SCHOOLS | Why the Sports Tribunal lifted Onjiko Boys’ football team’s three-year ban after the Term Two Secondary School Games
Onjiko Boys High School players and officials can now breathe a sigh of relief after the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) lifted a three-year ban slapped on their football team during the national Secondary Schools Games. Onjiko Boys had been banned over allegations of fielding ineligible players during the high stake term two Kisumu County Secondary Schools ball games, a decision the school Principal says will mollify the school’s students’ fraternity who razed the entire school dormitory, enraged by the sanction, and will curb indiscipline.
Onjiko High School football team
players react after winning a
previous match.
PHOTO | COURTESY | TRBN |
The SDT decision elicited wild celebrations among the school’s students, teaching fraternity, fans in the surrounding community, and residents of neighbouring Ahero township, located on the busy Nairobi–Kericho–Kisumu highway. However, various school-based sports administrators have slammed the tribunal’s decision to lift the Onjiko ban. Kisumu County schools sports administrators, led by Agai Mixed Secondary School Principal Gordon Akoko, argue the tribunal’s decision to lift the ban against Onjiko Boys will promote fielding of ineligible players and athletes by schools during secondary school ball games and lower genuine competition during the annual Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) organized championship.
In an interview with TRBN Sports, newly posted Onjiko Boys School Principal Gordon Muga said the SDT’s decision will instil discipline among the school’s fanatical football students, curb indiscipline, and enable them to focus on the twin endeavours of academics and sports as co-curricular activities promoted by the current Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).
“Immediately, I was posted to Onjiko Boys High School from Tiengre Mixed Secondary School, located in the outskirts of Kisumu City, among my first key assignments was to make strident efforts to have the three-year ban against the school lifted,” Muga revealed. He added: “The first step I took was to return the school’s football team to the KSSSA organized ball games by formally appealing against the three-year school football team’s ban, through the Kisumu County Director of Education, Rosemary Birenge, who forwarded our appeal to the Sports Disputes Tribunal, which humanely considered our petition and lifted the ban.”
“The ban of the school by Kisumu County KSSSA officials was a result of the school football team’s technical bench officials, who took advantage of the school’s retiring Principal, Joseph Were, last June 2025, to register ineligible players into the school’s football team. The Kisumu County Director of Education and County KSSSA officials should take punitive action against these errant school officials rather than punish innocent talented student footballers,” Muga implored national Ministry of Education officials.
He added: “In the meantime, I thank SDT for favourably considering Onjiko Boys High School’s appeal against the ban imposed on the school’s football team.”
