When he closes his eyes he says he can still see himself waking up in the team bus, however, this is not where he was a few minutes before.Seth Oyugi says he only remembers being through on goal having made a last-minute overlap from his makeshift right-back position, making a few give-and-go passes with one of his forwards and then boom. Blackout!The fleet-footed forward (now turned right-back) was not to see the end of their away contest against KCB FC.Health issues force former AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia forward to retire at 30His teammates, huddled together around him after the game, to explain to him what had just transpired. While on the brink of pulling the trigger for a Kisumu All Stars lead, he was knocked from behind; an awkward fall followed and as he lay down unconscious, the lad gasped for air as his tongue had occluded the airway.Alvin Ochieng and Steve Otieno were first on the scene and administered first aid as the paramedics also frantically arrived. It was clear he would not continue with the game.So what happened? ##NAJAVA_MECA_8692807##Oyugi says he could not digest what had transpired at the time, but looking back with new information he keeps on receiving in his retirement- it was not a natural event.All Stars at the time traditionally made a pitstop in Naivasha on their way home after away matches and on this particular night- he was advised to stay behind (adequate rest the coaches called it) as everyone else went unwinding.Upon returning, a member of the technical bench, now properly hammered, told him that he was a goner had he scored that attempt.Kevin Juma among four released by Gor Mahia”He always talked like that, never minced his words after a few drinks and so in a way, he was revealing something to me; probably a warning for me to be careful,” says Oyugi.Undue influence on the game in the way of black magic has, the world over been brushed aside as trivial, primitive even; but not in Africa.Teams have been known to use designated entry areas on match days (either to manoeuvre past the opposition’s ‘landmines’), players have unearthed strange artefacts from the opposition goalposts during matches, and rains have come out of nowhere on balmy sunny afternoons- with the sun still up and blazing.##NAJAVA_MECA_8692788##But Oyugi’s case is different, the type of incidents that cause injury before what was written, happens. The big question is, how true does he think this is? Surely, there have been other such injuries across the leagues, Kenya alone.”Ask anyone, any of my teammates; who took the most beating for the team, win, draw or lose? They’ll tell you it’s me. I say this because after I left All Stars, a certain coach (not from All Stars) called me and revealed everything to me. He does it too whenever his team plays, it’s a cult or something. He remembered my concussion, a few other times when I literally spilled blood against other teams. In a way, he was asking for forgiveness on behalf of his ilk,” says the 28-year-old.Harambee Stars prospect returns to Leicester CityOyugi first came into prominence in the lower leagues with Bondo United. He would thrive in Division One and within no time, the then high-flying Kisumu Hot Stars wanted a piece of him.He moved to the lakeside city. After two seasons, and scoring goals at will, a move to cross-town rivals Kisumu All Stars was imminent. He had made it to the second-tier and with just a little more effort, premiership football was not a long way out.His latest conversations with people he knew and played with reveal to him that it is here at All Stars that his meteoric rise would be put to the greatest test(s).##NAJAVA_MECA_8692782##”I’m in no way saying that one cannot just flop. There is that too, it happens to many players. What I mean is that even if at the time I wasn’t privy to what was happening around me, there were tell-tale signs. I gave my best as I had always done but in the end, aside from not managing to score goals as I had been accustomed to, I would come out of matches with patched-up foreheads and swollen eyes. The one that hurt me to date was my knee. That one has never healed to this day,” laments Oyugi.These injuries, though isolated, can, when summed up, slow down an athlete- send them to an early retirement even. This is what he thinks happened to him. But why him? And why must injuries be involved for the team to achieve a particular goal?Barasa hails Patrick Matasi as Kenya’s best goalkeeper after Homeboyz move”The same coach who came to me after that Machakos incident, one time during training jokingly asked me ‘Seth why are you always on top in training but during games, you really don’t show up? Why don’t you go where others go?’”I thought a lot about this. I knew what he meant but I am a believer and doing that would make me really uncomfortable. He said it jokingly, laughing in fact, but that’s the way he communicated most times,’’ continues Oyugi, whose career went on a downward spiral after leaving All Stars.Oyugi had by this time permanently been moved to the right-back position and when he left All Stars, sought to revive his career as a goal-poacher. This, of course, he had to start from where he began his career; FKF Division One. Maybe this time, he would make it back up as a forward- his sworn position.##NAJAVA_MECA_8692815##Del Monte FC in Div One offered him a landing spot. No salaries but when registered as a worker with the company, there was most definitely compensation.A season through and with his past injuries now catching up, the end was imminent for the struggling forward. Of course, he found the back of the net a couple of times, it is the weariness that saw him fall short on his targets.”Del Monte was good but my knee kept acting up. I had to try out one last time with Thika Homeboyz (I believe they’ve changed to Thika United now). I tried out with them but wasn’t registered for the season. I had to call it a day,” Oyugi resigns.Ad-Hoc Committee exposes FKF’s multi-million shilling debtFor Oyugi, football ended here. He is not sure he can make the proverbial comeback. His heart has been broken plenty of times and the recent discoveries only work to make the memories more painful. He drives matatus on the weekdays in Nairobi and takes a side hustle as a cab driver on the weekends.”You know if well-wishers could come through for me, help me raise funds for a cab of my own. I will be set,” he laughs, the strain in his current condition not lost on him.
