Lack of standard stadia hampering sports growth in Vihiga County

Lack of standard stadia hampering sports growth in Vihiga County

The lack of a standard stadium in Vihiga County has been cited as a major challenge moreso to the growth of talents and to the county teams such as Vihiga United and Vihiga Queens.

The two teams compete in the country’s top-tier leagues with United earning re-admission to the FKF Premier League while the Queens are the champions of the Women Premier League.

And with  lack of a standard pitch in the county, the two teams have been forced to adopt the Mumias Sports Complex in the neighbouring Kakamega County as their home ground.

And as measures to address the problem, the county allocated funds for the refurbishment of Kidundu sports ground but even as the year comes to an end, nothing has come of the project.

Benbella Lavisa, the assistant head coach of Vihiga Sportiff, a team which features in FKF Division Two League has urged the county to rehabilitate some playing grounds in the county to help local teams.

Apart from Vihiga Queens and Vihiga United, other teams in the region include National Super League side Vihiga Bullets  and Luanda Villa.

Lavisa notes that with lack of a proper sports stadium, the three teams and those participating in the lower tier leagues have been forced to train in turns at Kidundu grounds despite its poor state.

“I’m urging the County Government to set aside funds to rehabilitate some of these fields and build a stadium that these teams can use,” Lavisa advised, adding that young people with so much talent are wasting away due to lack of quality pitches.

“We have many football clubs in Vihiga, and these teams are marketing the county in so many ways,” he concluded.

County Sports Secretary Felistas Okumu Baraza said she could not divulge how much had been allocated for rehabilitation of stadia during this financial year since the budget had not been uploaded to the system despite the country assembly having approved the supplementary budget early this month.

Report by Olivia Musavwa

Tags:

sports Vihiga United vihiga county Vihiga Queens stadia Benbella Lavisa Felistas Okumu Baraza

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