Envisioning and visualizing English football in East Africa: the case of a Kenyan radio football commentator

Abstract

This paper examines Mohammed Juma Njuguna’s radio commentary on English Premier League football to a Kenyan audience. It observes that this commentator’s performance uniquely deviates from the play-by-play style of radio football commentary which we have known in Kenya. His focus is not limited to the football match event, and to comprehend it one has to consult other frames of interpretation beyond the football match event. These narratives not only invoke a socio-cultural context but are also constructed and performed in a way that closely relates them to aspects of the oral traditional performance. I investigate this phenomenon in the light of the concept of radio football commentary as an envisioning process, and argue that such envisioning goes beyond the football match event to the wider perceptions and social myths of both the community of fans and the wider society and culture.