By Munene Kamau
Fortune Sacco FC from Kirinyaga County which got an automatic promotion to the National Supper League a few months ago will now start using the Wanguru International stadium for practice and national engagements .
This fortunate development has come about after a weekend presidential directive that this team which has done proud to the county be allowed to train and play at this ultra-modern facility.
While commissioning the Thiba mega dam in the county recently, President William Ruto directed that the keys to the facility be handed over to the area Governor Anne Waiguru immediately.
Waiguru in her address during the occasion told the Head of State how her administration had continuously been frustrated by the just ended regime over the stadium which lies underutilized in Mwea.
“When we wanted to host you for your campaign rally, Your Excellency we were told the stadium was still incomplete yet it had hosted last year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations and we had to shift to an open ground at the nearby Thiba village for the rally,” she told Ruto.
She said even the football team after graduating the premier league standing could hardly get a good play ground to perfect its skills yet the Wanguru one was still lying idle .
Ruto consequently issued the directive that the contractor or those in the Ministry of Sports keeping the facility locked up to deliver the keys to the governor for immediate use of the stadium by the team and other activities related to sports .
According to the 2021- 2022 National Supper League standings, APS Bomet tops the order with 71 points with the Fortune Sacco FC coming second with 69 points.
The team was started in 2011 at the height of the brewing and consumption of illicit liquor in many parts of the country, a trend that threatened the future of the Youth.
According to the team manager Peter Muriithi Fortune Sacco did recognize that most of such Youths from the area were sons of local coffee farmers who formed the Sacco.
Muriithi said most of the team members are from the highly populous informal settlement called Mukinduri village where access to the illicit liquor at the time was easy given the second generation beer was manufactured within the neighbourhood.
“The neighbourhood had three second generation liquor factories which made our youths get intoxicated with the cheap liquor and this made me think outside the box of the quickest method to bail the group out of this captivity,” the official said.
Added Muriithi, “ being a devout Christian , the first thing I did was to assemble several youths I had identified as good soccer players and successfully managed to bring them to church . After the Sunday service we would then retreat to a nearby primary school grounds for friendly matches amongst ourselves”.
Eventually the official said the team became a formidable force and started to attract more youths as the government intensified war against illicit liquor by closing down the three factories nearby.
“As part of our Sacco’s corporate responsibility, we teamed up with NACADA in an effort to stem down many more youths from indulging in drugs and substance consumption hence the foundation of the team which has now graduated to the Premier League in July this year,” the official said.
Muriithi a long serving Sacco employee was instrumental in the team’s formation and development while the Sacco Chairman Kamau Ciira is its Patron.
According to Muriithi, all the members must attend church every Sunday before embarking on any engagement while none of the players takes alcohol hence the high degree of discipline they have exhibited all along to get to the top.
Ciira on the other hand is full of praise to the team for carrying the name of the County and the Sacco high.
The team, Ciira added has continued to exhibit the highest degree of self-discipline as well as in the soccer field courtesy of a committed manager who coincidentally is our long serving employee.
“After the team graduated to its current status, as a Sacco, we were very excited for the massive material investment into it which has translated into a positive and transformative venture of our youths,”Ciira said.
Following this development, Muriithi who was once a team player until he was knocked off after an accident said this is what he has been anticipating all through.
“I am the happiest person after the Saturday presidential directive since the team I have natured since its formation in 2011 will now be having a modern training ground within our county. I promise our team will from now hence forth get to even higher positions in the national soccer standing in future,”Muriithi said.
The team on the other hand is now upbeat that it has found a training ground within its turf and has further promised to do its best out of the presidential gesture.
It has also thanked the Sacco for its continued sponsorship of its matches in and out of the country through which it has gotten this far.
