Friendly to raise funds for U19 team
This Saturday, the Gor Mahia senior side will play yet another friendly against their junior counterparts at the City stadium. The match kicks off at 3pm.
The match will be used to raise funds for the junior side which finished atop the standings in the Nairobi county league and are preparing for Provincial League promotion play offs against winners of other zones. There are no league matches this weekend since this is a FIFA calendar designated week for international matches.
Secretary General Chris Omondi has challenged the club’s fan base to attend the match to support the U19 team.
We call upon loyal fans of the club to turn up in large number and witness what the club is up to in terms of identifying and nurturing young talent as feeder systems to the senior team and to assist the juniors meet some of their financial obligations, he said to the club’s site
Entry fees will be KES 200 for all entry points
Whereas we often critique the EC for various mis-steps, they deserve credit for taking steps to maintain the U19 team at a time when virtually no other KPL side has a standing U19 team. And of course the Gor Mahia fans foundation deserves significant credit for the steps they have taken to maintain the U19 team. This is a chance for other fans to join in.
And this is a chance for fans to go and evaluate the upcoming talent and find out which ones are good enough to be promoted to the senior team next season. And coach Frank Nuttall will be there to see which players he can use in the near future.
The mark of a good youth program is not how many games they win but whether or not they are producing players who are good enough to play at the next level. And this is how the current coaching staff should be judged.
I will attend and bring four other fans…count Kshs.1000 for this worthy course. Keep it up.
Co-operative SACCO is the way forward since SACCOS have lots of benefits to members.
We at Gor Mahia do not need to reinvent a wheel….we just need to increase the size of the wheel. Let us all support SACCO model.
Please read this article below. It is a well articulated article that can help our EC and fans to think outside the box.
Report backs co-op solution for crisis clubs
Article by Co-operative News
FOOTBALL clubs could overcome many of their financial difficulties by embracing community ownership as a mechanism for delivering long-term stability, according to a new report from the Co-operative Party think-tank, Mutuo.
Writing in Back Home*, Dr Christine Oughton, Director of the Football Governance Research Centre at the University of London, argues that the current financial crisis in football has exposed the weakness of the traditional company model, which is often over-reliant on the financial support of a small group of people, and that community ownership could provide a more sustainable business model for clubs.
The report suggests that clubs should consider adopting the ownership model, a form of co-operative society developed by Mutuo.
This would offer membership to a wider range of stakeholders including fans, local businesses and other parties with an interest in the health of the club, and thus attract greater, and more secure, investment.
The report also provides examples of the possibilities that exist for transforming stadia into hubs for activities such as other sports, education, music, enterprise and healthcare.
Mutuality is not new in football. Clubs including Arsenal, Leicester City and Manchester United originated as membership organisations rooted in their local communities. And more recently Supporters’ Trusts, which give fans a collective say in how their clubs are run, have sprung up in clubs at all levels throughout Britain.
Mutuo’s Director Peter Hunt (pictured) says: `The experience of many clubs recently is that when times are tough it is the local community who are the only ones prepared to dig deep and support the club financially.
`It is the local supporters who are helping and saving many clubs in their current financial peril, but the need to please shareholders and the markets has meant that the fans and the local community, the bedrock of a sustainable club, are too often marginalised.`
Added Mr Hunt: `Clubs would benefit enormously from adopting a business model which harnesses community commitment more effectively.`
Clubs such as Macclesfield Town and Brentford have already taken a lead in using their stadia more widely to raise revenue.
Dr Christine Oughton comments: `Clubs must enlist the support of whole communities if they are to transform themselves and survive. Even if they do not decide to become fully mutual, they can widen their appeal and increase their revenue stream by making better use of their stadia, which are often in locations of great need and crying out for improved facilities.
`Developing them into centres providing cultural, sporting and educational services would provide employment, help boost loyalty to the club – and bring in revenue from sources not normally associated with football.`
Allowing football clubs to be set up as mutuals requires a change in the Football Association’s rules. However, the current legislation was designed to prevent clubs being run as unincorporated bodies rather than as a deliberate barrier to mutuality, and could be amended without difficulty.
*Back Home: Returning football clubs to their communities by Dr Christine Oughton, Cliff Mills of Cobbetts Solicitors, Malcolm McClean of Community Action Network and Peter Hunt, is available from e.harrison@mutuo.co.uk or 77 Weston Street, London SE1 3SD, price £ 10.
Another excellent article below:-
Andy Burnham: Co-ops can give football back to community
United KingdomUNITED KINGDOM
Article by Anca Voinea
3 July 2013
Co-operatives have helped to reconnect football with communities, according to former Sports minister Andy Burnham.
Mr Burnham, the MP for Leigh, told delegates at the annual Supporters Direct Summit that co-operative values are growing in the game. He said: “I am here today because I have a huge affection for this organisation, spreading those co-op values into our national game, reconnecting football with its roots and I want to see the co-op principles grow in football.”
The Summit, co-organised by the Football Supporters Federation, attracted over a hundred delegates from supporters trusts around the UK and Europe to the Football Association’s national centre in Burton-upon-Trent. Delegates discussed football finance, fan engagement, community right to bid, sustainability, transparency, asset protection and homophobia in football.
Calling for a solution to the growing imbalance in football ownership, Mr Burnham said co-operatives could be key to tackling this problem: “We need to see clubs owned by their fans, not by random individuals from around the world. We want clubs that know their communities, are in touch with their communities and are run in the interest of their supporters.”
During his keynote speech, Mr Burnham said he welcomed ideas about the way in which the situation can be changed adding that these could also be included in Labour Party’s manifesto for the next general election. He said that public policy is needed to support this initiative and added: “When elites run the club themselves they rarely take decisions that benefit the communities.”
The former Chair of Supporters Direct, also reflected how the organisation has helped to promote co-operative values and principles in football. He said: “I am here today because I have a huge affection for this organisation, spreading those co-op values into our national game, reconnecting football with its roots and I want to see the co-op principles grow in football.”
Mr Burnham also referred to this year’s Champions League Final, which had two co-operatives competing. He said the co-op model is one that could go all the way to the top: “It would be very difficult to turn Arsenal or Manchester United into a co-op overnight, but this is a long game. We are saying that over the course of time, the rest of the century, clubs will need to be returned to their supporters. And co-ops are built for the long term.”
Mr Burnham added that co-operatives can help to separate public interest from financial interests, particularly when public interest is at stake. “I think football needs to go through a Leveson moment and it needs to separate the rest of interests from the interest of the running of the national game, but I think the media too needs to go through a similar process.”
He added that the Leveson Inquiry could provide a model for football reform, calling for an independent regulator backed by the Parliament. He commented: “Surely this is the right way to go. If it is good enough for the press, it is good enough for football. I want a strong FA to run the game in the interest of all of us.”
Great Mwakio. That was an objective reading, followed by an enthusiatic availing of first class info.
I hope that the concerned bloggers (and others) have now been educated.
All I can add once again is that there must be TANGIBLE benefits that accompany the obiligation(financial) of being a co-op member. E.g discounted tickets/merchandize, special vantage/safe sitting areas, priviledged access to home matches in addition to voting rights etc. Do this demand for GMFC membership will skyrocket…
…especially if its within the affordable range of 250-500/month.
Currently the only time there is a distinction btw a fan & a member is when its time to elect the likes of Amina Ferrari once every 2 years. So it makes more economic sense to remain a fan.
Btw in my view Admin. is right to bring to light any public negative behaviour particularly when an EC behaves like a hooligan during our matches.
Kudos U19 team with a co-op am sure this noble effort would be more supported.
These guys talk from European perspective and therefore all this SACCO models are from Europe, where is an example from africa or even much closer Asia or South America ? Are these two completely different environments………sounds like we are comparing pineapples and oranges!
@Jakoyo, Co-operative SACCOSs have been successful in Kenya. What is just needed is to transform football clubs into SACCOS models and the current financial crisis in clubs will be a thing of the past.
Most successful business men and professionals do learn from global successful models and case studies. This is why I had posted that we as Gor Mahia do not need to reinvent a wheel.
Germany and Spain models have been successful with clubs in those countries winning several accolades. Look at the match attendance in Germany and Spain matches.
@Jakoyo may be you can give suggestions and the best way forward. This is just brain-storming session.
I do agree and concur with @Oduor12 comments in this matter. Let us also get view from other bloggers too.
What is the difference between this model and the normal club membership e.g. Parklands, Karen etc. In these clubs you get subsidised drinks/food, merchandise etc. So I have a feeling that we are talking of membership which we currently have with the Chase Bank initiative. What is missing on the Chase Bank issue is the benefits to the members or whether we can have different levels e..g. gold, platinum, silver and ivory with different benefits.
As much as i know of a SACCO the members get personal benefits for personal growth. Though I could be wrong.
But like @Jakoyo has pointed out looks like the concept of SACCO as we know it is (could be) different from one environment to the other
@Dan Original, the concepts of SACCOs are universally the same thought the world. The concepts and principles are the same as guided by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).
There are several privileges and benefits that accrue to members in the form of discounted tickets prices, discounted merchandises, ownership, special privileges & rights, etc
Read this article below though it is long but read read:-
The goal of sport co-operatives
Team games have always been about co-operation – working together for a common goal (in many sports, quite literally) on the field, the pitch or the race track.
Traditionally, co-operative organisations have encouraged members to participate in sport by providing funding and facilities. These opportunities for leisure activities enhanced the lives of members and furthered community cohesion, and this is still the case today.
Sport in co-ops really rose to prominence in the 1930s. The membership of UK co-operative societies rose from 4.1 million in 1919 to 8.5 million in 1939, creating communities that worked together to provide education and training that expanded to include sports and culture.
In his 1989 study Sport, Politics and the Working Class, Stephen G Jones recognised that, by the 1930s, “many societies had their own sports clubs and teams, some with grand amenities”.
The Longsight Printing Works, for example, had cricket, swimming and tennis clubs; the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Boot and Shoe Department had football and cricket clubs; the Reading Works had a ladies gymnasium class; and across the country, women had formed their own cricket, hockey and netball teams.
In 1929, the CWS granted £10,000 towards the purchasing of sports facilities, and grounds were established in Birmingham, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester and elsewhere. “By 1932,” wrote Mr Jones, “the London Co-operative Society Employees Sports Club had 6,900 members, a fine ground at Chingford, and accommodation for many sports.
“Co-operation was very active in the sports field, a clear instance for proletarian sociability and creativity.”
Co-operative society members are still active in sports today – just this month, employees from 113 Midcounties food stores in Gloucestershire helped raise over £22,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust through a county-wide five-a-side football tournament. Now, however, there are also teams who take co-operative sport further and are themselves co-operatives – community benefit societies, industrial and provident societies or charities.
Some of these sport co-ops are well-documented, such as the fan-owned Barcelona and Real Madrid football clubs, but there are plenty of others to explore across the professional sporting spectrum.
Football is an obvious example, with the issue of fan ownership regularly making the headlines. Last year, Supporters Direct helped save Portsmouth football club from liquidation after a restructuring that saw the Pompey Supporters Trust become 51% shareholders, while in 2011, AFC Wimbledon was formed by supporters on the back of Wimbledon FC’s relocation to Milton Keynes.
Owned by the Dons Trust, AFC Wimbledon is an industrial and provident society run under one member, one vote, which works closely with the local community. The club is “collectively created, owned and run by its fans,” said founding chairman Kris Stewart at the time of its creation. “In everything we do, we strive to provide the very best football club we can, recognising that were it not for our fans we would not be here – and without them, there would be no point being here anyway.”
Fan-ownership is a popular structure in Germany (where majority control of a club by a single entity is not permitted) and Spain, but this isn’t just a European phenomenon. It is also common in South America; in Uruguay, for example, 11 of the 16 teams in the country’s Primera División are owned by the fans. In Japan, there is even a third division club, Fujieda MYFC, funded by online subscribers.
The fan ownership model has successfully been used to set up the UK’s first and only co-operative American football club, Hastings Conquerors. The club was created, says founder and chairman Chris Chillingworth, “in response to a worrying increase in the number of clubs which are poorly run and which have an agenda not in line with those that support the club”.
In the United States, American football franchise the Green Bay Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned professional sports team in the country’s major leagues. But in baseball, below the top flight, there are a plethora of minor league co-operative teams that are affiliated with major league clubs, acting as feeder clubs and preparing players for the majors.
The Rochester Red Wings triple-A baseball team is the top minor league affiliate of the major league’s Minnesota Twins; in 1956, the club was put up for sale, but was saved by the formation of Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. (RCB) which successfully sold shares to raise money to buy the club and stadium. RCB, composed of fans of the team as shareholders, continues to own and operate the club to this day.
The Rochester Redwings baseball franchise is owned and operated by fans of the team as shareholdersThe Rochester Redwings baseball franchise is owned and operated by fans of the team as shareholders.
And other sports? In Canada, the Kitchener Rangers is a publicly owned junior ice hockey team that is governed by a 40-strong board of directors made up of season ticket subscribers, and both in the UK and further afield, there is a significant number of co-operative cricket clubs – including Surrey CCC.
Historically, co-operatives have also been involved in sporting events, teams and individual athletes through sponsorship (see right), but the connection between sport and co-ops remains one that is firmly embedded in a desire to enhance the lives of members and local communities.
Like all co-operatives, sport co-ops exist to serve their members, whether in this case they are the participants, fans, ticket holders or shareholders. And because they are driven by values over profit, co-op sporting successes benefit more than just the winners.
Benefits are shared with members and communities through lower ticket prices, community sporting events and charitable works – or simply keeping sport participation and attendance geographically and financially within reach of all members of society.
@ ‘Mwakio P , it is clear and now let me put it into kenyan perspective…..what will it take to have gor mahia SACCO under the existing cooperative societies Act (. Cap 490) of the laws of Kenya? I think let’s take the debate to this !
Just a quick glance at the cooperative act, I think no kogallo EC would want to be subjected to such accounting and audit rigor!!!!! Cooperative would therefore bring transparency to the club but will it deliver on the objective ? ……..am not sure about that since chase membership drive only garnered 2000 people for cooperative to work you will be looking at over 1,000,000 plus people.
The other contentious issue is whether this SACCO is for profit. Declaration and payment of bonus will be the bone of contention here………we literally have to assume that gor mahia is an investment club and therefore they have to give members a return either financially or non financially…..can they do that ?
Lastly, if it doable, why is the EC so reluctant to implement it! Politics ?
I am headed to City to watch the next generation. I cant wait to see which of these youngstars will graduate to the senior team. It reminds me of back when I watched Allan Odhiambo play mitaani. I remember telling people, this chap should play for Gor Mahia. He is brilliant. A year later he was in the Gor Mahia starting line-up.
My thinking…..let’s graciously enroll for chase membership drive once we have hit a figure of say 100,000 people we can put up a case for SACCO…..perhaps the chase membership drive can be scaled up into a SACCO in the future
@Jakoyo, yes Co-operative SACCOS are subjected to rigorous checks and balances by the regulator which is SASRA. This will in deed help us to embrace the good principles of corporate governance in running our club affairs.
However, there is no law that can restrict the formation of Gor Mahia SACCO. In order to go around the law, legally we can have a holding company or investment company being established to circumvent the rigorous requirements of the SASRA. The most important point to note is that SASRA regulations are good for instilling self discipline and putting all governance structures in place for posterity of the club.
How many members can we start the SACCO with for the time being?
The governance of football is problematic, I think it’s fair to say. We are working on all sorts of ways to try to make it less elaborate and less problematic – but a good thing to start for change would be to have much more involvement from supporters in our clubs and the overall governance of the game.
A main challenge for supporters trusts is getting proper resources to do their work. Moreover, some clubs do not officially recognise supporters groups and don’t give them much influence on decision-making. To address this, we need to start thinking of supporters trusts, supporting them with fundraising, and helping cut costs and create economies of scale.
I think the success of clubs overseas like Bayern Munich and Barcelona can point to the fact that supporter-owned clubs can indeed be incredibly successful. We don’t have to have an enormously rich person with their hand on the tiller as well as their hand in the till dominating the club, in order for it to be successful.
So the model of ownership which we are seeing in Spain, Germany and Argentina and other places around the world does prove that now could well be the time for more clubs to become supporter-owned. It is thinking outside the box to make things work.
Aaaaah! @ Mwakio P, SACCO comes with a capital requirements!!! then it means we can start a gor mahia investment club even without involving the EC…………the Club can then invest in the football club ( not the other way round as I was made to think!,) and expect accountability and returns from the EC ……..gradually the investment club once it has achieved a mass and capital base, it can register as a SACCO. Perfect, just perfect !!!!
Am ready to commit my time and resources on this ….reach me ….mafafrique@gmail.com we plot the way !
@Jakoyo, these can be started concurrently. You do not need capital to start. What is required is the registration and get as many willing and committed members as possible. If we can start with even 50 committed lieutenants, we will be home and dry.
I think club has already registered a SACCO. We just need a little bit of restructuring and see how the holding company can come in.
EC should market such initiatives so that members can join in large numbers.
I said b4 this I million figure is wishful thinking.
You simply need 15K members each paying 300/month 2 raise kshs. 54M for K’galo or 10K members each paying 500/month 2 raise Kshs.60M.
Let the amounts be payable 1/4 in advance. A success rate of 50% means GM still raises Kshs.27M or 30 respectively.
300bob per month translates to 10bob per day.
Allocate membership on a first come basis with a ceiling of 20,000 & a couple of years down the line when GM is winning titles & the TANGIBLE…..
…are there for all too see & feel then the economics e.g trading in shares can set in to benefit the pioneers.
Word of caution members collectively providing the club with such funding must own the club fully or substantially. Forget investment arm etc whereby members pump money into the club whose affairs are controlled by an EC. Btw nothing stops an entity registering and operating under the strongly enforced cooperative laws with special resolutions on how profits if any are to be treated.
A healthy debate indeed, how i wish the EC got a glimpse of these.
Personally i support the idea of sacco because it will enhance accountability and give this club some sort of identity or ownership.
As it is today, gor is an armophous entity without a clear owner. That is why it is looted left right and center without fear of law catching up with anyone. You cant loot what belongs to you.
That is why land that was given to it has remained undeveloped for all these years. Who doesnt know that land is one of the most valued assets in this country or anywhere in the world.
All those ownership claims are just a by the way because there is no strong legal framework support and protect the club and for that reason the club becomes an avenue for selfish intrest.
Fans ought to register in large numbers as members to help transform this club into a profitable organization that would be self sustaining.
How did the sibling’s friendly go?Detailed update please.
The senior team won 1-0 courtesy of Eric’s goal. I hope they will not be castigated by winning only 1-0
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Ingo stop posting nonsense in this site.
Omwami Ingo is this your portrait or that of papa Walubengo? Is this the reason you went underground despite bloggers’ demands that you present yourself? So this is what you have been engineering all this time that you were away?
@ingo, why is your team bearing to go to Awendo. Losing is part of the game and they shouldn’t fear. I hear they want to concentrate on the shield which they might also miss
Dan…Chui hatambui ni nyasi gani swara amejicha. We like to do things the professional way and not jua kali style