As a bubbly young boy Bernard Esitoko had a dream of playing football at the highest level in Kenya and beyond. However, like thousands of other young male Kenyans who fail to make the cut in a football mad country where success hoists one to legendary realms so fast, Esitoko, now 47, humbly accepted the outcome.Despite his failure, the football fire kept burning in his belly and steered him to another successful direction in the sport. Now a businessman in Kenya’s 4th designate city of Nakuru, Esitoko is helping Kenyan girls live his dream, playing in the Women Premier League (WPL). It has been a bumpy journey for the Nakuru West Queens (now Nakuru Queens) owner who got into football proprietorship in 2010, founding a Nakuru West Stars, a boys’ team. WPL PLAY OFF SEMIS 1. Nakuru West Queens vs Thika Queens 2. Vihiga Queens vs Gaspo https://t.co/tPDp2plBz5— Mozzart Sport Kenya (@MozzartSportKe) June 20, 2021 With the boys’ team, came girls who showed interest in the sport and as the good parent that Esitoko is, he was not going to turn them away. “Without planning for it, I found myself with a full girls’ team and I embraced them fully. By 2018, we had started taking part in local tournaments and the girls were a cut above the rest,” explains Esitoko. Floored Just Jentrix Shikangwa doing Jentrix Shikangwa things.May 30, 2021.Vihiga Queens 3-2 Nakuru West #footke pic.twitter.com/WFijKn431w— Footballers Of Our Time (@TransferMarktEA) May 30, 2021 The introduction of a women’s county league in 2018 came as a blessing to the founder as he finally had an organised league for his girls to show their mettle. “I got the team registered in the league and the girls vowed to get promotion to the regional league, which they did unbeaten. Our promotion added more fire to the girls and they went unbeaten in the first leg, lost one match in the second leg and drew one match to gain promotion to the premier league,” explains Esitoko. Their run in the top tier league has been nothing short of a fairytale as they finished the zone B regular league in second place, behind leaders Vihiga Queens and went on to reach the semis of the playoff after beating Ulinzi Starlets in the quarters. In 2019, the pressure of running two teams got the better of the founder and he handed over the running of Nakuru West Stars to a friend. Unbeknownst to many, Esitoko had taken up more than just a football club ownership as he had to play the role of a parent and mentor to his girls.”A majority of my players in the ladies’ team are from underprivileged backgrounds and I have had to come up with a way to have them in camp and help them continue with their education as well as grow their game. I rented a house that has a servant quarter and three other single rooms elsewhere that have been housing the players,” explains the father of four. With it comes the financial burden of sustaining over 30 players in camp. The businessman spends close to Sh40,000 in rent expenses per month, even before he can think about meals and other essentials for the players. “I have over 50 players in my camp. I have, however, gotten scholarships for those in secondary school and that keeps them in school for the better part of the year. When schools close, some come back to camp and the onus is on me to take care of them. It has been a tough journey that has been made even tougher by Covid-19,” Esitoko offers, further revealing that the pandemic has forced him to close down seven of his shops in Nakuru. With the league concluded, Esitoko’s worry is how the players will get to their respective homes for the break ahead of the new season. “The players are now in camp and some need to go home but we have no funds to facilitate that. Despite finishing the league in top four, we are not even at a place where we can tell how we will survive next season. My resources have been depleted and the pandemic did a good one on my investments. The future is bleak,” concludes the tactician.
