•Medical provision has become a necessity in modern football. At many local clubs, sadly, this is not the reality.
•Players are rendered useless and viewed by the club as a liability as soon as they pick up an injury.
Image: FILE
It's a high time Kenyan administrators began managing their affairs properly in the best interest of local footballers who have already endured enough mediocrity in leadership.
And until we get football administrators with appropriate management skills, Kenyan footballers will continue to languish in perennial abject poverty.
The rate at which footballers plying trade in this country are bemoaning maltreatment and neglect at the hands of hard-boiled football administrators is nerve-wracking to say the least.
Curiously, some individuals managing local clubs want us to buy into the idea that success can be achieved in despondency. They preside over activities of clubs that go for months without remunerating players for services rendered on the pitch and, ridiculously, still expect them to unleash the magic wand.
Allow me to extol clubs that treat their personnel with dignity. For instance, Nairobi City Stars, the top tier returnees who have punched above their weight to yield exceptional results in their league assignments.
Another fine example is Bidco United. The Thika-based Kenyan Premier League debutants have successfully shaken off their underdog tag to turn tables on their more fancied opponents.
The two clubs share a common denominator. They are the irreproachable embodiment of well-run organisations where the management provides a conducive atmosphere for success. The players are paid well and in good time.
According to impeccable sources, the clubs offer players bonuses amounting to Sh7,000 for every win if they bounce back from a loss. The amount increases to Sh10,000 if the players register subsequent back-to-back wins.
Surely, who then wouldn't demand results from players earning that kind of money and what else would they train their minds on other than decorating the club's cabinet with glistening silverware?
It's common sense that legs and brains cannot function well on the pitch in the absence of physiological and psychological incentives.
I doubt if the same officials who subject players to a string of exasperation would themselves even bother to return to their workstations the following morning if they were to toil day and night for months on end with absolutely nothing substantial to show for their hard work.
Yet, they are the same people who expect their players to exercise restraint and patience when there is essentially nothing for them to show their families after minutes of spadework.
Medical provision has become a necessity in modern football. At many local clubs, sadly, this is not the reality. Cases abound of devious officials who switch off their phones the moment hospital bills arrive at their doorsteps. Players are rendered useless and viewed by the club as a liability as soon as one picks an injury.
It's also time local footballers emerged from the throngs of intimidation and muster sufficient courage to speak out against all the ills they have endured silently over time.
On the other hand, football administrators have no business handling clubs they can't manage properly.