BY DAVID ONJILI It is not rare that each December holiday football tournaments are organized around the country. Most of them have political undertones, with several politicians being accused of exploiting the rural folk with a tournament where the winners are given balls and poor-quality soccer jerseys branded with the politician’s name. The tournaments have been used by some of them as a brand and marketing tool for their own selfish gains. Conversely, a number of these tournaments, held by either current or aspiring politicians and also ordinary Kenyans have piqued my interest. The record crowds witnessed in some and…
Author: David Onjili
BY DAVID ONJILI Andreas Spier was born in Romania in 1962 but moved to Germany where he has lived most of his life. It is in Germany that he attained his coaching badges, starting from the lowest qualification and ascending to the highest FIFA coaching badge, the UEFA Pro License. Getting the UEFA Pro License from the Sporthochschule Koeln is no mean feat. Each year, thousands of applicants send in their names for consideration and only 25 get admission. Mr Spier got his between the years 2005 and 2006. He started coaching in the 1990s, and between 2000 and 2005…
BY DAVID ONJILI It has been riveting nine episodes of this brilliant and much talked about Netflix documentary. The plot is on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls sports franchise during their glorious NBA domination of the 90s era. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls do not need any introduction to a sports lover. Jordan is a generational athlete whose sway and dominance not just in basketball but world sports is unquantifiable. He enthused sportsmen and women globally to touch great heights and to many, was considered a god. He was so great that his compatriots nicknamed him Black Jesus.…
BY DAVID ONJILI The COVID-19 pandemic has turned upside down what was normal. With an emphasis on people not being in crowds to help curb its spread, education was ultimately going to suffer the most. Schools had to be closed to protect both the learners and teachers. At first, the Ministry of Education courtesy of its Cabinet Secretary, Professor George Magoha issued a statement postponing the schools re-opening by a month. Then, appearing before a parliamentary committee, he observed that as long as children were safe, he was not afraid to have them home longer. This was a clear admission…
A number of players have their contracts ending with their respective clubs in July, and this raises issues especially when the league is extended past July BY DAVID ONJILI The sporting world has come to a grinding halt thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. Nations’ sporting associations reached the verdict to protect the safety of both players and fans as the pandemic engulfed the world claiming thousands of lives, grinding travel to a halt and crippling overwhelming medical services. The financial effects of the virus have not yet been quantified but the ripple effects on the sporting world are self-evident. The…
BY DAVID ONJILI A senior Kenyan politician observed that nobody can stop reggae. He metaphorically meant that nothing was going to interrupt the political plans that he was championing. Yet, the coronavirus pandemic has globally ‘stopped reggae’. The virus has killed thousands, grounded commercial flights, crippled and overwhelmed medical facilities across the globe and continues to render many jobless. Businesses are staring at unprecedented times. Is there a Silver lining? Yes. Get your business online. Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezzos are well known dollar billionaire entrepreneurs who maximized on the internet boom in the early 2000s. Interestingly, with most…
BY DAVID ONJILI In 2017, according to the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) airlines transported an estimated 4.1 billion passengers globally. In the same year, 56 million tonnes of freight were airlifted on 36 million commercial flights. ICAO had projected that by the year 2036 aviation would generate 15.5million direct jobs while adding $1.5trillion to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Factoring in the impact air travel has on tourism, more jobs would be created globally in the same period and more monies added to the global GDP. With such impressive forecasts, the future of aviation has always looked bright…
BY DAVID ONJILI When Barrack Obama assumed office as the 44th President of the USA, he also became the 7th American President to be an alumnus of the Harvard University. This fete enabled the institution to bring its tally to eight of the nation’s chief executives, with Yale University producing five. George W. Bush holds the title for being an alumnus of both. That is the value with which academic institutions worldwide have capitalized on to draw students. Yet, a new era of self-made billionaires has challenged this. So what does the future portend? We must appreciate the fact that…
BY DAVID ONJILI From July 24 to August 9 the world will turn her attention to Tokyo, Japan. This will be the second time that Japan will be hosting the Olympics, since 1964 when they became the first Asian nation to host the event. Kenya has qualified in several sporting disciplines. Miraitowa, which means future and eternity was voted for by Japanese children and will be the games’ mascot. In 1964, Japan hosted one of the most well organized events that the nation used to sell its culture and technology to the world. It is during these Olympics that the…
BY DAVID ONJILI As Edwin Odipo was working on his dissertation; Athletic apparel and pro athletes endorsements while at Northcentral University in Glendale Arizona, U.S.A in 2016, it dawned on him how exploitation was deep rooted in pricing of the sports apparel. It would later fuel his motivation to seek solutions to the prevailing circumstance and launch Over Armour apparel Odipo is a former footballer and captain to the revered soccer powerhouse, Ofafa Jericho High School in Nairobi. He was the team’s captain in 1991 when they beat the Green Commandos of Kakamega High School, Kenya’s other powerhouse in school…