Mashemeji derby, or Ingo-Dala derby, will see Kenya’s two most popular football clubs in Nairobi — AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia — face each other this Sunday with fans from both sides ready for both action and drama.
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Gor Mahia is currently the league leader with 63 points after 29 matches, while their counterparts Leopards, are in the ninth position with 42 points after playing the same number of games as K’ogalo.
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Meanwhile, the table after last weekend’s matches has defending champion Tusker two points behind Gor Mahia with five matches to go. K’Ogalo fans call this Derby the final stretch as they are looking forward to lifting their 20th title despite facing second-placed Tusker thereafter in what could be the decider depending on this weekend’s results.
It is the oldest rivalry in Kenyan football history. Leopards and Gor Mahia fans recognize each other as arch-rivals despite new clubs threatening to change this status quo.
Tusker has been more dominant than Leopards and has been challenging Gor Mahia for the title in recent years having won the last two previous seasons successively.
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Fans began setting the mood for the derby by trolling each other through different social media platforms with the jokes and jabs that have become part of the Mashemeji tradition.
“The last time Mashemeji won a derby, Kenya police officers were still doing ‘kinyasa’/bukta au boxers and coloured cameras were still a pipe dream, ” Gor Mahia Fans Club tweeted earlier this week.
K’ogalo has won the Kenyan Premier League a record 19 times, while Leopards have 12 league titles to their name as of 2019.
In 1970, Gor Mahia won their first major trophy, the Kenyan Premier League, and went on to dominate Kenyan football for the next decade. During this time, the club won five league titles, four Kenyan Cups, and one CECAFA Club Cup.
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Astonishingly, Ingwe registered more success in the 1980s than their Mashemeji rivals, as they were Premier League winners in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, and 1989, but managed to lift the title only twice during the 1990s; in 1992 and 1998.
In contrast, Gor Mahia has registered more success in the 2000s, as they have been Kenyan champions in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2018–19, and 2019–20 seasons.
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In the 1980s, they were only victors in 1984, 1985, and 1987 as AFC Leopards registered unprecedented achievements.
Mashemeji is a Derby for the Fan; The Nairobi derby
Both clubs have had trouble containing their fans in previous encounters that have at times been marred with spates of violence and chaos. In 2011, for instance, the FKF Cup quarter-final game was abandoned after Leopards fans violently protested – by pelting the assistant referee with objects – after Gor Mahia scored from a superb combination between Moses Odhiambo and Moses Otieno.
K’Ogalo, after Leopards forfeited the game and the 1-0 scoreline was allowed to stand – went on to win the cup after beating Sofapaka.
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This achievement gave them the ticket to represent Kenya in the Caf Confederation Cup.
