Football icon JJ Masiga honoured by the Royal Nairobi Golf
JJ Masiga, as he is fondly known among his peers and fans, terrorised defenders as a towering centre forward during his heydays at AFC Leopards and the Kenya national football team, Harambee Stars.
He also had successful stints as a fly-half player for rugby teams such as Kenya Harlequins.
Juggling football and rugby swiftly was a great show of resilience, commitment and brevity for the Nairobi School alumni. His success in and outside the pitch needs no introduction but refresh your mind; Masiga was part of the Harambee Stars team that dominated football in the East and Central Africa region in 1980s under the tutelage of coach Marshall Mulwa, Masiga won CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup three times in a row and was also part of the AFC Leopards team that won the CECAFA Club Championships four times.
The man who is second on the list of Leopards’ all time best goal scorers after netting 118 goals has embraced the game of golf for fitness and ‘mind.’ He has been playing social golf at the Royal Nairobi Golf Club since 2016, a sport that has been so dear to the Kenyan soccer icon.
Last Saturday,the Golf Club honoured the Ingwe legend with a tournament dubbed ‘Celebrating a Living Legend’
“You know golf is an individual game,” Masiga said with a bursting laughter. “It is you and that ball unlike team sports where one would rely on team mates. Coming into it in old age or chasing it as social golf but I enjoy it because it actually demands a lot.My physical fitness,that means walking and my psych as well,” he remarked.
He further noted that he has learnt a lot in the three sports he has played from rugby, football and now golf.
“If you don’t play according to rules then you lose it.All the sports demand honesty and integrity.Some of the things I have gathered in few years do not portray what some people think about golf as a sport.You know there has been a notion that for one yo play golf he or she must have substantial amount of money but for me I think otherwise.It is not actually the money,its time that needs to be created and you need at least five hours of play.”
