Daily Nation ­ Monday
Date: 30.05.2016
Page 57
Article size: 209 cm2
ColumnCM: 46.44
AVE: 95211.11
Will docking points end the violence?
The last week we woke up
to the news that the Inde­
minutes due to crowd trouble.
do their job. There are countries after the matches in question and
To make matters worse, Gor were
where every ticket holding fan is the new rules have now been ap­
known. If a stone is thrown from plied going backwards. It is like
the crowd, the cameras shall pick making New Year resolutions
up the stone thrower and he or she for 2016 and then using them to
pendent disciplinary and not the home team. The case of
complaints committee (IDCC)
Ingwe is even more complicated
since they are losing three points
three points be deducted from for a match that they lost. It is
AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia. like a double punishment.
had recommended to KPL that
Recently we asked in this
The main reason for the deduc­
tion of points was crowd trouble column if these clubs that find
or hooliganism as many would it even hard to pay their play­
like it to be called.
The deduction has taken
K'Ogalo from the topmost
perch to the fourth position
while Ingwe finds itself in the
11th position rolling towards
relegation.
We do not say that we love
hooliganism but we cannot
pretend that we agree with the
IDCC decision to dock points. Of
course we know that the discipli­
nary action taken by the IDCC
is meant to send a message to
rowdy fans that their team will
suffer anytime they cause chaos.
We know so well that the kind
of fan that likes to throw stones
is not even bothered by the lost
points and they will still hurl
their rocks.
The game between Gor Mahia
and Tusker was not abandoned
but play stopped for some 10
ers have the ability to control
the crowds. We still insist that
these clubs shall be victims sim­
ply because they have fans. To
avoid losing any points then, a
team should have no fans at all
just like the other teams in the
Premier League that are used
to play in empty stadiums sans
cheers or jeers. It is very easy to
lump all fans in the hooligan bin
but docking of points is not going
is pursued by the law.
evaluate 2015.
In Kenya we do not have that. [email protected]
People get into the stadium and
we just cannot tell how many they
are. Tickets are sold to everybody
without knowing just where they
are going to sit. It is not going to
be easy to control anything here
and we can only dream that one
day we will also be organized and
enter the 2lst century of football
like they are in Europe.
We are informed that the teams
MOSES OJUANG
f Rules were hastily
crafted long after the
matches in question
and the new rules have
now been applied going
whose points have been docked backwards"
have already appealed against the
decision of IDCC. We wait to hear
just what direction it will take and
to be the solution to the problem. what other considerations will be
We must define just who is respon­ taken into account. Recently, the
sible for controlling the crowds. betting company that sponsors the
Is it the work of club officials or
league stopped their sponsorship
is it the province of the police? of K'Ogalo and Ingwe over crowd
If it is the duty of the club, then trouble. The owner who also is the
we must suppose that Football MD, the spokesman, the chief
Kenya Federation (FKF) must accountant and everything else
lend a hand in the arrangement. shouted something about dock­
If it is the domain of the police ing points.
Rules were hastily crafted long
then we must make sure that they
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