What we witnessed this past Sunday, December 21, 2025, at Dandora Stadium during the Nairobi United vs Gor Mahia match in the SportPesa League was not football. It was one of the lowest points of our game this season, and it deserves to be called out plainly for what it was: ugly.
This fixture had all the ingredients of a classic: quality players, competent technical benches, hungry teams, and passionate supporters on both sides.
We therefore expected intensity, goals, and drama – of course, the good kind. Instead, the match was abandoned in the second half after Nairobi United equalised, and hooliganism once again dragged Kenyan football back into the mud.
I have watched the videos since last night and, to be honest, the violence that followed is unacceptable, and the individual Gor Mahia fans involved in that chaos must be condemned without hesitation.
Descending on fellow supporters, kicking and beating innocent fans simply because they wore an opposing jersey is barbaric. It is cowardly. It is criminal.
Some people went to watch football and left fearing for their lives. That can never be normalised.
Yes, video evidence suggests there may have been a few fans who threw flares onto the pitch. If that is true, they too are culpable and should be dealt with.
They should have been dealt with individually at the venue, because the footage shows it was isolated, not collective. And for that reason alone, I will never justify mob justice. There is no excuse for turning a football match into a battle zone.
Football is not war. Football is not revenge. Football is not an excuse to brutalise fellow citizens.
Football is supposed to unite us. It is meant to be joy, community, and a form of release after a week of pressure, chasing business targets and dodging the fangs of life. What we saw was the very opposite.
Now, here is where we must stop pretending. It is lazy and dishonest for football authorities to always hide behind regulations that place sole responsibility for match-day security on home teams.
That framework is outdated and unrealistic, given our circumstances as a country and as a business ecosystem. First, our football clubs are not security agencies, not by training, not by mandate, not by capacity. They cannot arrest, they cannot investigate, and they cannot prosecute.
And this is where the State must step up.
Under the Constitution of Kenya (2010), the Government, through the National Police Service, carries a cardinal and non-negotiable duty to safeguard the lives and property of its citizens and any other visitor within its territorial boundaries.
That duty does not stop at stadium gates. In fact, it becomes even more critical during high-risk, high-attendance events, especially emotionally charged matches like this one.
Risk assessment, crowd control, deterrence, arrest of offenders, and prosecution are state functions. If we continue using FKF rules to undeservedly punish clubs for actions they constitutionally have no power to execute, even if they wanted to, a concerned citizenry may soon sue for negligence.
I hope you now understand why, some time back, I questioned why the Police did not simply sign up as a permanent partner to the FKF Premier League, instead of having a club also competing for honours.
The Government must be fully involved in national league activities, especially high-octane fixtures. Not as an afterthought, not as a reaction, but as a structured and deliberate partner. Presence alone is not enough. Visible authority and real consequences are what deter repeat behaviour.
I genuinely expected that when Police FC entered the Kenya Premier League, it would spark a deeper institutional interest in the game. I expected the National Police Service to show willingness to walk hand in hand with the Federation to make football matches safe and family-friendly outings. That expectation has not been met, in my opinion, not with such ugly incidents still happening.
Yes, sanctions in the rule book matter. Yes, clubs losing points hurts. But let us be honest, punishing clubs for the actions of individuals is not sustainable.
The current model is reactionary. It does not solve the problem. It merely shifts pain while the real offenders walk home untouched, ready to do it again next weekend.
Individual responsibility must enter the conversation.
Hooligans must be identified, arrested, charged and prosecuted. Names, faces, bans, criminal records, consequences that follow them beyond football. That is how deterrence works. That is how you clean up the game.
Because until individuals are held accountable, we will keep running in circles, with clubs punished, matches abandoned, fans traumatised, sponsors disillusioned, and the game stagnating.
What happened at Dandora was a failure of fans, of systems, and of imagination. We must do better, and we must do it together, as individual clubs, the Federation, the National Police Service, and the State, with each playing its rightful role.
Anything less is just noise.
Ustadh Okello Kimathi is a live sports broadcast enthusiast. This post was taken from his Facebook page.
