Shame Of Beach Soccer In Malindi.
Malindi beach soccer teams have made a passionate appeal to the Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to intervene and root out cartels who were ruining the sport.
The players and team officials said cartels were taking advantage of the youth to squander money during tournaments sponsored by the government which was not fair.
Beach soccer is emerging as a key sport in the country and some of the players in Malindi have been selected to represent national teams in Ghana and Tanzania but were reportedly given only Sh. 1500 after the games.
The beach soccer which has for years been played at the Malindi beach front not only promotes soccer but helps in preventing youths from getting into drugs and other irresponsible behaviors.
They said trouble started after they were evicted from the Buntuani beach football pitch and forced to set up their own ground after the management of Buntuani waterfront park claimed the area was meant for tourists.
Their concern is that whenever there are tournaments, cartels take over the task at their expense and take advantage of the youth to control all the funds allocated leaving them with just a small amount of cash that cannot sustain them.
Jamaal Hassan the Organizing Secretary of Malindi Talent Beach soccer said they are the founders of two beach football pitches at the Beach front, one which he now said has been turned into a park for private business.
Speaking at the Baobab beach soccer grounds he said for years they were playing beach soccer at the now Waterfront park but when the project kicked off it became a private property and the ground only is opened when there are tournaments.
“We had to come and set up another beach ground with the help of the area MP who financed the development of the ground and sponsored two tournaments,” he said, adding that CS Aisha Jumwa also came to their Aid in the development of the new beach soccer round.
He said they have so far done seven tournaments in the last six months.
Hassan said the aim of setting up the football pitches is to prevent youths from engaging in drugs and whenever they organize tournaments, they call in the police to come and advise the youth.
For the last six months, he said there are five youths who were hooked on drugs but have now quit and are concentrating on sport.
“There are 10 youths who had dropped out of school but after engaging them and counseling them they returned to classes. We urge you, our president Wiliam Ruto and all those involved in sports to intervene and bring sanity to the game,” he said.
He called on the relevant authority to consider the youth with bursaries and give them a chance to go and join TVET institutions.
Hassan said the ground was used by three sub counties including Kilifi North, Magarini and Malindi.
Salah Ali the Chairman of Malindi Talent Beach soccer said the County and National Government are not aware of the injustices being done in the beach soccer.
He said at the county level whenever tournaments for inter counties beach soccer are arranged, the authorities do not come to the ground to consult the management of the teams but the funding are allocated to cartels who do not even know football who end up mistreating the players.
“Why should beach soccer funds be given to tycoons, the CEC member for Sports in Kilifi should intervene because after the tournaments the tycoons leave the management of the teams to us,” he said.
Ali said it is sad that whenever the players go to national and international tournaments it’s the cartels who get a lot of money and leave the youth with mere Sh. 1000.
He appealed to the Government to intervene as the cartels are many in Malindi and Mombasa despite the fact that there is a lot of funding for beach football in the country.
The Chairman said their ground should be the one to select the national team and not any other as it will be controlled by cartels.
Suleiman Mutari, a beach soccer player, said they are happy to see the revival of beach soccer as they were very idle and lacked any support from the leadership.
He said without beach soccer it’s very easy for youth to be engaged in drug abuse, crime which is a challenge.
“If given a chance we are able to go far, we can meet with international players even from Brazil,” said Mutari.
Ali Zacharia, a beach soccer player said they are faced with many challenges from being chased from the Buntuani beach football ground to the new ground.
“In the last one year when there was no pitch we were hooked into drug abuse but now that the ground is ready we have quit,” he said.
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