In a country where sports events are known to degenerate to
chaos with cases of vandalism and hooliganism, I was pleasantly surprised by
the deliberate order exhibited during the recent Safaricom Sevens tournament
held at the Kasarani Sports Complex.
Right from the entrance off the highway, multiple security
checks were mounted to ensure that only those with tickets were allowed into
the complex. Media notices were made to the effect that no ticket sales would
be made at the site on any of the four days. As we got closer to the main gate,
physical checks to ensure no weapons and unauthorized merchandise were sneaked
into the stadium were professionally conducted.
Once inside the stadium, there was visible security in the
parking lots and along the way to the stiles including dogs. Once inside the
stadium there was visible security everywhere. The fact that all fans were
issued with age appropriate bands to ensure no underage fans were sold alcohol
was a plus and spoke of the organizers being socially responsible. In view of
the bad publicity from a recent rugby tournament during which more was reported
on the raunchy happenings off the pitch than rugby action, it was only proper
that such measures be taken.
I do hope the other crowd-pulling sports like football,
basketball and athletics can follow suit and ensure similar measures are taken
during their events. There is hope that we can see more Kenyans can spend
quality time supporting their chosen sport’s teams. With more spectators coming
to cheer their team, I do believe we can be able to make money from gate
collections necessary to ensure sustainability of many sports teams.
The only downside at Kasarani was the low turnout which
could be due to high entrance fees or due to other competing events taking
place at the same time. On the last day, I don’t believe the 60,000 seater
stadium had more than 15,000 fans in the stands. In such a big venue, there are
many alternate means the organizers could have explored to fill the stadium
including subsidizing entrance for schools, police, military and other
uniformed cadres who deserve to be encouraged to come to stadiums. Designated
seating could have been reserved for such groups.
Stadiums in other countries
also have sections set aside for other special groups like disabled members of
society. For a tournament that could hardly fill the less than 10,000 capacity
KRFUEA Ngong Road stadium, I think it is a bit ambitious for the organisers to
imagine they could fill up a stadium as big as Kasarani.
Being an annual tourney, I do hope that the organizers can
consider such strategies to fill the stadium next year.
Otherwise they need to me commended for the good
organisation.
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