Football African Style.Most football teams pray before a match to seek divine intervention for victory but in most
cases, superstitions and rituals go hand with the game of football.
However, in the recent years, belief in witchcraft by teams is widespread not only in the country but also globally.
In some countries, teams carrying with them witchdoctors whenever they have a crucial match have become a national issue.
In Coast Province and especially Likoni, juju men have been making lucrative business as teams seek their services ahead of the District and Provincial leagues as well as tournaments.
Many teams from South Coast have a history of hiring services of magicians to help them win crucial matches while some playgrounds are said to be no win zones.
Bomani playground in particular has been a bad hunting ground for visiting sides.
Even the once invincible and mighty Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards who had hitherto never known defeat during their heydays were brought down to earth at Bomani.
The two former powerhouses used to play a combined Likoni side when they travelled to Mombasa for Super league against ties against coastal sides Mwenge, Feisal and Bandari.
After a Super league match at the Mombasa Municipal Stadium on a Saturday, the teams used to play a friendly match at Bomani to boost gate collections.
Bomani ground would be packed to capacity as fans thronged the venue to watch the football giants take on their local lads.
Interestingly, despite Gor or AFC humiliating their Super league sides at Mombasa stadium, none of the two teams managed to beat the makeshift combined team in the friendly matches.
juju men
To most people during the 1980s and late 1990s, Gor and AFC were unbeatable and it remained a mystery how the Likoni Combined outfit kept winning against the giants.
In Likoni, juju men are popularly referred to as Baabu (grand old man) by the predominantly superstitious Digo community.
The Digo football teams especially those, which use Bomani ground believe that Baabu possess the magic power to assist a team win titles once he administers his magic on players.
Coast Stars
However, Harambee Stars and under 17 and 20 Team Manager Hussein Terry says witchdoctors only convince those with little faith and confidence.
"Whenever the national junior team was playing a major match, I used to spend more time emphasising on proper preparation and being physically fit and not seeking services of juju men," Terry said.
"I am a staunch Muslim believer and cannot be swayed to believe in witchcraft. I have won crucial matches with the national junior team and Coast Stars without seeking ‘super powers’ from any witchdoctor," he said.
He remembers the 2005 President’s Cup when Coast Stars had a quarterfinal match with Mathare United.
He says some team officials approached him to visit a witchdoctor at a certain forest in Coast province to enable them win.
Terry said he threatened to quit as team manager if they dared visit a juju man and Coast Stars drew 0-0 in the first leg tie played in Nairobi.
In the return match at the Mombasa Municipal Stadium, Terry says his team, without the powers of juju beat Mathare 1-0 to qualify for the semi-finals where they lost to Tusker.
"Witchcraft is common in sports not only football but those who seek services of juju men to gain an edge end up miserably at the end of the day," Terry said.
"I used to be under pressure from prominent fans to accept the services of witchdoctors but I resisted and insisted that good training was the only way for good results. I delivered good results without the use of witchdoctors," he said.
Courtesy Of Standard
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