Two fixtures into the just started 2022-23 National Super League (NSL) season and Silibwet Leons FC have already soaked in six “questionable” goals, according to close observers.In their season opener away to Kibera Black Stars at Camp Toyoyo, Nairobi the Bomet County – based team were given a 4-0 nil hiding.”A journalist who watched the game approached me after the and asked if I thought the goals were genuine, according to what he observed, some of them could have been easily dealt with by the defenders or goalkeeper,” an anonymous source from Silibwet told Mozzart Sport.In the second fixture against Shabana FC at home, the team conceded in the last minutes of the game. “We worked so hard only to be hard done by a silly goal.”Allegations of match fixing are not new to Silibwet, and fingers are now aimed at certain players, who were signed from Zoo FC and a businessman, who is believed to be behind the match-fixing syndicate.”They did it last season, and they have started doing it again, it’s a sad situation.” The source lamented. Zoo FC from Kericho were relegated to the third-tier, FKF Division One League over match-fixing. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6883544##Match-fixing continues to be a bane in Kenyan football with the FKF struggling to firmly root it out.In 2021, the FKF provisionally suspended five referees over allegations of match-fixing and the manipulation of league results.Two of them, Raymond Onyango and Isaac Memusi, were dropped from the list of FIFA referees at the start of the season after failing match fitness tests.FKF said the decision was taken to safeguard the integrity of the sport, which came under the spotlight after four players were banned – one of them for life – by FIFA in February 2020 for taking part in “an international conspiracy to fix league matches”. FKF Leagues to proceed despite SDT ruling“The federation’s Integrity Department, with the assistance of FIFA, has initiated preliminary investigations against the said individuals with a view of establishing their involvement, if any, in the said match manipulation practices,” FKF general secretary Barry Otieno said in a statement.Ahead of the new season, FKF in collaboration with FIFA, have been sensitizing clubs and players on the vice of match fixing. They have put up identification and reporting mechanisms for match-fixing such as the FIFA portal, the FKF Integrity Portal, and the FKF Integrity Hotline number +254 790115228.
