Organisers of various grassroots sports competitions in the country say it may take longer before the events resume, due to the tough, proposed protocols on sports resumption.
Nyanza’s Kisumu Classic Basketball League (KCBL) and Victoria Handball Super League (VHSL), Mombasa Basketball Association (MBA) and Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA) are some of the grassroots leagues that have raised concerns over some of the suggested protocols.
Part of the action when Lakeside Red met Jalil’s a past Biro Lich tournament at Jomo Kenyatta grounds.
They were released on Monday by the Cabinet Secretary for Sports Amina Mohamed, who gave stakeholders seven days to submit their inputs, before they are rolled-out after another seven days.
While KCBL officials had envisaged that they will restart playing in October, now they are uncertain about that, since the competition, which also draws teams from Western region do not have the capacity to implement the guidelines.
“If the guidelines are rolled-out as they are, we (KCBL officials) will have to cancel the league for a while until we get sponsorship since we currently rely on registration fees and individual sponsorships,” said KCBL’s Director Brian Lusaga.
KCBL, which is a brainchild of three former basketball players – Erick Odhiambo, Oliver Nyamwanda and Ellie Mwallo – has been in existence since 2014.
Thirteen teams had registered for this year’s edition, which failed to start in April due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the proposed guidelines Lusaga said they will not be able to implement are; gathering teams in one place prior and until the end of the championships, testing of players for Covid-19 and playing without spectators, since the venue of the matches – Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground is an open place.
Others are having a standby ambulance with medics during matches and maintaining social distance, while ferrying players to the match’s venue, since it is expensive as the teams will be forced to use a minibus instead of a 14-seater matatu like before.
“The league’s management had already bought thermometers and sanitisers. Those are some of the few guidelines that we can implement,” said Lusaga.
VHSL Director Robert Owino said that if the competition that brings teams from Nyanza and Western regions fails to resume in October due to the stringent guidelines, they will annul it and declare winners based on the first leg results.
“Before the players have been struggling even to honour matches due to lack of funds. So where will they get the money to meet the protocols to be allowed to play? posed Owino, adding that the tough rules may discourage teams from joining the competitions.
Until when VHSL, which is in its fifth edition stopped due to the pandemic, men’s defending champions Kisumu Academy Handball Club were on the steering wheel for a fifth consecutive title on 22 points.
Kisumu Saints was trailing closely on 20 points with a game in hand in the 11-team league. In the women’s category, which has five teams only and on its fourth edition, newcomers Thea Queens were leading on eight points, two ahead of Kisumu Academy.
MBA’s Victor Odinga said if the protocols are rolled-out and the government insists that they must be adhered to, they will delay the resumption of matches.
“We will talk and agree. If we cannot meet the threshold to resume playing, there is no need to hurry,” said Odinga.