SportPesa Cup Magic Moments: Kilinga, The Yanga Super Fan Who Lit 2018

DAR-ES-SALAAM, Kenya- The previous two editions of the SportPesa Cup- formerly known as the SportPesa Super Cup- gave local football talent from Tanzania and Kenya a chance to shine at the East African stage.

Established as a tribute to the intense rivalry between the two nations that started in back in the 1920s when the Gossage Cup-the front-runner to the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup- the invitational eight-team knockout competition has grown to be a key date in the regional calendar.

In the SportPesa Cup Magic Moments series in the run up to the third edition that kicks off on Tuesday (January 2) to January 27, we look back at the defining contributions of players who seized the opportunity to shine at the 2017 and 18 editions.

In the fourth instalment of the series that has already celebrated forward Allan Wanga and goalkeepers Peter Manyika Jr and Ian Otieno, Bahati M Kilinga, a passionate fan of Dar giants, Yanga SC added the spice to the 2018 edition held at Afraha Stadium, Nakuru.

Football would be nothing without the supporters who throng stadiums to watch their favourite teams play, turning games into spectacles of colour and contrasting emotions.

Staunch supporter

In Kilinga, Yanga have a staunch supporter who bleeds green and yellow and aside from her undying love for her favourite team she follows everywhere they go on the planet, she has also managed to make a living from her passion.

Kilinga stood out from the two busloads of Yanga and eternal enemies Simba SC fans that started their journey from Tanzanian capital Dar-es-Salaam and drove picking up others along the route to the lakeside Kenyan town of Nakuru.

By the time they left home, with Yanga crashing out at the quarterfinals before Simba lost the final to Kenyan sides, Kakamega Homeboyz FC and Gor Mahia FC, the middle-aged mother had sprinkled her magic on the tournament.

A day after Yanga crashed out of the Super Cup following a 1-3 reverse, Kilinga stayed behind to cheer SportPesa Premier League side, Kariobangi Sharks FC, who incidentally, dress in green and yellow as her favourite team as they took on their mortal enemies, Simba SC.

“I was hoping my team would progress but unfortunately, it did not happen. I'm in so much pain, I’m hurting. I’m not happy, the pain is too much,” she wailed at SportPesa

News at the time as she brandished her Yanga SC membership identification that is also a Visa ATM card.

Commercial benefit

What was striking about her devotion to her club was on top of spending an arm and a leg to follow her club wherever they travel, the small-scale businesswoman was among those rallying fellow Yanga supporters to sell club merchandise outside Afraha for their team to benefit commercially.

“We sat with the leaders of the teams and agreed to sell the club jerseys Dar, Arusha, Mtibwa, Singida and other towns our team travels to. The manufactures and the clubs agree that the money goes to the teams.

“I would love to advertise the Gor jersey in Tanzania because they are respected and play very well,” Bahati said of her enterprise as she left the 2018 SportPesa Cup a heroine on the stands.

Bahati, 48, and her fellow supporter merchants from Tanzania gave their Kenyan hosts a big wake up call on how to make hay while sun shines.