The Diguna Champions League

This league started in 2008, in February and ran for only five Sunday afternoons. There were only six teams and the players were all aged 12 and under. Naturally, a few older kids sneaked through the system due to their frail bodies, but the league was generally a success, especially as a pilot project for days to come. Most of our expenses came during the prize giving time, when we dished out uniforms to the winning team.
A few years later, the league has grown by leaps and bounds and where we had about 50 kids on our compound every Sunday afternoon, we now host 200 players and many more spectators on game days. We enjoy a good working relationship with our security men here at the Diguna Mbagathi station and we have formed many healthy friendships with the kids from our neighborhood and the greater Ongata Rongai area.

It is an amazing thing to have an event which attracts young people faithfully every weekend, something that even church can’t accomplish without making most people feel guilty. For some of the kids who come to play at our league, we are the only contact they make with anything close to church, even though our sharing is limited to the pre-game talk and to one-on-one sharing. We do more friendship evangelism than anything else and we trust God for changed lives. We also teach integrity because we strive to stick to the rules we set for the matches. Sometimes, a team may feel wronged by the officials but we normally try to find an amicable solution to their grievances. Perhaps the lesson most have learnt from us is that we genuinely care about them and we want to see them grow. They also know that anyone who is found out to be overage causes his team to lose points and goals and risks being disqualified from the league.

This August, we are planning to host a two-day girls/ ladies’ football tournament and we look forward to the opportunity to also give them a sporting chance. This will also be a unique opportunity for anyone or any organization that believes in our ladies to partner with us to make this event a success. The tournament will be held at our sports field and will be on a six-a-side format, since this is what we are best known for.

The journey goes on, who knows; we might even end up with a football academy here. We are doing everything we can and trusting in God’s timing and in His plan.