC fans wherever I go", he told Kenyanstar.

Barasa will travel to Nakuru later in the evening to spend the night with his family before flying out to Malaysia on Sunday evening.

At the same time, AFC Leopards players gave away thheir jerseys to fans after their barren draw with KCB and signed signatures for the supporters. Mike Barasa was whisked away by security after the number of fans overwhelmed him.

AFC Leopards have finished 5th in the league standings bettering their performance last year and coach Jan Koops and the crop of players signed in June have contributed to the success.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tusker	30	17	7	6	34	17	17	58
2	Ulinzi Stars	30	16	9	5	38	20	18	57
3	Sofapaka	30	15	7	8	42	23	19	52
4	Gor Mahia	30	12	12	6	27	22	5	48
5	AFC Leopards	30	13	7	10	36	27	9	46
6	Sony Sugar	30	13	5	12	33	33	0	44
7	Rangers	30	11	10	9	33	31	2	43
8	Chemelil Sugar	30	10	11	9	30	27	3	41
9	KCB	30	11	7	12	38	32	6	40
10	Thika United	30	11	6	13	36	39	-3	39
11	Western Stima	30	9	10	11	21	28	-7	37
12	Mathare United	30	7	13	10	32	35	-3	34
13	Karuturi Sports	30	8	10	12	19	28	-9	34
14	City Stars	30	8	7	15	28	34	-6	31
15	Bandari	30	9	4	17	22	39	-17	31
16	Congo United	30	5	5	20	18	52	-34	20

Pre Match: KCB (A)

2011-11-25T20:27:00.000+03:00

Leopards end the season with an away match to KCB at City Stadium.

James Wokabi of Supersport predicts a 2-0 victory:-

AFC Leopards will look to end their season on a high when they face KCB at City Stadium.

Ingwe have the longest unbeaten record in the league stretching back to July when they lost 3-1 to Gor Mahia. Since then Jan Koops has masterminded an impressive climb that has seen them win seven and draw five matches pushing their way into the top five with 45 points.

A win over KCB coupled with a Gor Mahia loss to Sofapaka would actually see them finish ahead of their archrivals- a feat considered near impossible at the halfway stage of the season.

They will have top striker Mike Barasa back from suspension.

They face a KCB side that has had another up and down season. League leaders or thereabouts for most of the first leg, their second leg has been crazy two wins and nine losses!

KCB though a good record against Leopards having lost only twice in their last five matches and won the first leg 1-0 and have an eye on a top eight finish.

Prediction: 0-2