Why are football authorities too lenient on Gor Mahia fans?

Gor Mahia football club fans are at it again! What is wrong with Kogallo fans? What is so special about these fans that it seems the football authorities in the land cannot touch them? Yesterday, it was reported and we saw on television that the match between Gor Mahia and Ulinzi football club had to be stopped because Gor Mahia fans started throwing stones into the pitch, after the linesman disallowed a goal they had scored because one of their players was offside. Television replays revealed clearly that one of the Gor Mahia players was indeed close to the goal keeper, far away from the rest of the players who were making a wall as the free kick was being taken. It is only a fool or an amateur sports fan who would dispute the fact that the player was indeed in an offside position. This ugly incident comes hot on the heels of another incident where Gor Mahia fans again caused the disbandment of another match in the Kenya premier league. The fans who caused that disbandment are yet to be punished and now we have this. Why is it that the Independent Disciplinary Committee cannot take action against these people who give football a bad name. To say the truth, these people do not deserve the name of football fans, they should named for who they actually are, they are hooligans and criminals who should be dealt with the way criminals are dealt with – they should face the law. It is a shame that these Gor Mahia fans are behaving this way just when the club has had the fortune of getting a promising sponsor in the name of Tuzo Milk, after many years of struggling without any tangible support. I remember when the last incident happened early this year, Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier promised that they would single out these hooligans and deal with them. What happened to this promise? I also remember that some of the more responsible fans took responsibility for what happened and apologized to the football fraternity for that ugly incident. But let them be told that apologies alone will not appease us this time. Acton without words is not good enough. I wonder why Kogallo cannot single out and punish these fans who are giving the club a bad name. I am not sure that these people know the history of Gor Mahia, that this is the only club in this region of Africa that has ever won a continental cup, and thus it is a brand name in itself. I highly doubt that these people that the club is unwilling to single out and ban from their matches are helping the club in any way. Apart from probably buying a T-shirt worth one thousand shillings and paying one hundred shillings at the gate, these people are no asset to the club. I doubt if Gor Mahia will loose anything by cutting their ties with these fellows. Right now, because of the same fellows, coach Zedekiah Otieno is a worried man. He is insecure because the fans are baying for his blood for the wrong reasons. They are demanding too much from him and forgetting where the club was just a few years back. Without Zico, Gor Mahia would not have been number two after Ulinzi in the last season. What do they want from Zico? Even if Gor Mahia was to get a new coach today, I am sure he will not surpass what Zico has done in Gor Mahia for the time he has been the coach. Therefore, the club management should reign in these fans as soon as possible before the club’s sponsors decide to cut their ties with the club. Because unless the club performs well in this season, there is no guarantee that Tuzo will be willing to partner with them again. And even if the management of Gor Mahia is not willing to take action against its fans, the football authorities need to take action against the club’s fans to restore sanity in our stadia and integrity to the game of football. This leniency against the club’s fans is not helping football at all.