Langata Constituency, Phelix Odiwuor, popularly known as Jalango, on January 31, 2023, proposed that a county football league should be formed to bring back the spirit of great football in Kenya.
In a statement, Jalango claimed he had a meeting with Sports CS Ababu Namwamba, and the idea to create a county league would bring fans back into the stadiums.
He suggested that taking leagues back to counties would lead to epic derbies such as The Muthokoi Derby, The Matoke Derby, and The Miraa Derby, among others.
This is what he wrote;
So there is this conversation I was having with CS Ababu! There is this proposal about how to make football big again in Kenya! Do you know that Arsenal is the only team in the EPL that doesn’t represent a city, a town or a county? Manchester, Chelsea, Liverpool,Nottingham, leeds and many more are places , towns and cities! What this means is that the clubs already have an already fanbase from their home towns!! They fill the stadiums, they travel and support their teams!!
The Gor Mahia AFC battle is the only game in the KPL that attracts crowds and the crowds are dwindling and we cannot sustain it to even pay the players! I bet you cannot even name 10 teams in KPL! Do you know sofapaka are back in the league?
What if we took back the league to the counties? The counties to battle in 20 teams league! We have 47 counties so we play a knock out so that top 20 becomes the first division, 2nd 20 2nd division and the last seven becomes division 3!
What a league! Can you imagine the derbies!! When Nyeri county meets Muranga county! Canyou imagine A Garissa Marsabit derby? Or Kisumu Homabay? Or Siaya Nyeri? Or Kisii Nyamira Matoke Derby! Baringo Vs Uasin Gishu? Kilifi Mombasa derby? Its only this way will we see different governor’s put money to sport and develop the facilities! Its only this way will we see a boy from Marsabit travel to Migori to showcase their talent! Its only this way will we see and scout travel to Mandera to over see a talented boy or girl ! When will a boy fro Turkana travel to Nyamira? Can you imagine the Cities derby? Nairobi vs Kisumu? Tharaka Nithi vs Meru County? The Miraa Derby! The Muthokoi Derby! Machakos vs Kitui! No governor would want a team to play in a shabby stadium! Wich other Derbies are you thinking?
Lets have the counties league than lie to ourselves that talent will be scouted when Police Fc play Kakamega Homeboys!!
