KAIKAI’S KICKER: Cheer Arsenal, remember Shabana!

That was unmistakable passion and commitment; without a doubt, Arsenal fans love the club. Similarly, Kenyans who don’t like Arsenal, love other clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and few other English teams below that. Arsenal fans know them for the United Alternative Haters they were last weekend as Arsenal missed out on the European Champions League title by a miserable two penalty misses. Rival fans, they call them haters, jubilated for one reason – they survived the prospect of some real consequential noise associated with Arsenal.

With the pro and anti Arsenal celebrations seemingly dying down, I couldn’t help looking back and wondering – what was all that about? Did Kenyans just stage one of the biggest parades ever in the nation’s sporting history? Oo that sea of red and white on Kenyatta Avenue! Wow, what a spectacle! I love Arsenal, but deep down there was something unsettling about this our great moment of joy… something hollow and empty about the entire thrilling chase… the thrill of chasing the storm was over and that after-taste of nothingness… utter emptiness… Yes, I am talking about my own experience, so don’t get annoyed …

That crest of glory slowly gives way to the reality that there is some great distance between the National Archives monument in Nairobi and the Emirates Stadium in London. For 140 years, the hard work of the people of north London built Arsenal into the celebrated club it is today. From a community club to an international brand worshipped in Kenya and other places, they built it with hard work and I dare add, a great dose of self-love.

My mind then wondered – anything Kenyan about Arsenal? Nothing! Not a single professional player ever, not in the reserves team and even a single ball-boy- just lots of proud, emblem-kissing Kenyan fans. My thoughts drifted back to the Tom Mboya monument on Moi Avenue, and I remember this is where we display anything close to the passion reserved for Arsenal. Yes, I am a fan of Gor Mahia – I am at home with the great Green Army; the only Kenyan club to ever win a continental title even if nearly 40 years ago! But yes, Gor Mahia fans and their AFC Leopards rivals have at times shown as what samples of self-love look like.

My thoughts drifted again… We are the greatest nation in athletics; yes we always run people out of town and break records which we ourselves set in the first place. By just a casual count, we currently hold at least seven world records including Sebastian Sawe’s London Marathon record, yes Arsenal’s London Marathon record… Then I imagined that sea of passion on the streets of Nairobi…and how I wish passion was transferable! There is something so great about our own – whether it is Sawe or Shabana..