WPL players plead with GOK to allow league to resume

Football Kenya Federation Women Premier League (FKFWPL) players have sent a passionate appeal to the government to lift the ban on sports with their children bearing the brunt of the sports halt.

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the suspension of all sporting activities in the country towards the end of March after the country witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Kayole Starlets custodian Sharon Miloya urged the government to allow sportspersons to return to the field as their families are suffering.

“I have taken the vaccine and I am really happy. At the moment we are not on the field and it has been hard, our children are suffering but if the ban was lifted our children would not be suffering because we would be assured of something at the end of the day,” she explained.

A number of clubs in the country have not been paid by their sponsors due to the league being put on pause, a move that has affected the income of players.

Miloya opened up on the struggles she has to put up with while she conducts individual training at home.

“I train at home, and that affects me because you have to train together as a team for you to know your strength and weaknesses and know where you have improved. You just train and there are no friendlies to gauge your fitness levels so I just urge the government to open up because it will really improve our lives," she added.

The same sentiments were echoed by Gaspo Women midfielder Winnie Kanyotu who decried the dip in income. 

“I want to thank the government through the Federation for giving us the vaccines. I just want to ask the government to allow sports to resume because football is everything to us. Most of the footballers have no other source of income - we fully depend on football and we are really suffering,” said Kanyotu.

The Federation is engaging the government to draft a number of guidelines for the resumption of sports in the country.