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.

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.

Busy times for GAFFER these last few weeks. Mr Mohamed has officially jined the family and will be adding his unique and fantastic form of football comentary to this site very soon. Ben also paid James a visit at GAFFER HQ for a few weeks.

The league kick off is on May 11th and is shaping up nicely. The fixtures are being prepared for the site as we speak. The captains all convened in Maungu this last week and all is set for another great season. Ben and James then set about visiting pitches and players to ensure all is set.

This looks set to be a great championship and with Mr Mohamed on board things can only look good for football in East Africa!

James has been hard at work for GAFFER visitng the schools and villages we work with. The welcome has been amazing and the kids are all still very active and playing lots of football after school! The men's teams are now hard at work also training for the new league. Fixtures lists are going out today and we have lots of exciting times ahead!

Keep checking back here soon for details of how the league and the youth training is continueing. We are also soon to be putting video content on the site featuring matches from the league!

GAFFER would like to officially welcome a few new people to the family. Ryce, Philip, Gibran, Mohammed and Cyprian are all players for various teams across the villages. They have been previously been helping to coach the kids after schools before playing for their own teams and we are delighted that they have agreed to do this more regularly now. This means we are now starting to have a larger team of people out both teaching football and delivering HIV/Aids lessons in schools.

This is great news for GAFFER and great news for the local youth. These guys are all looked up to as good players and the kids will really benefit from their coaching and experience. It also means lots more football and lots more fun for everyone out here!

The Kasigau Champions league 4 is gearing up nicely and we hope to have a fixtures list up here soon for anyone wishing to follow the progress. The anticipation is high and it looks set to be a fantastic contest. The players are all asked as part of their participation in the league to do some community service also. This is great news for the Kasigau area too because it means more football coaching for the youth and also a good chance to get back to the tree planting and other educational things that GAFFER is involved in helping to benefit the local area.

Hello all. I (James) have now arrived out at GAFFER HQ at Wildlife Works near Maungu. For those that don't know, Kamau, our main man out here, had a motorbike accident just after Christmas last year. He is recovering with his family near Nairobi at the moment and our thoughts and best wishes go out to him.

The football is still on track out here now however! The coaches are all getting back into the schools to look after the youth teams and we are now also beginning the preperations for the Kasigau Champions League 4. There will be full updates and a fixtures list on this site as soon as it is finalised. That about covers it for now but please keep checking back for more information.

On Sunday the 19th of February St Andrews school canteen in Oxford was transformed into a first class restaurant by Ben and his team of enthusiastic helpers. 56 people turned up for a meal chosen from the following menu.

Four big tables were filled and in less than 3 hours Saul, pretty much single handedly, produced 168 plates of food that were ably delivered to the assembled by some brilliant, if inexperienced, waiters. After the meal Ben gave a presentation to the diners about GAFFER and got some great feedback. The event raised over £900 for the GAFFER initiative and was unanimously heralded as a great success by all who were involved.

Ben would like to take this opportunity to thank the following:

Everyone Who Came - You were all fantastic and I'm so glad you enjoyed consuming the cuisine as much as we did preparing it!

Saul Hull - Chef Extraordinaire - Have you ever seen a man with a four foot high flame coming out of a pan in one hand whilst the other hand dextrously drizzles honey & mustard dressing in a perfect circle around a pile of rocket? Well I have! Cheers Saul, from writing a shopping list that would keep us busy for 4 hours in the supermarket to producing 56 covers in 3 hours, you were a star! And congratulations for not swearing at the kitchen staff! (Well, not much anyway!)

Patrick McKenna, Tom Fairfield, Gina Field, Jasmin Levy, Leon Cole and Tom Sell - With no previous kitchen experience you would have all been top of the class in waitering/washing up/not losing your rag school!

Natacha - For selling so many tickets and sorting out the wine for the guests.

Mum & Dad! - For everything...