AFC Leopards: Ours Forever

I promised the editor of the Ingwe Fan fanzine (a magazine by fans) that I’ll do a post about the magazine, the club and my love for both.

That's me holding up my copy of Ingwe Fan

This is the second edition of the magazine and it featured a history of ALL the matches that have ever been played against Gor Mahia, since 1968 when Gor was formed. There are stats from way back then (a lot of research must have gone into this), snippets from newspapers of famous matches etc.

Sample Some

The inaugural match between the two sides was played on Monday May 6th, 1968. I just love this writing:

“William ‘Chege’ Ouma, Gor Mahia’s mercurial leader in attack, blasted two crackerjack second half goals to send reigning National League champions AFC to defeat in this action packed encounter…”

In 1975, Otieno Ndege was arrested by the police because he nearly caused a riot at Nairobi’s City Stadium. Nothing out of the ordinary, except Otieno Ndege was a dove! He was later arraigned before a Nairobi court. Excerpt:

“Otieno Ndege, a bird of no fixed nest, yesterday appeared before a Nairobi court charged with inciting the public to violence during the Kenya Football League match between Gor Mahia and Abaluhya on Sunday.”

Pick up the mag to find out how the story ended!

The magazine has some information about infamous defectors, player profiles, pictures from league matches, quotes from coaches, the club’s kit (home and away), and so much more (to use a cliché)!

There are also dates of the remaining AFC match fixtures that will be played this year!

There are pictures of fans, kid fans, footballers, anything related to AFC, and on that inner page of the last cover, a picture of an Ingwelet ( a female fan). Maybe someday I’ll be the featured one 🙂 I do have a shirt, check it out… only that it’s not printed Savvy at the back, but the next one will. Get yours from Jawamed Store located at the Mezzanine-2 floor, Afya Center, Nairobi; Imbaare Stores at Kawangware; Buru Buru Tens in Eastlands and Pitson Grill in Langata next to Uchumi Supermarkets.

That's my AFC shirt right there

To finish off, lemme quote the editor:

“In this issue, we trace the history of our rivals (Gor) in an age when MOST journalists spend oodles of time talking about the English Premier League. “ If you’re a journalist who falls in this category, be ashamed!

“We fill our pubs while they fill their stadia” (English Premier League).

The editor says it’s ok to watch the EPL and other leagues, but we must not forget our own local teams just because they have been going through tough times- bad leadership, bad results, unmotivated players, brokenness.. even Sir Alex Ferguson says:

“Success in football comes and goes. … Real fans stick with their teams through thick and thin. It’s not just about winning, it’s about loyalty.”

You should be ashamed if you keep saying “Arsenal damu!” “Man-U damu” and you don’t even know who won the Kenyan Premier League last season. Let us develop our own league.

AFC Leopards. Ours Forever.

Here is the AFC Leopards website: afcleopards.net

Recommended Reading to catch up on the local football scene:

Kenyanfootie.com
Sportskenya.blogspot.com Follow on twitter @sportskenya

On Sunday, AFC Leopards lost to Gor Mahia 3-1. A moment of silence.