In Ahero, football, for us teenagers, was not just a game where 22 people chased after a ball for 90 minutes, it was more than that.
It was more important than our primary school education. We would readily miss school just to remain in the estate playing football. It was more important than our families.
We would run away from our homes just to go and play football in faraway lands. Sometimes we would even spend several nights in places unknown to our parents.
Football, for us, was far more important than food. During weekends, we would hold competitions. During such days, we would leave our homes after taking breakfast, only to return late in the evening.
We would not bother to go back for lunch. We would miss going to church on Sundays just to play football.We become slaves to football.
We changed our nationality because of football. I was no longer a Kenyan going by the name Daniel. I had become a Brazilian going by the name Leonardo.
My younger brother changed his name from Jacob to Rivaldo. Calvin Rabb, nicknamed “Oile” even dropped all his names to officially become Bebeto. Robert Wangila became Roberto Carlos and Shem was baptized Denilson.
Jared, our goalkeeper, was given the name Cafu while Otieno, our captain, automatically took the name Dunga. In short, we took over the names of the entire squad which made up the Brazilian national team during the 1998 World Cup games.
We copied the way the Brazilian team played. At some point, we even thought we were playing better than them. We approached a certain youthful medical doctor who was newly posted to practice at Ahero Sub-District Hospital to become our Coach. He agreed.
He even brought us a real ball and so we stopped playing with balls made of polythene paper bags and stitched with sisal thread. Using mud, we molded for ourselves a “World Cup.” We then invited other youthful football teams in and around Ahero to compete for this trophy.
There were many such youthful teams in and around Ahero. Our team was called,” Kambi Football Club.” There was Tura FC, Kochogo FC, Ahero town FC, Boya FC, Ayweyo FC, Masogo FC, Kobura FC, Miwani FC, Namba Okana FC, Korowe FC,Homeboyz FC, Kakola FC, Panadol FC and many others.
Most of the competitions would be played in our estate. This is because we had three good fields. There were two fields within the Nurses’ compound which we took as officially ours. Then there was this other field located within the court premises which we also claimed its ownership.
Competitions in town Centre were taken to Karanda Primary school football field.When our team had a game at Karanda Primary school, we did not go all the way round to follow the famous Ahero Bridge.
We just swam across River Nyando and within minutes we were on the other side. After the game, we would swim again to get back to our estate.
The problem with playing with Ahero town FC was that they did not accept defeat. When they see that things are not working for them, they disrupt the game. They would start a fight. They would chase us all the way to the banks of River Nyando.
It was for this reason that we had to select only those who knew how to swim well to go and face Ahero town FC. The chase would sometimes turn ugly. Some of our players would be caught and beaten to near death. Or they would be forced to drink the brown, dirty water of River Nyando.
To avoid this humiliation, we came up with a plan. We sought the protection of our elder brother and his age mates. Around eight or ten of them would escort us to wherever we went to play. Their work was to provide security for us.
And so when one of the Ahero town FC player chased me and caught up with me in the middle of the River and attempted to drown me, my elder brother dived like a Dolphin and caught him by the neck.
At the same time, it happens that some dry animal wastes were floating on the surface of the water where we were. I remember seeing my brother grabbing some of the wastes and shoving them into his mouth. That was the last day we ever played Ahero town FC.