 It is the touch line here on Y-254 and we are hanging out with Robert Osoro and joining us on this set now is Eric Agano, he is a sports analyst, journalist and a man who loves youth and sports here on Y-254 and all around the world. Eric, welcome to the touch and how you doing? I'm good, thank you so much for the invite. What has been your highlights of the week so far? My highlight of the week may be yesterday, rugby. Yes, New Zealand winning that was good. And we are anticipating today's game. I know today is a cocktail of line-up. Yes. We start by Liverpool. I think in the next few minutes they should be kicking off against Everton. Magicide Derby. Magicide Derby. Yes. We also have Arsenal Chelsea. It's an interesting game and Man City Brighton. Absolutely. It's a big one. We'll be talking much more of that when it comes to the fans and also we've got the founder and also CEO of the Waziri Super Cup here in the studio with us. Salim, I forgot to ask you your highlight of the week when you were starting the show. My highlight of the week, I think some of the people that were feted yesterday on Friday, yes, yesterday for Mashuja, some of them have earned it. When you're talking about heroes of the nation, you're talking about what is the name of the lady who did a double in record. What is the athlete? The faith keeper. Faith keeper. She's one person I think was under the tag of being a national hero because she has gone out there and represented the nation in just one world record after world record. So that was my highlight of the week. Span of one year, three world records in the name of faith keeper gone well. For me, it's actually when it comes to rugby and that one yesterday, the African Football League was all about the organization that the Tanzania Football Federation put in alongside the confederations of African football and FIFA for that opening ceremony of the game between Simba and Hali as the inaugural edition of the African Football League. So for now, let's concentrate with the Waziri Super Cup that will be entering its fourth edition this year in Bungoma County and also joining us to talk about that is none other than the founder of the Waziri Super Cup, Salim Waziri. Salim? The first question is usually Waziri Super Cup. What does it entail? It's about when I started the tournament I wanted to do something for the community having played football myself and I really never got to the levels I wanted to do thanks to my Uncle Injari being shattered. So I said how will I live my life through other people. So I started a football tournament and through the tournament so far we have managed to pick a couple of talents I'm of Gontunzuaya Sugar. One is called Hasan Beja is now at FC Leopazia No. 10. So I think from the tournament there has been progress in it all and I just said many people start a football tournament again but what am I going to do different that will add that human touch into it. So I started feeding people feeding the needy and equipping girls with sanitary towels through the very tournament so I think again as I said I sat on this very set when I was doing the first interview about Waziri Super Cup and here we are and it's been quite a journey. So actually I have just talked about you have done it for three years this will be the fourth year that you are doing the Super Cup and the gains itself that the cup has brought in the people at Bungoma County how are those gains to the people? For the people it's something they look forward to it's basically giving hope to the helpless because if you don't do so much with your life but there is this one thing that as a people you connect to I've literally become the pride of those people because at some point in the year you might have had a terrible year from January to November but there's just one person who will come into my life in December and at least make me smile so I think they look forward to it now I've started receiving a lot of calls because we are now at 75 teams and I don't know have you ever heard of a tournament that plays 75 I want the likes of Eric and you to assist me but I want to find a criteria to eliminate the teams 25 teams there's no you playing that competition but then again you don't want to tell them it's too many teams because they want to participate in it some have even gone as fast registering their own teams they pick clan members so I pick Osoro, I pick Eric who are my brothers and cousins we're going to start training and register them with the FKF so that they come and take part in the tournament in December so it's quite a story so I hear them and I'm like it's quite inspiring but then again I think it's just what they look forward to and I'm glad that I've been I've been that hope for them Eric you are a youth community organizer you have helped youths come up and everything you have done some of these tournaments in Nairobi what do you usually look out for when you want to bring up a tournament like this first and foremost let me congratulate you to Aziri I know it's not easy and hearing that you're doing a fourth edition and the way football organizing a tournament the hustles and hustles that's a remarkable thing and to come to a question you look for something that can bring the community together because the beauty about grass football is not just football it's a way of life and you find that these people come together and what else are we looking at we're looking at now it being them owning it up it's not a matter of you now as the organizer it is them owning that tournament and you'll find that they will give you suggestions they will run the tournament and the beauty of it is that everybody would want to take part even when you're struggling financially you find that you'll find youths volunteering to do the field mark the field and such kind of things and it brings out something interesting because it unites the community it unites the hood it unites the estate currently we are doing the Sakaja Kapo also in Nairobi and you can see that in the young people the playing surfaces yes they are not as good as we would expect but the young people are coming up and it's really interesting to see it and if we can have many waziris coming up in each and every hood coming up with that you'll find talents coming up as he's mentioned that they've been able to support some talents and match them to higher levels if we can do that then it will be beginning of a very big thing to come we have talked about one of the challenges that you are experiencing in this one is the amount of teams that are actually coming out 75 even the world cup we don't understand you see you have seen the African Lagas drug from 24 they are brought into 8 teams and now you've got 75 what are the other challenges that come up with because now you've got a whole year to prepare but it's now October and the first challenges 75 teams what are the other major challenges that you experience in Uganda many times sometimes the local politicians because they don't do that for themselves so they feel when Eric or Ziri comes up with a tournament they want to run for a particular seat but they don't understand simply just doing it for the love of the beautiful game so some of them try and lay traps or they just start creating some PR propaganda that does not exist so that your tournament doesn't get the recognition of the umf it deserves so those are the kind of some of the challenges we go through and then you understand sometimes in western you might find that there are many local tournaments just small tournaments here and there and then the pitches are not enough and you look at the pitches that are available either in secondary school or primary school there are no community-owned pitches that you can just go and host your tournament and we understand that also these schools have been given restrictions because you might find that I will come there and Eric and Robert to watch the game but there are some people who have not come there for different reasons so schools have been prohibited from hosting some of this because again Robert you are talking about the finals of this local grassroot 5,000, 6,000 fans you cannot control all that crowd if you don't have enough security and the other major thing that usually comes out is that when you watch the grassroot football tournament the fun turn up that people usually come around from the community level to just come and enjoy the games because like one of the major tournaments that was done back home and I think also I think 5 or 6 years old is the Karamoja supermarket and you saw how those people came to that market center and those numbers shook the world, Kenyans were like no no no this one cannot happen but you look at Kotbiru we are having fans coming out bringing it to the tournament how come that we are coming out for the community but we are not coming out for our clubs I think it narrows down to the turnout shows two things one passion Kenyans are really passionate about football and also football is a unifying thing but when it comes to clubs I think it narrows down to management and organization of these tournaments because if you look at the local tournaments the grassroot tournaments the turnout is big Kotbiru the turnout is big but there is a task playing Madari in Nyarostadium the turnout is poor I think it narrows down to now how is it organized because you see when you bring the tournament close to the people when you make the people be part of that and I think our clubs should embrace that bring out the community because most of our clubs that enjoy a lot of fanatic following community best clubs look at Shabana coming in Shabana you will find the community has rallied behind the club look at FC Leopards look at Gormaya look at Muranga Seals has come in now it's doing well because the fans have rallied behind the club and I think when I come to organization the organizers of this game should I have said in the past why don't we have kakamega grounds as the home stadium for FC Leopards and you will see that stadium filled to the brim Bungu stadium because these guys love their club and if that game will be played there those who are in Nairobi will organize for transport you have seen Gormaya fans organizing for transport and travelling all the way to Mombasa to support their teams so it narrows down to organization let us accept that most of our clubs are community based clubs and if they are community based clubs first of all rally the community behind that club and then now the other fans will join in because there are those who are looking at and to go to a stadium that is full so if many of my friends are going to the stadium I will tag along but if many of my friends are going to the club to catch the English Premier League I will also tag along you see if we can do that because look at what was he saying when it comes to grassroot you find that that pitch is small and people on top of trees watching that game it is too small but people will be so filled because of the passion and because they identify with the tournament let our fans identify with our clubs and you will find that everything will turn around this thing when I was looking we looked at in the 3 years that you have had this tournament you have managed to feed over 400 families we cube over 1700 girls with the sanitary towels and secured 5 sports scholarships that is a big one and the question is one man or do you have sponsors and people coming in to help you out when it comes to doing such a tournament and for it to become a success when I started it for the past let's say 3 editions it has been breaking my back because I wanted to create you know robot once you create you create something that everyone wants to get attached to it you take that conversation to any corporate or corporate in the world and they see what you have been able to do because you have something to show for it they want to really be a part of it so I said for my 4th edition it will be my manifestation here because I want now to all that I have been able to do for the 3 years to come now to the 4 so that it is not a story anymore because if you have not tried and tested it there is no you can explain it to Eric and get him to understand what is the idea behind it but so I went I went alone for the past 3 years and now this is I have got a couple of partners on board so I think people have now realized that there are so many people out here that are doing so much for communities and football at large so they really want to be a part of it I will ask you about the scholarships because that one is one of the major things that most of our players usually look forward to because you don't want to have a playing career after playing career what next these 5 players who got scholarships how did you come about that Zitek also they have been partners over the years since the first edition and I am really grateful because they tell you you might be a wonderful footballer and how many players in Kenya will make you to the European leg very few, you can only count Mariga, Nawa Nyama and a few others who have not gotten to the elite level yet but they are still playing in Europe they ask me waziri because if we keep on providing funds we are not helping we are not helping the dream but you have players here I went and sat down with a couple of them I asked them what do you want to do with your life some of them were like I don't want to play football for the rest of my life because again the infrastructure is not right you cannot make it that easy I want to go to school and learn so the head of marketing at Zitek University is called Wycliffe Serango so he told me let's be picking at least 2 talented players who want to go to school every year so now at least we have got 5 that are under the sports scholarship program well and that is actually what we usually look out for in that you have something to take home for after the tournament and everything for the Sakaja Super Cup I think it has already begun how is it going so far it's going on well we have over 300 teams participating in the Sakaja Super Cup because we have 85 wards in Nairobi and each ward has brought in 4 teams so that is 85 multiplied by 4 so how it's organized it's played at constituency level so like for example we are really really best through Sambu constituency and those are 20 teams they play against one another so the best two will move to the next stage because we are also targeting to have the final in December now when we pick 222 from the 17 we will have approximately 34 teams which will now go on for matonamins kind of a world cup style but first the idea was to bring football to the ground and that is why we brought in each ward like tomorrow we have big big games in Roishambu we have the saints playing against the Ghidorai All Stars that's a big big game saints is from my hood that is Kaha West where we having saints will be playing tomorrow we have committee will be playing tomorrow we have kaha pride and also city sports those are the teams from Kaha West and the idea here is to bring young people together and the first round of games you could see clearly this is what the young people are missing in Nairobi because usually Kotbiro was targeting a few teams around Eastlands but this one is covering the whole of Nairobi and it's being played in the ward if it's being played in the ward that means accessibility young people will access those fields and you can see the fans coming to the stadium even old people coming to cheer their teams it's a good feeling and I understand when Waziri talks about now what he's done to his people down in Bungoma they're looking forward to that at the end of every year they know Waziri is coming so if you don't go they'll be so disappointed and finally what is the end game what is the future of Waziri Super Cup look like oh my goal is to create to create a team every single year because last year we created Wabuya Sportif they are now playing division 2 I want to create a team from the tournament every year I create a team and then going forward again the dream of the tournament the general dream is every single year we open up a business last year we started we started with with a kawush we are now as he is saying this youth have got to find something that distracts their minds from being a devil's workshop so keep them engaged and then also in partnership we also have a title sponsor thank god this year in one ex bet it's a global brand they will be they want to look for avenues of how to help the community in general because as much as they are betting they are advocating for responsible gaming one of the things that came out with the betting companies are that interaction with the community and in that you need a program that actually runs to help the community is that one of the reasons they are coming up to sponsor the Waziri Super Cup yes yes because again we are looking into they are also providing I think one thousand dollars that will go strictly to feeding the needy and equipping girls with sanita retire so that is literally there is nothing as big as that when it comes to community because people have got to eat and girls have got to feel safe in their own body so I think those are the the greatest things that are going to come out of this year's partnership with one ex bet well finally Eric the thing is what message does like the Sakaja Super Cup all the grass roots football community because it's a a major one in Kenya when you look at grass roots football it's a big one in Kenya what is the message that is being passed to these youths in these tournaments responsible living because we are we are urging them we understand that there is peer pressure we understand that things are tough but we are urging them to make responsible decisions decisions that will not affect their lives negatively in future and I know I will also appeal to our leaders also to embrace grass roots sports and you find that if each and every leader can come in and bring in something I'm sure then we will be able to keep our youth busy we will be able to reduce the social evils as you see as he said an idle mind is a devil's workshop and you find that these grass roots football sometimes gives people purpose especially over the weekend if I've seen the Sakaja Cup the games begin at 10 a.m so you see they begin at 10 a.m the first game is at 10 the next game is at 12 and the last game is at 4 so you see you've occupied this young man the whole day rather than now he could have gone to the base and engaged in other evils so we are just telling them journey together well it's a big word here in studio with Rika Ganya a youth organizer here in Nairobi and also sports journalist and we are also with Salim Waziru he is the founder of Waziri Super Cup as we talk about grass roots football and how these tournaments are there to empower the community you are going to incorporate rugby basketball in this tournament coming up looks like more employment opportunities for people back home absolutely because over the years I've been working with a committee of 15 guys you have to give people a chance to like show what they can do for society too so now this year because we are incorporating the other two games two sports we are going to at least have 25 members of the community who are at the end of the tournament they'll be paid for the one week of the sports festival that we are going to have from December 26th to 31st and then the beauty is for the first time we are going to have the tournament on New Year's Eve which will be the 31st so we are looking forward to the New Year's Sensation and then King Kaka will be performing at the after party after the finals so it is literally going to be a football festival so I will tell you and Eric to start packing your bags we will actually do that and it's a good one that we are having it's actually in Webuya, Bungoma Webuya Town, Bungoma County so if let's say a corporate wants to get in touch with you to go back home and sponsor these teams how can they get in touch? They can write an email to Salimozeri79 at gmail.com because we like it that way because some corporates want to be professional about it so that they have that paper trail in all if they want to be a part of it so that's how they can reach me also through my number which is 0715 006 1547 so that we can have a conversation of how to impact societies you can repeat that one actually looking at that camera so that they can get it actually if you want to be a part of the dream you can reach me on 0715 006 1547 well for Eric I think we brought you in but we've got to have another conversation of the Sakaaja Super Cup because it's already started it's going on at the moment for you what is the end game then the end game is to come up with talents want to identify those talents because most of the time we find that some of these young people lack an opportunity to showcase their skills and right now when we go to the hood they are able to showcase their skills and somebody will support it and you realize that there is a good player the first game, the second game, the third game definitely you recommend that player to some of our clubs and that way you see it gives young people hope that if I continue working hard somebody will see me because the issue of visibility also the talents are there but who is supporting them look at for example the secondary school games when you guys went to showcase what was happening in Kakamega Kibets was taken from that you see that's what we want to do we give them an opportunity to showcase what they are capable of and eventually you will find that so many young people are going to be taken from these hoods and join academies internationally and also nationally well as we going to the first season you realize that many of these tournaments will be coming up and the usual question that we can ask is it also high time that we as Kenyans are the stakeholders of the sports industry here in Kenya is it a time for them to rethink how sports is being structured and run because in these tournaments Waziri Super Cup Sakaja Super Cup Klova Smalala Karamoja Safarkum Chapadimba and high school football is where the funds are but when it comes to our major tournaments our sports that are run by our sports our funds do not actually come is it time that we actually rethink that one it is the touch in here on Y254 Erika Ganya with me and also Sal Mwaziri let's take a short commercial break and enjoy some of the international friendlies when it comes to football England won against Italy 3-1 we also got France winning against Scotland by 4 goals to 1 but it is all those conversations when we come back we will be all about the funds like around to Bowie potential for England