FOYA nominees list raises plenty of questions

On October 3 this year, Italian media was united in slamming the omission of Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from the 59-man list of nominees for the 2015 Ballon d’Or. Corriere dello Sport published Gigi’s open letter on the omission while La Gazzetta dello Sport carried the story with this headline: “Everyone is with Gigi - What an own goal”.

A deeper look at the list of nominees for this year’s Kenyan Premier League Footballer of the Year (FOYA) awards paints a similar picture, if not worse.

Last year’s awards left KPL with an egg on the face after widespread criticism and bribery claims overshadowed what was supposed to be a great night for the winners. The league managers were slammed by all and sundry including the media fraternity.

The Daily Nation of November 22, 2014 carried the story headlined “The farce that is KPL awards” while the Football Kenya Federation disowned the process.

KPL promised to emerge better from the debacle and now, in conjunction with the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK), will award the best performers this term.

Last week, the SJAK panel unveiled a list of eight nominees in each category for the awards. The nominees in majority of the categories left mixed feelings among avid local football followers.

After last year’s fiasco, one would have expected an improvement in the nomination process.
Instead, the nomination process remains flawed. All this takes some gloss off what should be a great night for football in the country. 

Take a look at the nominees for the Coach of the Year: Frank Nuttall, Robert Matano, Twahir Muhiddin, Paul Nkata, Ken Kenyatta, Zdravko Logarusic, Stanley Okumbi and Henry Omino.

A nomination nod means one is good enough to win the award. But the inclusion of Okumbi, whose team only managed seven wins in 30 matches is at best baffling.

BIG CONFUSION

What criteria was used in nominating Logarusic? How many games was he in charge at Leopards and how many did he win? Omino’s inclusion also raises eyebrows. Why would a coach who - despite enjoying the full backing of Kenya Power - only managed nine wins all season, had a goal difference of negative six and was just three above the drop zone, be in the run in for a top award?

SJAK said the Team Manager of the Year list was from the KPL secretariat and that they are not aware of the criteria used in their nomination.

How will the committee come up with the winner if they are not aware of the criteria used in their nomination?

Eugene Asike is one of the contenders for the top defenders award. A good centre-back he is. But he’s only featured in 15 games this season. He was in the cold in the first leg after terminating his contract with Sofapaka before joining Tusker where he made his debut in their 3-0 rout of Nakuru AllStars.

Of the 15 games Asike featured, assuming there was no threshold one had to meet before getting a nomination, Tusker shipped in 12 goals, lost five games, drew four and won six.

Why did players like Abouba Sibomana (Gor Mahia), Omar Mbongi (Ulinzi Stars) and Alfred Onyango (Sony Sugar), who prominently featured for their clubs more times this term, miss out? Was it just a balancing act or on merit?

That Jairus Adira features in the Goalkeeper of the Year list has left many bemused. The 2014 Golden Glove winner endured a disastrous first leg at Sony, eventually being dropped by coach Zedekiah “Zico” Otieno in June.

He found his way back to Chemelil for the second leg where he was used sparingly as the team only kept three clean sheets, shipping in 20 goals.

If a panel of some few chaps, some of whom cannot pass the lowest standard of an integrity test, are to be entrusted to sieve through the nominations and declare the winner, then we are in for another farce.

And again, why would SJAK team up with the league body to award the best performers? Who will point out the irregularities of the process afterwards?

REQUIRED DATA

During the launch of the nominees, SJAK chairman Chris Mbaisi said that they have acquired the “necessary data” from KPL which will guide them in the process.

I find it absurd that Mbaisi so conveniently chose to ignore the fact that the league body keeps basic stats and nothing incisive that can break a tie. How, say for example, can you claim to award the best defender in a season yet you can’t tell the number of interceptions, aerial duels or tackles successfully won by the players?

How can you tell that this midfielder is better than that one if you can’t produce stats such as number of assists, key passes, interceptions or blocks made? How do you separate the two? By their hairstyle or the number of followers they command on Facebook or Twitter?

Fifa has in recent years made public the voting process for the Ballon d’Or. Information is publicly available on who the national team coaches and captains, and journalists voted for in football’s most prestigious award.

KPL/SJAK should also follow suit and make public the whole nomination criteria used and voting process.