November 26, 2024

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Attack During Soccer Training that Nearly Left Raila Odinga a Disabled Man

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ODM leader Raila Odinga’s love for football started when he was a young boy in Kisumu but it was destroyed in an incident that almost left him a handicapped man.

An attack in the field by an opponent about 46 years ago injured Raila so badly that today he walks with a slight limp.

He was a footballer while schooling in Germany and when he came back to Kenya in 1970 he joined Gor Mahia Football Club.

A day in 1974 when Raila was 29 years old they went to train with the Survey of Kenya team at their grounds along Thika road.

Raila plays football in a state-of-the-art stadium build by Joho (photos) -  Tuko.co.ke

While they were in the field, a player from Survey team jumped against Raila, kicked him in the left knee and sheared the front of his left shin with his shoe studs.

Raila was hospitalised and for weeks he could not walk but crawl. Were it not for urgent medical attention he would be a crippled man today.

Raila watching a Gor Mahia match. [Photo: Courtesy]

“At the hospital my kneecap had to be pushed back into position. For weeks I was barely able to walk and had to crawl around the house” he writes in his book “The Flame of Freedom”.

He adds; “It was an agony and it was also the end of my football career. I sustained an injury whose after-effects would remain with me for the rest of my life”.

It was this injury that made it difficult for him to squat when ordered to do so while he was in detention in 1980s and 1990s. Interrogators thought he was defiant and tortoured him mercilessly.