The Floorball African Championship games scheduled to happen at Kasarani Stadium in September this year are at the verge of paralysis due to cash crunch.
This is after the Kenya Floorball Federation failed to secure Ksh 5 million it had sought from the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports to organize the competitions that have already attracted ten countries.
Among other things, the federation had sought the funding to facilitate the hiring of the championship’s venue, training grounds, accommodation of players, purchase of playing gears and uniforms, transport for the teams and to facilitate the awards.
Although the competitions have been planned to happen on September 12- 15, 2024, the concerned federation says it has not secured the requisite venue and training grounds despite having initiated preparations for the national teams -both men and women.
According to the federation president Paul Maina the Kenyan national team seeks to regain the title of the African floorball Kings and Queens.
Maina who had written a proposal seeking comprehensive support from the government says he was shocked after the Ministry responded to his letter indicating that it had limited resources and was only concentrating on priority events such as the Olympic Games and Infrastructural Development.
“We wrote to the Ministry seeking their financial support towards the planning of the African championship games but we were stunned by the response we got. The ministry told us it had limited resources and was funding sporting activities on a priority basis,” he told journalists.
“The Ministry will not be able to support the upcoming event due to limited resources at hand. The Ministry is currently concentrating on priority events geared towards the upcoming Olympics Games and Infrastructure Development. We look forward to partnering with you in future events and endeavors,” Jaxon Indakwa, the Deputy Director Sports at the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports wrote back to Maina.
So far, countries such as Cameroon, Uganda, Mozambique, Morocco, Côte D Ivoire, Burkina Faso among others have confirmed they will be participating in the upcoming competitions.
Maina revealed that the federation has been doing everything possible to foster the growth of the sport and to showcase and develop talents but their efforts have continued to be stifled by poor funding.
According to the national team captains Vincent Kiptoo and Lea Imali, players are set for the face-offs.
The national team players have been doing their preparations at the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) grounds hoping that the government will reconsider them and avail the required money for successful championships.
The Kenyan federation received approval from the international floorball federation and African committee to host the event, considering Kenya’s standing as the primary floorball country in the East African region with sufficient hosting capacity.
The dynamic form of floor hockey that involves 6 players on each side, including a goalkeeper is played indoors using 96–115.5 cm-long sticks and a 70–72 mm-diameter plastic ball with holes.
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Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods, an exciting sport that was invented in Sweden in the late 1960s, with the establishment of the first floorball club, Sala IBK, in 1979.
The sport was introduced in Kenya in August 2015 by dedicated floorball coaches from Switzerland in partnership with GOA Sports arm.
Since then, the game has gained significant traction in technical colleges, institutions, and universities.
Through a partnership with floorball4all from Switzerland, the Kenya Floorball Federation has conducted annual national training sessions for coaches.
The initiative aims to empower Kenyan coaches with the essential floorball knowledge to facilitate the spread of the game throughout the country.
“To date, we have successfully trained over 400 coaches nationwide, and we are proud to have established 100 teams across the country,” stated Maina.
By Kamau Njoroge
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