AFC Leopards midfielder Allan Kateregga. [PHOTO/citizentv.co.ke]
AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia have lamented over the unavailability of their traditional Nyayo Stadium and Kasarani Complex home grounds this season.
The sides with the hugest in Kenyan football complained that the unavailability is now costing them a lot in revenues.
According to Leopards chairman Dan Mule, the continued lock-out at Nyayo Stadium has been hard to handle in the past few matches.
“Having home games away from Nairobi doesn’t make sense at all,” said Mule as reported by the Star.
"When we have our matches at Nyayo or Kasarani, the revenue from gate collections averages at about Sh700,000 but currently, we can hardly raise Sh300,000,” he added.
He revealed his fears of the fast-approaching Nairobi derby where they are expected to host Gor Mahia on May 7 without a good-capacity ground being available.
“We are looking at Machakos and Mumias but the cost implications are going to carry the day,” said Mule.
“We are more keen on Machakos or even Thika since Mumias can barely host the two sets of fans. It will also be difficult for our fans to travel there. It will cost at least Sh3000 for a fan to make the trip to Mumias. There is also the crowd trouble that usually happens in Mumias with our fans being targeted.”
He said the team is expected to lose a lot of revenue when they camp at Mumias Complex ahead of the derby and blamed the government for not implementing their promise for better stadia.
“The government had promised to build stadia but none is forthcoming. City Stadium is also out of use due to the poor state of the artificial turf,” said Mule.
“Nairobi County government has really let us down. Other counties have really tried, including Embu, Machakos and Narok but Nairobi have failed to even rehabilitate City Stadium.”
Mule's sentiments were echoed by the Gor Mahia counterpart Ambrose Rachier observed who said fans have lost the morale to attend matches because of the extra costs incurred.
“Fans are no longer motivated to attend matches due to the distances and costs they will have to cover. It was also an observation I made during the hearing of the case (at the Sports Disputes Tribunal) on whether to increase the number of teams from 16 to 18. I felt we don’t have capacity (venues) to host additional matches but this fell on deaf ears,” added Rachier.
“The revenue has really plummeted and the earlier we return to Nairobi, the better.”