Machakos Boys High School football team will advance to the KSSSA regional championships after successfully filing an appeal against Tala Boys High School. A dispute emerged after Machakos Boys found out that Tala Boys had illegally included players from another institution in their final match.
Immediately, Machakos Boys wrote a letter of protest to the Secretary of the Machakos KSSSA, protesting that Tala Boys had flouted the rules by naming players not genuine students of that school.
It read in part, “Kindly note that we are making an official appeal against the Tala High School soccer team on fielding an ineligible player in our final match.” The letter cited KESSHA rule 11B, stating that a player shall be a bona fide student for at least 90 days prior to the commencement of preliminary games, except for form ones.
Machakos Boys wanted fair play and integrity in the school sports and appealed to the association to ban the illegible player from participating in all school games besides raking disciplinary action on Tala Boys.
The keenly fought final match ended with a penalty shoot-out where Tala Boys edged out Machakos Boys 5-4. Allegations of ineligible players will now cast a shadow over Tala Boys’ win.
Joseph Manoo, the Principal of Machakos Boys High School, expressed deepest disappointment over the same incident in an interview with Education News Kenya. According to Manoo, these vices must not be allowed in school games whose main aim is to provide healthy competitive and sporting activities. Manoo allowed his team to do their best and hoped for the best results as they wound up preparations for the regional championships.
With this appeal, Machakos Boys go through to the regional level and pledge to uphold the spirit of fair play and integrity in any competition.