Football or rather the beautiful game is a sport followed by millions of individuals around the world. Kenyans have not been left behind, especially when it comes to supporting the national teams: Harambee Stars and Harambee Starlets.
Although Harambee Stars have disappointed many over over the years, Kenyans still fill stadiums to the brim, particularly during international competitions such as the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
However, despite the country being a football crazy nation, many people have no idea of how the men’s national team got the name “Harambee Stars”.
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TeamKenya.coke went down the memory lane to establish facts regarding the origin of the popular nickname.
The name “Harambee Stars” came about by a decree, issued on December 16, 1976 by the then Football Kenya Federation (FKF) chairman, the late Kenneth Matiba.
Matiba who played a crucial role in shaping Kenya’s political and democratic landscape, directed that the national men’s football team would be Harambee Stars moving forward.
According to a recent article published by Nation, Matiba made the decision without involving the public, or holding a press conference.
“On December 16, 1976, Kenneth Matiba, the chairman of the Kenya Football Federation, decreed that from that day henceforth, the Kenya national football team would be known as Harambee Stars. There was no ceremony to it; it was not even done at a press conference,”
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“The culture of public participation wouldn’t take root in Kenya until long after the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1991 and the promulgation of a new constitution in 2010 and so the team’s new brand had to come by executive fiat,” Nation Sports reported on July 28, 2017.
The late veteran politician and former member of parliament for Kiharu constituency only issued a press release touching on discipline among players and transfers. He also expressed hope that the national side would live up to the spirit of “Harambee”.
The idea of Harambee originated in the 1890s during the construction of the Kenya-Uganda railway according to Kenyan folklore.
“Harambee was born when some 30,000 Indian migrants arrived in Mombasa in the 1890s to help build the Kenya-Uganda railway at the behest of the British. As they worked alongside Kenyans, the Indians called on Hare, the divine potency of God, and Ambe, the goddess of power, energy and invincibility,”
“The Kenyan workers often joined in, and soon, this combined Indian chant of “Hare” and “Ambe” became a uniquely Kenyan rallying call of unification,” The BBC reported.
Kenya has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup nor won any AFCON title. Where is the goddess of energy, invincibility and energy?
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