The Dandora Stadium opened its doors for action eight months ago after a long period of construction by the Nairobi City County government.The project, which was initially started by former Governor Mike Sonko, was in the end completed by the current Governor, Johnson Sakaja, and opened on 8 March 2024.The 3000-capacity stadium was initially meant to host community games and lower-level matches but has since hosted a couple of high-profile matches of the FKF Premier League as a result of the closure of Nyayo and Kasarani Stadiums.Dandora Stadium after hosting 7 Kenyan Premier League and 5 National Super League matches in a weekend.#FootballKE pic.twitter.com/dgYXelHafx— Ole Teya (@TeyaKevin) August 27, 2024 While the availability of Dandora has been of great help to FKF Premier League teams and the football fraternity in general, some safety concerns and the size of the pitch have been raised by stakeholders.Gor Mahia’s Sylvester Odhiambo suffered a hamstring injury in their only league match at Dandora on Wednesday, 23rd October and believes the pitch was partly to blame.“To some extent, yes. The nature of artificial turf is that it pulls, especially when it is sunny like that day,” said Owino.One of the notable observations by players and users has also been how players slip, thus disrupting the flow of the game and the former Kakamega Homeboyz defender shared his thoughts on it.##NAJAVA_MECA_8470151##“The Dandora Stadium turf doesn’t have rubber so it makes it even harder because beneath that turf is concrete. The rubber helps it as it cautions the hardness and prevents it from being slippery. That’s why the players keep slipping there.If you are involved in a lot of actions, you will feel discomfort in your knee or ankle at the end of the match,” he remarkedThe biggest criticism of the stadium is perhaps its averagely small size, which some teams and players find limiting to their style of play, and Owino is one of them.“It is small. Most of our attacks come from the flank and sometimes through the middle, so if there is no space, it limits our players from expressing themselves.I can’t also switch balls because when you look at the offensive player, there is a fullback next to him,” he added.His words were shared by Gor Mahia assistant coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, who partly attributed their draw against KCB to the size of the pitch.Zico blames part of Gor Mahia’s struggles against KCB on unplayable Dandora Stadium“The pitch is too small and limits our play. I’m sure we would have won this game if it was played in a much bigger stadium,” said Zico.His KCB counterpart Patrick Odhiambo, on his part, took issue with the slippery nature of the pitch which he recommended be looked at.“The pitch is too slippery; you have seen it. Players can’t express themselves; they are too cautious,” said Odhiambo.AFC Leopards coach Tomas Trucha has not shied away from registering his reservations about the pitch, even though his main concern has been the capacity of the pitch to host Leopards’ matches.“The stadium is too small for us and our fans. Most of our fans stay at home when we play here because they fear they will not find a place to sit. We need a minimum of a 10,000 seater,” said Trucha in a past interview.STARS ABROAD: Olunga becomes Al Duhail’s all time goalscorer with Friday strikeAdditionally, a section of fans have raised fears about their security at the facility, which is largely premised on the crime rates associated with Dandora Stadium.While no official complaints have been lodged or recorded in the stadium, some fans still find it difficult to attend matches held there.In conclusion, Dandora Stadium has been of great benefit to local football and especially the community around the stadium, who have a place to nurture their talent. However, the concerns raised by FKF Premier League stakeholders should be addressed by the league body.##NAJAVA_MECA_8470883##
