Marked for Peter Olunga
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Jul 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Kakamega Homeboyz did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Derrick Otanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
98% of the income goes out in wages at Kakamega Homeboyz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 7.11. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
A brace, and Oliver Machaka takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oliver Machaka provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match1 Jul 2028
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Brian Opondo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ya'zen Bababodi and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matala Makhubo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 May 2028
Denis Iguma in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Charles Momanyi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad29 May 2028
Joshua Nyatini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Match27 May 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Tusker will be the happier side with the point.
Market29 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Boniface Omondi signs something — a contract at Kakamega Homeboyz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market29 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Salim Murunga may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Kakamega Homeboyz are no longer polite ones.
Market1 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Brian Opondo gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match29 Apr 2028
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad1 May 2028
Matala Makhubo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 May 2028
Joshua Nyatini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Charles Momanyi out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kakamega Homeboyz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Brian Opondo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match1 Apr 2028
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 Apr 2028
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.92 on the card, and the Kakamega Homeboyz support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Kakamega Homeboyz lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Charles Momanyi out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kakamega Homeboyz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market6 Mar 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Boniface Omondi and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Amos Mwendwa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Charles Momanyi out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kakamega Homeboyz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Oliver Machaka
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Machaka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Joshua Nyatini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Peter Thiong'o was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kakamega Homeboyz, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matala Makhubo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eric Masika and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Charles Momanyi out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kakamega Homeboyz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market7 Feb 2028
Peter Olunga hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A move Toprak Bayar would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Toprak Bayar is living that version at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market7 Feb 2028
Add another name to the list: Sofapaka have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oliver Machaka. The answer from Kakamega Homeboyz has not changed — yet.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Feb 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Moses Wanyama is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Charles Momanyi out for 98 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kakamega Homeboyz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market17 Jan 2028
Mara Sugar are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Kakamega Homeboyz will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matala Makhubo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Charles Momanyi out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kakamega Homeboyz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Jan 2028
Position 2 and 68 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Kakamega Homeboyz will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market3 Jan 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Denis Iguma in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 142 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Dec 2027
Position 2 and 68 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market6 Dec 2027
Peter Olunga hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Matala Makhubo in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Nov 2027
68 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market8 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Nov 2027
Eric Rupia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kakamega Homeboyz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Brian Opondo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Kakamega Homeboyz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad8 Nov 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Oct 2027
Position 2 and 68 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market11 Oct 2027
Peter Olunga hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Joshua Nyatini falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kakamega Homeboyz told Gédéon Muyadi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Sep 2027
A 1‑0 win over Bandari, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match13 Sep 2027
Position 3, 62 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match11 Sep 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market13 Sep 2027
Peter Olunga hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 Sep 2027
Eric Rupia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kakamega Homeboyz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A goal and an assist for Boniface Omondi — 7.89
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.89 beside his name.
Squad13 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A move John Lawal would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. John Lawal is living that version at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it tends to show in the first month.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mathare United can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Mathare United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alassane Coulibaly is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Klinsman Omulanga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Brian Ndenga
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.