Eventually, after much anticipation, the GAFFER final for both the Andrew Murch Memorial Tournament and KCL4 have been played.

With Mr Benny’s arrival in Kenya a week before the event, it was always bound to be a Final to be remembered and there were certainly no disappointments.

In the week leading up to the big day there was much to do but also many people to lend a hand. James Ruwa, one of our previous employees who has been studying for the last year, made a trip home especially and he had barely stepped off the bus when he was sent off to engage in some goat bartering, which is no light hearted matter in Kenya. Luckily he had Inaki, a work college of Ben’s who was also available to lend a hand and generally provide lots of Spanish enthusiasm. Mr Mo was in charge of making sure we would be able to feed around 200 hungry fans and players on the day, calling for the buying of mountains of onions, potato and so forth. That just leaves myself, Titus, who has recently taken up the role of GAFFER’s man on the ground. I won’t bore you with a list of all the things I did, save to say running around like a crazy person was the order of the day.

During the day itself everything ran really well - tents were pitched by 7am, the football pitch was cleared, and by 8am the entertainer of the day - Kasuku bin kicheko , a brilliant musician come comedian, had arrived. The commentator of the day was our own, Mr Mo, and filming was done by Inaki.

The first match of the day was between the two men’s teams who had lost at Semi Final stage. This match would decide who would take third place in the league. Kiteghe and Jora both played brilliantly, resulting in a penalty shoot out being needed. It was during this shoot out that Kiteghe eventually achieved the victory they had been looking for, and it was their goalkeeper who truly took the role of man of the match as he dug deep and managed to save two out of the five penalties taken.

Following on from this dramatic match was the Kids final between Rukanga and Makina. It was amazing to see such young players from both teams showing us all what fantastic kids football really looks like. Rukanga scored a great goal, with one of their youngest players dribbling past two defenders near the eighteen yard box and unleashing a strong shot which left Makina goalkeeper on one side as the ball went through on the other side. The Makina team tried to change the situation, but their opponents fought to the end, and at full time it was joy for Rukanga as the results was 1 – 0.

After two matches and a considerable amount of eating and dancing, it was time for the last match of the day – the Men’s Final between Black lions and Sorbibor. Black Lions had the advantage of being the local team and hence having the upper hand when it came to supporter enthusiasm. However Sorbibor is not a team to be underestimated, with a high percentage of young Somali talents, they are feared for their high skilled football and accurate passing After half time the teams were neck and neck but during the second half of the match Black lions started to shine, with their coach’s decision to make two substitutions in the last 10 minutes paving the way for their eventual 1-0 victory; a victory leading to mass celebration from supporters and players a like.

Over the last 6 weeks GAFFER has been very busy indeed. We have had the Quarter Finals for KCL4 running parallel to the Quarter Finals for the Andrew Murch Memorial Under 16s Tournament and there has also been lots happening with the HIV training; so here is an over-due update on all the above.

Firstly the Kasigau Champions League – all Quarter Final matches have now been played and we have seen four very strong victories from Jora, Sorbibor, Kiteghi and Black Lions, each of whom beat there opponents by at least 2 goals. The highlight of these matches would have to be the Black Lions vs Samba Boiz match because both teams come from Maungu and are big rivals and as chance would have it, their Quarter Final match was the last of the four. The days leading up to the match saw both teams camped out so they could fit training into every hour of daylight, and when the big day came there was no disappointments: the supporters were out in force, we had a FIFA referee booked and we were provided with an hour and a half of fantastic football with an impressive victory from Black Lions and gracious defeat from Samba Boiz’s.

As for the Under 16s Tournament, again lots of great football and promising potential seen in the players. The highlight here would have to be the Makina vs Miasenyi match. Due to the Makina team being made up largely of Somalis, who tend to be very tall, and the Miasenyi team being probably the youngest and smallest of all the Under 16 teams, this really was a case of the David and Goliath (see the photo). However, on this occasion David was not victorious, despite putting up a good fight, Miasenyi was beaten 3-1.

On the HIV front, the two day HIV training seminar referred to in the last HIV related blog has now happened and was a great success. Noah, the teacher from Alive and Kicking who ran the seminar, was a real inspiration and passed on lots of important knowledge to our coaches. This was followed by a teaching tips session with Mr Mo. The coaches are now raring to go and we are currently in the process of formalising a weekly teaching slot in all the schools where these coaches are located.

GAFFER has organised an under 16s cup tournament which kicked off on 10th August 08. The tournament, named Andrew Murch Memorial Trophy, was organised in memory of Andrew Murch whose family donated footballs and trophy for the event.

There are 14 teams competing in this on-going tournament, one team from each village primary school in the region.

Since kick off the participating kids have showed lots of interest and have been practicing hard for their matches, and as a result they have been playing really good football. There was an exciting first knock-out match between old rivals Buguta and Sasenyi, with both teams playing really quality football. This set an example for all other teams who then went on to provide supporters with many cracking goals and uplifting team spirit; bringing the knockouts to a great ending.

Quarters are now just about to start, with the first match to be played this coming Sunday (7th September). We expect great action in these matches and we will keep you up-dated as the under 16s sporting event unfolds.

Hello again blogsters,

We are glad to let you know that GAFFER has started HIV lessons again! At present these are mostly taught to the U16s football teams, but will move into the schools around the Kasigau region at the start of the academic year.

The lessons are taught by GAFFER’s VCs (village co-ordinators), who generally tend to be players for the men’s teams. So far we are training six highly reliable and dedicated VCs to do HIV lessons and we shall soon recruit eight more; this way all the villages can become better informed about HIV.

For the last three weeks the GAFFER team have taught at 3 schools around the region. This team has consisted of Mr Mohammed, a most experienced and all round brilliant teacher, the six VCs being trained, Esme (a mzungu who has been co-ordinating the HIV project), and myself – Mwololo. These lessons have not only helped educate the children, but have also provided the VCs with an opportunity to watch and learn from Mr Mohammed’s excellent teaching. GAFFER has been delighted to observe the warm welcome it has received from both teachers and pupils in these schools - providing us with hope for promising things to come.

Esme has also organised a two day seminar for the VCs in which Noah from Alive and Kicking shall help them improve their HIV teaching. We are looking forward to having much success on this front to bring us one step closer to an HIV free generation.

And one last thing – GAFFER would like to say a special thank you to Peter Kibigo who stepped in at the last minute to cover one Mr Mohammed’s HIV lessons. The photo for this blog is for you.

The inter-groups have now ended. For the last four weeks the team supporters from both zones have been treated to some fantastic football – with all teams playing die hard games to secure a place in the Quarter Finals. Just like it is in football, there must be a winner and a loser and there has indeed been some dramatic wins and some very emotional defeats. As can be seen on the league table - Bughuta, Makwasinyi, Jora and Kiteghe have qualified from the South Zone and Sorbibo, Itinyi, Samba Boiz and their rivals Black Lion in the North Zone.

With the Quarter Finals soon to begin, there is bound to be much more drama and great football as teams play hard for a place in the Semis. Make sure to keep checking the website so as to keep up with the action.

With just two games to play for each team the KCL is really hotting up! Dragon and Buguta have already qualified from their groups but there are still six places left in the Quarter-Finals and all to play for!!

There are a number of videos that will be appearing on here from the current Kasigau Champions League that James put together for us. We hope you enjoy them! If you have trouble working them from this site, please click on the link to flickr on the left to watch.

We are now nearly half way into the regular season and by this weekend every team will have played the other teams in their group. Apologies to all hoping to follow the scores thus far on the site but we have been attacked by unpredictable web gremlins here in the bush, we believe they may well have vanished and work will continue as it should very shortly!

Suffice it to say there have already been some upsets and a lot of drama in the league thus far. It is certainly shaping up in a way that hints at a final between teams that have never previously got that far, as always in football though, everything can and probably will change!

GAFFER is also thrilled that Mr Mo will be handling management duties out here now with Mwalolo also joining us as a regional coordinator for the North and Charo doing the same in the south. Life is certainly getting busy for GAFFER and moving along very nicely. James leaves us next week to head back to the UK for a while but will no doubt continue to be a presence in the GAFFER world.

And the Kasigau Champions League is go! the first four matches took place yesterday. James attended Jora Vs Bungule, an age old rivals match. It ended nil nil but was not a game without chances. Both teams played well and I imagine the next time they meet will be quite something.

By all accounts the other matches all went well also and our new referees are performing wonderfuly. They had a nice chance to practice the day before with a youth match between Itinyi and Maungu, a match that also drew but with two goals a piece that time. Next week sees the kick off of the north Zone teams and all the action should be on a league section of this site soon.

A happy day for GAFFER today. James Ruwa has been back from college and fixing footballs for us inbetween bouts of studying hard! He has now fixed all of the footballs that GAFFER has supplied to the villages and teams and they are winging their way back to their respective owners.

Tomorrow James and Mr Mohamed will be running a seminar to train the referees for the new league and have set up a match between the youth teams from Maungu and Itinyi, this promises to be a great day for all. The big day then comes on Sunday when the new Kasigau Champions League begins in earnest with the first four matches! Look out for an update and some pictures from these fixtures very soon.