Stars training at risk as FKL and KPL feud

Kenya's Mike Baraza (L) and team mate Makacha Austin battle with Salah Osman of Sudan during a past match. Photo/MOHAMMED AMIN.   By CHARLES NYENDE/NATION MEDIA GROUP Another feud between Football Kenya Limited and Kenyan Premier League threatens to derail the now dwindling hopes of Harambee Stars making it to the World Cup in South Africa and African Cup of Nations in Angola in 2010. At the centre of the current row is a club-versus-country tussle and the perceived aloofness of the current head coach Antoine Hey towards local coaches. Hey, who was appointed in March, stirred up the current fight last week when, on announcing his provisional side, said all the players selected must sign a commitment letter. Included in the commitment was a clause for players to agree that national duties took precedence over club matters. Hey was apparently attempting to stamp his authority guided by hindsight following the walk out of four Mathare United players - on orders from their club - from his previous camp without permission. Disharmony The two Mathare United players he named for the current camp – Edgar Ochieng and Titus Mulama, delayed reporting to allow for their employer to study this commitment letter. But the disharmony between the clubs and the national team had been playing on from another letter. On April 20, KPL, who provide the bulk of national team players, wrote a letter to FKL requesting a discussion on the annual and long term training plans for Harambee Stars. In the letter KPL went ahead to propose their training plan in which they would release their players for a specified number of days for club duty. According to KPL chairman Bob Munro, no response was received from the FKL who instead made their own plans that included the team beginning residential training this week and a two-week camp in German. The German camp has since been cancelled. "Why did FKL fail to consult or propose another plan this year and instead chose to ignore the Fifa rules as well as the best and mutual interest of the national team and its own member clubs," Munro questioned FKL in a letter on Monday. But FKL secretary Sammy Obingo accused KPL of wanting to run Harambee Stars saying the federation had told the clubs that their players will be needed for extra days to prepare for the qualifiers. The result has been an uneasy situation at the camp with the innocent players caught in the middle. A Premiership club official who sits in the board said the Harambee Stars management had resorted to calling individual players directly without passing through their respective clubs. Talking tough Hey has meanwhile been talking tough saying he would axe players who did not toe his line. The two Mathare United players who delayed reporting to camp were the subject of Hey's displeasure. It is instructive that Hey in fact picked only two players from the current KPL champions for Stars upcoming fixture. This is in sharp contrast to the last group phase round of qualifiers when Stars, then under Francis Kimanzi, had seven players from Mathare in the national team. Almost the entire defense, which at one point went through 360 minutes of World Cup qualification action without conceding a single goal, was composed of Mathare players. Only reliable central defender Edgar Ochieng survived. Hey has also left out several deserving players such as Anthony Kimani, Austin Makacha and Jamal Mohammed and also failed to meet the KPL coaches formally or informally. The unwelcome product is a disruptive relationship between the national coach and KPL clubs.