Relishing in Yesteryears Glory – Erick Obura – The Story

When you tell the story of Erick Obura, you are likely telling the Story of the late Felix Otieno. A kin to twins, they made each move following the footsteps of each other, or rather Obura picked in the footsteps of Otieno. If there has been a sterling admiration for a man who was before you, then Erick Obura epitomizes the late Felix Otieno in almost all the aspects of his career.

He is the only Kenyan footballer to have ever played in the Asian club championships; he plied for his club as the only professional at that time. He was stuck at the same club for 8 years. For him, Egyptian side Zamalek FC is not just another club; it holds some good and bad memories. This is the story of Erick Obura, he who missed an open chance against Zamalek FC at City Stadium in 1991. This is the story of a former Kenyan international, a striker who wowed many during his hey days.

Erick Obura was born in Nairobis’ Pumwani Hospital 44years ago. He grew up in Jericho and attended Rabai Rd and Heshima Primary school before proceeding to Aquinas high school, Aquinas high school is the home of former internationals Paul Oyuga, John Odie Kasongo and the late Bernard Otieno among others.

He was natured at Toyoyo grounds playing for Leyton FC under the late Oti Father. Oti Father can easily be termed the godfather of Kenyan football.  From his hands we were gifted players such as Keffa Taso, Shoto Lukoye, Tino Chiseka, Robert Matano and Dan Shikanda just to mention a few.

Erick Obura is in the third generation of Kenyan football players, together with him are the likes of Musa Otieno, Bernard Otieno, Zedekiah Otieno ‘Zico’, Dan Shikanda, Charles Omondi Korea and many more others. All gifted to us by the godfather of football himself.

But this is not a story about Oti Father, sadly. This is the story of Erick Obura, the third of Kenya’s football generation. The late 80’s and early 90’s best.

After Aquinas, Erick Obura missed his chance to Join Homa Bay High school for his A levels. His education journey hit a snag when his father lost his job. He had picked Homa Bay over Kanunga School. Homa Bay School produced football greats such as Felix Otieno, the reason why he had picked the school in the first place. Kanunga on the other hand birthed us Mathew Otamax Owino and Sammy Omollo Pamzo.

After a year stay at home, Obura joined NSSF.

His football career proper kicks off at Iqbal FC, in the national wide league. These are the days of Timsales FC, Intercon FC, Eastleigh Sports FC and many more teams that churned proper players, players extra ordinaire.

From Iqbal FC Erick Obura moved onto Nairobi Airport Services FC (NAS fc) together with Ken Ida and Felix Otieno. He was here for a season, and once again together with Felix Otieno they moved to Re Union FC, under Muhamoud Abbas as Coach Player.

At Re Union, he met Gabriel Olang, Washington Odhiambo, the late Alex Mwalo, Kale Onyango ‘kale Kale’, Ali Timami, Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mule, the late Hassan Juma, and John Odie Kasongo among others.

While at Re Union he got his first call up to the under 21 national team, under Gerry Saurer, here he met Francis Oduor.

In 1992, Erick Obura followed Felix Otieno to Gor Mahia, although they both wanted to play for Kenya Breweries where their elder brothers Henry Odhiambo and Bernard Otieno featured. Together with Allan Odhiambo ‘Ale Ale’ they were inducted into the most successful club in the country during that time.

At Gor Mahia, he was in the company of Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, Richard Asabe, Dan Ogada, the Late Tom Okaya, Peter Dao, Tobias Ochola ‘Jua Kali’, Antony Ndolo ‘Piki Piki’ ‘Blantaya’, Austin Oduor among other big names. He was under Coach Len Julians.

Together with him in Gor Mahias’ 3^rd generation players were Tom Odhiambo, Tom Okaya, Richard Asabe, Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, Charles Omondi Korea, Charles Ogutu, David Deo Odhiambo and the rest.

His first game for Gor Mahia outside the country was in Zimbabwe against the Highlanders where the team was thrashed 4 goals to nothing on return leg after they had won with a solitary goal at home.  It was after this game that the third generation players took over as most of the Mandela cup players were being axed from the team.

Erick Left Gor Mahia for Bahrain where he featured for a season for Muharak FC, this was the first time in his career where he was playing away from Felix Otieno who was in Oman. The year is 1995. He featured for the club in the Asian club championship, the only Kenyan to ever feature in the tournament.

After the season, he came back to Gor Mahia together with George Sunguti. For 8years, Erick Obura did his duty for the side, but this remains his outstanding line up of all time.

Charles Omondi Korea manned the posts, Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, Charles Ogutu ‘Masoesi’, Paul Ochieng ‘kunde’, Allan Odhiambo ‘Ale’, Sammy Omollo ‘Pamzo’, Joseph Owino Mkindai ‘Helmet’, Daniel Ogada ‘Dunga’ ‘Oga’ , Tom Okaya,  the Late Tom Ochieng Malindi, Pius Wamaya, Tom Odhiambo, Mike Otieno ‘OJ’, the late Steve Odiaga ‘Bulldozer’, Jared Ochieng Achieng and Dan Shikanda.

Erick Obura won the league twice and won the Moi Golden cup with Gor Mahia.

If every player has a game that they remember long after they have stopped playing, then Erick Obura has kept the game against Zamalek close to his memory. As many other Gor Mahia players have. For starters, he remembers the match for the opportunity he missed to score against the Egyptian side while at home, to place them in the lead. The match ended in a one all draw. Zamalek were later to beat Gor Mahia in the return leg with 2 goals to one.

This was the match that Dan Okaya subbed himself in the 17^th minute given the pressure that Zamalek had piled on them, he literally walked off the pitch and asked the coach to replace him. This was the match that Zamalek had to re take a spot kick thrice for it to shake the back of the net, after 2 saves from Charles Omondi Korea.

Benched For Two Years – Titus Mulama – The Story

Lets take a walk back in history, not such long back. This is a familiar one for this generation. Let us do this early enough.

When he was not manning the midfield for his club, he was on national duty for the Stars. Titus Mulama, the pitch gave him the rider Tito. Let us write the story of Titus Mulama, the twin brother to Simeon Mulama ‘sepe’.

Titus Mulama was born in 1978 in Homa Bay town.He attended Dr Aggrey Primary school in Ziwani Starehe before proceeding to Aquinas high school in Makadara between 1994 and 1998.

His football career kicks off at the age of 10 with MYSA Soccer academy, in Mathare. It was in 1996 that he begun to take his football career seriously after he played in the Norway youth cup for MYSA. Some of the notable players that were later to grace our pitches from this trip are George Midenyo ‘Tempo’ and Wyclife Juma.

Titus Mulama looked upon the Likes of Ezekiel Akwana, Teddy Rodgers (Currently at Kamiti prison), the Late Peter Seri and others while growing up at Huruma, the home of the famous Huruma Sports turned King Size FC under Coach Dick Ochieng.

In 1998 he graduated to Mathare United senior team. Here he was in the company of Jack Oguda, Maurice Wambua, John Gureshi, Ali Mohamed, and Francis Kimanzi, all midfielders. These are the big names that Tuitus Mulama wanted to oust, from the mid field. Mathare united was then under Coach Jonathan Neeva

For two years Titus Mulama was benched and never featured for the team. At some point he decided to quit training all together. He credits his brother Simon Mulama as the man who encouraged him back to the pitch, his brother was then featuring for AFC Leopards.

The year is 2000 and Titus Mulama, breaks even. The stars finally charged some light upon the young lad, the clouds did open up the sun for Tito in Holland.  Where Jaap Stam, former Manchester United player refused to shake hands with the young Mathare lads. Story for another day.

Gabriel Njoroge ‘Kingi’ had taken over from Jonathan Neeva, and he was the man in charge of Mathare united, after the Holland trip. Tito becomes a regular in the first eleven. His first major game was against Afc Leopards in the finals of Moi Golden cup. Mathare United beat AFC Leopards 2 goals to 1.

This was the match that placed Mathare united at the pedestal of other football clubs in the country. Here is how the line up looked on that day,

Duncan Ochieng in between the polls, Alfred Chege ‘Alfie’, Fred Naduli, Philip Opiyo, Sammy Kiongi, Antony Kimani, Ali Mohamed, Asman Ngaiwa, Sande Odhiambo, Simeon Mulama among others.

In 2005 Titus Mulama was on his way across the border. He headed out to Rwanda, where he featured for APR. He was here for a season and a half, where he helped the team win the league. After that short stint Mulama was back with the slum boys.

The year 2007 Tito signs for Vestera SK FC of Sweden after a protracted battle with Mathare United and APR of Rwanda. He was in Sweden for 2 years before coming back home and settling with his old club once more.

In the year 2010, Titus Mulama was slapped with a 6 month ban from the Independent Disciplinary and Appeals Committee (IDAC) which was being chaired by Doctor Monny Wekesa. Tito’s sin was launching a complaint against Mathare united for not paying his dues and refusing to release him at the same time. On top of that ban, Mulama was fined Kenya shillings 6,500 for what the committee called  gross misconduct.

After his six months ban, Mulama was signed by the bankers, KCB where he completed the season before moving to Sofapaka for another one season.

Tito was later to move to St Elwa Popo in Congo Kinshasha, after 6 months he was on the move once again. He was back home and plied for Nakuru All Stars in the nationwide league. Titus Mulama did hang his boot at Sofapaka FC.

His national team call up was in 2001, under the late Reinhard Fabisch, as the coach. The young Tito was out to compete for this position with players such as Robert Mambo, Nicholas Muyoti Tom Juma and Bonaventure Maruti who were then manning the midfield for the national team.

I Have Forgotten How To Write

I did not just wake up in the morning of the months ago to find out that I can no longer pen a meaningful piece, a piece that I myself loved, a piece I would want to share with the world!

I have written droves, on word document as I usually do; I have gone back to my pen and paper. Literally, in the past when I could not write, this is where I would go -to pen and paper- there is magic in the smell of paper and the scratch of pen on paper, as I sway away the ink, in italics, the way I like. You know, just the way you can write on that paper, tuck it away in your pocket and just go mind your business, like nothing has happened and finally when you remember, you can check out the piece of dirty paper that you had tucked away and edit your work, when you are eating your cheap lunch in some dusty kibanda somewhere in the CBD?

That has been taken away.

That has been lost.

I can no longer sway away my pen, such that the handwriting that I started with is not the same as the one appearing in the last paragraph. I get tired. My wrist gets tired in the middle of the writing and then I start scribbling words so close, that they touch each other, intentionally. I never like the writing in the last paragraph. It usually looks busy and disorganized; it is tiring to the eye.

Today, I don’t have to worry about the letters touching each other; I have to worry about getting the letters in the first place. I dread the fact that the gods of alphabets have declined to let me mingle their subjects to weave a piece. I stare at the blank screen and keyboard that I am unable to punch away. I stare at the paper, the pen I can’t piece between my fingers and slant away.

Every so often, those who write -I mean those who write- not Facebook updates. No. Those who write, experience what they call a writer’s block. I have had mine, I have had the moments I could not piece anything together. These last few months have not been those moments. Writing use to make me sane: when I would get mad, I use to write away, when I am happy, I would write away, when I was sad, I would scribble away.

I have lost my pen; I am not in the demeanour of a writer’s block. No. I have forgotten how to write. When I finally wake up from this slumber and find out that it was a dream, I would rejoice. But no, this is no dream. This is as real as me jostling the streets of Nairobi each morning, painting that perfect picture in my head, doing that mental write up, only to lose all the words as soon as I sit down to place my experience.

That I have forgotten to write is a sad realization. It is death unto itself. That I have forgotten how to write is a tragedy! As my maiden literature sits with my friend as she goes through it, edit it, adds and removes unnecessary information, I seek redemption on how I can master to whisk my pen again.

I need ink and feather right in front of me. I need books; I need to read like my life depends on it. It depends on it, whichever way you look at it. I need friends that read, friends that write. That company that makes you better than they came into your life.