Monday: Group C CECAFA Action
Sudan Vs Rwanda – 2 pm – City Stadium
Uganda Vs Eritrea – 4 pm – City Stadium
As the 2013 GOtv CECAFA senior Challenge Cup goes to the second week of action on Wednesday, the organizers are still disturbed and worried by the low turn up of fans in the stadia in the fixtures played so far.
Apart from the Kenya – South Sudan fixture and the two games held in Machakos (Tanzania’s 1 all draw with guests Zambia and Sudan Vs Eritrea), the rest of the matches have been rarely watched.
“We hope that the fans will come to the arena in the closing stages of the tourney”, CECAFA general secretary, Nicholas Musonyi told Kawowo Sports in an interview.
The huge fan base of the Ethiopian, Ugandan and South Sudanese communities in Kenya has helped to save matters, otherwise the matches that involved the rest of the teams have been played before empty stands.
Fans Disappearance:
Various schools of though and conspiracies have been advanced as to why the fans have continued to keep away from the games but the most notable is the timing of the games. On working day like, you can seldom expect a passionate football fan who is a civil servant with an 8 to 5 pm job to attend a football game that starts at 2 pm when he will catch the game live at the confines of his or her office courtesy of the exclusive live coverage by GOtv on the channel Super Sport 9 East.
The ticket fares are relatively at an average prize of Ksh. 250 (Uganda shs. 7500) for two matches. But to many ordinary citizens with the ever escalating cost of living, the fares look ‘high to afford’.
The season of heavy rains across the entire country have also kept fans away. “I would rather watch from a video hall that suffer the rain effects”, Chris Omollo, a street vendor on Latema Street reveals to Kawowo Sports.
With the remaining games destined for the City Stadium, Nakuru and Mombasa cities before returning to Nairobi, it remains to be seen how best the fans tendency will adjust.
