The Gor Mahia team that started their CECAFA Kagame Cup match at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on July 13, 2018
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 14- The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Executive Committee on Saturday announced that Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia and their head coach Dylan Kerr have been handed two-year Kagame Cup bans.
The club was banned after refusing to pick the third placed bronze medal after beating Zanzibar’s Jeshi la Kujenga Uchumi (JKU) while the coach was handed the two year ban for what CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye termed as ‘continuous’ abuse to match officials’.
“They refused infront of the fans in the stadium and football leadership in the region to pick their medals. We as CECAFA we believe that leadership is about taking charge and making decisions. Whether good or bad, you cannot sit on the edge,” Musonye said in a press briefing on Saturday.
On Kerr’s behavior at the competition; “We have warned The Gor Mahia coach to respect referees and to respect football leaders in the region. He is also banned for two years,” Musonye.
“You can’t say bad things and abuse organizers. Every time he is abusing the referees and these reports have reached us. We have taken this thing very seriously,” he added.
Gor Mahia’s Godfrey Walusimbi in action in the CECAFA Kagame Cup against Tanzanian side Azam. Photo/COURTESY
Musonye further said that K’Ogalo had caused Kenya shame and has urged the Football Kenya Federation to take further action on the club who also reportedly missed out on the prize money.
Gor went to Tanzania with drama rotating all around their heads, the players having staged a go slow before their last Kenyan Premier League match at the Kisumu Stadium. Upon reaching Dar, they rejected the hotel allocated to them by the organizers as it was not up to their standards and looked for their own.
Prior to their semi-final match against Azam which they went on to lose 2-0, the team also refused to use the dressing room. The same happened in 2015 when they faced Azam in the final.
“The organizing committee has looked at how Gor has behaved and as a big team they should have shown good example but unfortunately they have shown a bad example since coming here,” Musonye said in his press briefing.
He added; “We want to have discipline in these competitions. All club leaders and federations should respect the law and put discipline in their clubs. If clubs feel they can’t be touched in their homes, it will not be the same with CECAFA.”
And, in case Gor Mahia go on to win the KPL title, then the second placed team or the winner of the FKF Shield will represent Kenya in next year’s competition which might be held in Tanzania again.
“There’s no chance to appeal. There are some things we can tolerate but not this one. I know some officials who went to beg Gor to come and collect their medals and they refused,” an agitated Musonye further stated.
