American Football in Kenya Featured on Breakfast Television

There’s nothing like a little in-studio tackling to get your day started and make your point.

At least that’s the view of the American football community in the East African country of Kenya where the game is a burgeoning sport.

The nation’s leading TV station, Citizen TV, invited a few players and one of the pioneers of the sport in this country, George Alwanga, into the studio to learn more about how the game is developing in the region.

Although growing rapidly throughout the rest of the world, American football is still in its infancy in Africa and in Kenya. In fact it does not even come close to being on the top seven list of the most popular sports in this African country.

Kenya - breakfast TV-2-2

Soccer and rugby dominate the sports scene in Kenya. In fact, even horse racing and running are listed far ahead of American football. Wikipedia does not list American football at all as even being a sport in Kenya.

  1. Football (soccer) — favorite sport
  2. Rugby
  3. Cricket
  4. Volleyball
  5. Field hockey
  6. Horse racing
  7. Running/Marathons

Nevertheless, the game is growing as teams are formed and players are slowly being taught the rudiments of the sport. So for American football to be featured recently on Citizen TV, based in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is a huge step forward.

Alwanga, who is one of the driving forces behind the growth of the game in Kenya, was on hand in the studio explaining the developments of the game in this country.

The clip includes a primer on football from the NFL.

Roger Kelly is an editor and a writer for AFI. A former PR Director the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League for 7 years, he now lives in Sweden writing about and scouting American Football throughout the world.