Fam, it has been a while. Most importantly though, I hope you are keeping safe.
I have been judged and I am guilty! I shot some pictures way back under my own personal project and I called it ‘football made in Kibera’. My plan was to share the images immediately after but such is life, too much has been happening and here I am now. How about we just look back a few months ago when there was so much footballing activity in Kibera courtesy of the Kris Darling Tournament (I look forward to this year’s edition, hopefully, we shall make it bigger and better). Not so far back, Dec 2020 to be precise.
As a norm with most of the tournaments, there was a lot of group games before we got to the knockout phase. As for the tournament, I joined and started shooting from the quarter-finals stage. It was very competitive and you will get to see in the pictures why football is made in Kibera for sure. Kibera might be one of the poorest places but this place has produced the best talents in this country and in some of the images you will get to realise some players who are currently playing for the national team ‘Harambee Stars’. This is the home of Kenyan football!
Most of the players try to come back and play here in these tournaments just to appreciate and give back to this community where they were raised and nurtured their football skills.
Here are some of my favourite images from the quarterfinal all the way to the Semis.
The thing about this place is that you might have a football pitch now but the next minute it rains it becomes a river.
It is very tough here. The spirit of the game lives on!
When you get injured you could be on your own unless your team is well organised..
Halftime talks right on the side of the pitchMafansThe vuvuzelas never ever left Africa even after the famous 2010 World Cup in South AfricaBall till you fall MAN!Meanwhile this little fella is hustling while his peers are watching the game. Kids here are very entrepreneurialCould be a journalist reporting back to the newsroom, you never know but clearly he has a good machineHere when a goal is scored, the game stops for like 3 minutes, the fans invade the pitch, celebrate and get back to the seats and then the ref plays the game on. Patience is key here.I somehow started being a fan of Gogo Fc from this point because of this young man called Shirao, a very decent striker. I loved his style of football. He was also a darling to most of the fans. Of all the teams in this tournament, Gogo fc had a solid follower-ship.The focus!No pain no gain
Told you about Gogo FC who have a huge fan base. Onwards I actually decided to focus more on them because of the drama during their games. This right here as they celebrate qualifying for the semisMeanwhile more businessSome fashionFoul or no foul what do you think?Please play on was the verdict
This was another interesting quarterfinal featuring Soccer talent and Ping from Dagoretti (in black)One of my favourite shots from this game that Ping ended up winningThey won on penaltiesThe pitch is so busy, soon as the game ends, the young ones are ready to practise since its a community pitchHe calls himself Marcelo BielsaPing FC went ahead to win their Semifinal game on penalties again and qualified to the finals
Meanwhile on the other end Gogo fc also qualified on penalities
Now we are all set for the final: Gogo Fc vs Ping FC from Dagoretti. It was a revival of the ever-existing rivalry between Kibera and Dagoretti.
Gogo fans are real, they dress up, match colours. If only we can invest our resources into more grassroots football as a countryPreparation for the final gameYou guy my guy that line is nowhere close to straight. Anyway of importance is the game and we are readyWe always have this guys, very good juggling but can match up the skill on the pitch…..just for show. We had them as opening actHappy peopleStadium was full!I couldn’t figure out who some of the fans were supporting but we had a lot of fans who don’t support Gogo fc and they were a lotRules are simple here. You want to feel VIP, you pay Ksh 20 and you get yourself a chair for the game. You have to return the chair to the hirer since they know you otherwise you might end up buying a new chair.Told you guys about young ones and business here, they are very good at it. In other places, kids his age are playing or studying but here he is and will still go to school and pass his exams very well. you might be wondering why? This is Kibera, families don’t make enough therefore the Dad or Mum will ask the kids to go out and supplement the family income. Some kids will even be asked to go out and work to earn their school fees. Options are so limited, they have to.I think we just head over to the gameStarted off well with both teams balancing well in the middle of the pitchLess than 10 mins and the favourites Gogo got a penalty
Well converted Halftime
Tough game but GOGO FC eventually won 2-1 against PING FC
You remember my boy Shirao?
He won the Golden boot! Ayub Timbe, a national team (Harambee Stars) winger who also plays for Vissel Kobe Fc in Japan awarded him the trophy and some nice boots to keep him scoring more and more.
I had great memories shooting these games from young ones coming over to me and wanting to try shooting with my camera, to great photographers I met while at it. I had a good time. I look forward to shooting again, hopefully I can get myself a Canon R5 which I have been aspiring for a while now. Let’s see how this goes.
Cheers and thank you for reading ad sharing….
Follow me on instagram and twitter for more of my work. My handles are @ogetoevans and @evansmarube respectively.
