AFC Leopards, presently the oldest club in the FKF Premier League, has been engaging in a series of activities to mark its 60th anniversary.Notably, they played a Spanish lower-tier side, but equally important, they visited a children’s home and donated a variety of food and non food stuff and spent time with the children.The Head of State President William Ruto plus a host of other dignitaries were part of some of the events.There were other functions the makers of the celebrations organized such as Ingwe Night that brought the fans together away from the stands in an environment of shared culture and values.A brilliant social media campaign themed Ingwe at 60 was also mounted complete with fans giveaways.All these social activities, if sustained over a long period of time, work to strengthen the AFC Leopards’ social element and brand and soon they will leverage better brand equity to get improved deals on the negotiation table.##NAJAVA_MECA_8002383##For a sport organization to achieve self sustainability, three elements namely sporting, financial and social, must work seamlessly and feed into each other in a sporting ecosystem.Ignoring one for another creates sporting bodies that are in constant distress for one reason or another, mostly financial, like is the common case in Kenya.For a football club, for example, to achieve its sporting ambitions which normally entails competing at the highest level and winning trophies, it needs finances to either identify and nurture the needed quality players for these purposes, or to buy them ready made. The case of Barcelona versus Real Madrid.Sporting and financial goals cannot be achievable in a sustainable manner for any club if the social aims are not developed. Fans will not show up for games if they feel that values close to their hearts such transparency and accountability are being ignored, neither will they buy club merchandise.Joseph Okumu lands multiple accolades in FranceThe fans will shy away and the club will lose revenue, denting their financial targets, if they feel unappreciated and ignored or not given more than just the 90 minutes of action. As is always the case, football has its high and low moments. In low moments, when results are not coming, fans need to feel something deeper, a higher sense of belonging and shared values to stay. The case of Premier League side Arsenal FC. They can equally stay when offered product extensions. Majority of modern sports fans are entertainment seekers.Despite not winning the FKF Premier League since 1998, Ingwe fans have kept faith in the team and in recent years, their numbers in the stands have been swelling every single game.The opposite is true for their nemesis Gor Mahia, who despite winning eight league titles in the last ten years, are grappling with empty stands and keep wondering where the so-called green army disappeared to.Stars Abroad: Zak Onyego features in Bristol City’s win over PlymouthAs Ingwe is consciously developing the social element of the club and may soon reap its full benefits, which includes higher brand equity, K’Ogalo is waking up to the realization that sporting excellence alone cannot make a sustainable club. The management may ignore this for now that they have a stable sponsor, but you can be sure if the sponsor withdraws, with the uncertain economic situation in the country, the club will be badly hit.The writer is a Sports Journalist and a FIFA International Sport Management student at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa
