In The Den: Week 3

·               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

·               Six of the Best.

All transfer window periods always mean that the club is treated to an airport arrivals and departures zone. Since December, Leopards have had to say sad goodbyes to at least six players with news filtering in that the players who had been released had been unveiled at other Kenya Premier League teams. It is always a wonder that the officials at the club release players 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 an impressive end to the new-comers. Wanga comes with a high pedigree, his father having played for Leopards in the 70s and he holds the Golden Boot title that he won with Tusker FC before having a professional stint in Angola and other horizons.

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

·               Elections Charade.

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

But predictions that with the warring factions at Leopards calling elections and the others saying they should be the ones calling the elections, it was only a matter of time before the incumbent chair went to court. Apparently, this came to pass though the court declined to grant orders stopping the elections. Hmm… what to do? Place a notice in the newspapers distancing the club from the elections. The Star and the Nation carried the notice countering the Annual General Meeting notice placed by the Secretary General.

Both parties then went ahead with lists of branches and members being recruited. It is a tough time to be a Leopards fan when it comes to looking up to people who can offer leadership. Hopefully, the common sense that requires that elections be jointly held will be heeded and the warring factions will come together, even if just for the sake of greedily hoping they can win the joint elections. That, will be the stability and conducive environment the players, the sponsor and the fans would want to see as the preparation for the new season goes on. - VB

·               Stick to a Time Table.

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

One would have expected that the government body that was in charge of the match or at least the match organizers would have already paid 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 fans about the lack of accountability for the funds received, it turns out the funds had not been received. It should always be important that people stick to a time-table when they have events so that for planning purposes, one doesn’t have to be inconvenienced by factoring in funds that have to go through various processes before being paid. Planning should not be an alien concept in this day and age! - VM

·               Fans Fans Every Where!

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

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

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

·               El Pistolero.

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 Mike Baraza, the leading scorer for the Leopards last season firing away! Here’s to hoping another season of great shots from Mikey! -EM

Kenyan Banter

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

·               Eric Masika is a Leopard.

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

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

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

·               Elections Announcement.

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

Last year, Bukachi was suspended on 20^th September as Secretary General.  He was quoted on online sites claiming he has resigned. Yet in November, he was issuing a notice for an AGM. The Registrar ok’d it for 27^th November but 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 filed by two fans over two months after Bukachi was suspended/resigned and which order stayed the suspension of Bukachi and the Registrar changed tune again saying the outcome of the case should be awaited. The case comes up for hearing on 31^st January 2012. In the meantime, the Registrar  when confronted with an Affidavit that showed the Chairman Ole Magelo deponing that his term was to end on 31^st December changed tact again, from waiting for the outcome of the case to ordering elections within 30 days from 20^th December, which Bukachi has now announced. But in the rush to unseat Magelo, the opponents have to be careful so they are not beaten at their own game. Predictably, the Magelo team has rejected the notice by Bukachi and indicated they will issue their own notice. It is a circus that shows the greediness and ignorance of a lot of people. - VB

·               New Kit Design Leaked.

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

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

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

·               Leopards Offices Drama.

Reports posted on the official website indicated that the 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 to paint each other in bad light.

Getting info out of the club is often difficult as those who have requested for information have found out. Last year, Oscar Kambona, a Leopards fan and registered member wrote to the EC and requested for the 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 alleged non-member of the club might be tempted to use force to obtain such information and perhaps this was the intent on this particular day. That is wrong. There have to be proper ways to obtain information just the way there has to be positive feedback when one requests as provided for in the constitution of the club.

On the other hand, claiming that persons who are mandated to run the club are receiving money by false pretences is also quite wrong. The police have to be kept out of interpreting our clubs constitution or lack of constitutionalism. Both sides have to realize that the image of this great team has to be maintained and decorum calls for people not throwing words at each other through the official website and other for a like the social media pages. We need to return to common sense, Leopards fans. - SE

·               You Should Know People

Picture this. Mike Baraza is preparing for the clash against Gor Mahia on 18^th March, 2012 and decides to have a feel of the pitch. He enters the pitch from the dressing room and in his hurry he has forgotten to carry his badge. A Gor steward notices him and asks him to stay away from the pitch. Mike pinches the steward’s nose and tells him: You should know people.

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

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

How To Win The League Unbeaten

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

Since the 1979 season, the national diadem had been contested and shared only between Leopards and traditional arch rivals Gor Mahia with Gor Mahia taking the 1979 crown before Leopards went on to win the title 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 in a row too from 1983 to 1985! That set the stage for the 1986 title showdown that was always going to be another Leopards versus Gor Mahia issue and this time Leopards did it in style winning the title unbeaten!

The top two standings at the end of the season were:-

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 to win the treble (African Cup Winners, League and Moi Golden Cup) in 1987 before Leopards won the 1988 league unbeaten once again and also won the 1989 league title. Gor seeing Leopards win the league twice went ahead to win it twice too in 1990 and 1991 before Leopards won in 1992 and Gor took it back in 1993.

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

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

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

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

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

To illustrate the industriousness of this Leopards team, they played consecutive matches within twenty four hours playing both on Saturday and Sunday for a total of 10 weekends. The league commenced in February but by September, 38 matches had been played.

Leopards won both league clashes against Gor Mahia.

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

Two players scored hat-tricks for the Leopards during the season with the first coming from Eliakim Amalemba against Kisumu Posta whilst the other was by golden boot Wilberforce Mulamba against Blue Triangle.

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

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

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

It was remarkable that the Leopards went through the season without top striker Jay Jay Masiga who had knee trouble and sat out the 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 the league was that shockingly, the Leopards fell in the first round of the Moi Golden Cup to an inspired Volcano United whilst also going out in the Cup Winners 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]

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

22 Feb v Kitale (Kenyatta)   0-0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 Jun 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]

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

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

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

28 Jun  v Bata Bullets (Lim) 0-0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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