•Ulinzi Stars and Kenya Police supporters, who have been illuminating the stands with a wide variety of stunts, are the newest troops to have claimed their rightful stakes.
•Kenyan football is gradually reclaiming its lost vitality as a result of intensified social media campaigns, as evidenced by the increasing number of spectators returning to the stadiums to watch top-flight games.
Image: FILE
Long gone are the days when law enforcement personnel and rowdy spectators engaged in continual running altercations during important Kenyan Premier League games.
No longer do riot police fire pepper-laced teargas at the charging mob, choking bystanders and leaving them with snot and tears oozing from their noses and eyes.
The only tears we see these days are happy ones brought on by fits of laughter at the absurdity of the words penned by cunning and deft keyboard warriors on the social media pages of Kenyan clubs.
The taunting that characterised the ugly street battles has now been transferred to social media, albeit with some comedic relief.
For instance, the social media pages of both clubs went bonkers as the admins dared and taunted each other days before Kenya Police and Gor Mahia flexed muscles in a hyped KPL encounter.
Both clubs vowed to carry the day, with each social media post evoking a flood of responses from their partisan supporters.
The number of fervent supporters that poured into the stands to root for their respective sides during the encounter, indicates that the hype generated by the social media posts was effective.
The D-day finally arrived after all the bravado, epithet-throwing, and brouhaha. The tense match, which Gor won 1-0, naturally did not involve any unpleasant incidents.
However, the Kenya Police FC Facebook page administrators ate humble pie and profusely apologised to K'Ogalo supporters for their earlier chest-thumping.
This pleasant turn of events received unprecedented praise given that it was a deviation from the norm.
I must acknowledge the efforts put forth by local top-tier clubs to fund social media accounts that are embellished with images captured using cutting-edge cameras.
Naturally, no one wants to fall behind as the rest of the world advances in the digital age. The importance of social media in the modern sports landscape is being recognised by Kenyan teams more and more.
The effect is quite obvious in the huge numbers that flock to the pages to react to stories and images on the social media pages of the rival teams.
Kenyan football is gradually reclaiming its lost vitality as a result of intensified social media campaigns, as evidenced by the increasing number of spectators returning to the stadiums to watch top-flight games.
Since the beginning of this season, exuberant Kenyan Premier League supporters have been embellishing the stands with a kaleidoscope of hues and shades of their favourite teams' jerseys.
The bellowing chants of Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards fans, two historically dominant teams in the Kenyan Premier League, have previously dominated the stadia's aura.
However, it appears that the trend has taken a different turn, with more teams now claiming a sizeable portion of the nation's expanding fan base.
Ulinzi Stars and Kenya Police supporters, who have been illuminating the stands with a wide variety of stunts, are the newest troops to have claimed their rightful stakes.
Both teams made significant investments to acquire the best players in the nation, and as a result, their performances have been trending upward. Their fixture dubbed the "Afande derby" drew a lot of attention from people all over the country.
Both sides, however, fired blanks in the tension-packed barren affair. It's becoming abundantly clear that Kenyans adore football, and if we work hard to market the game well, we can draw more fans to our venues to watch games.