History of Green Commandos
The Decade of total dominance
The coining of the team name “Green Commandos (GC)” by the late GASK principal Mr. Gaylord Avedi. The Kakamega school put its full support behind the brand that was Green Commandos.
In 1979 we won the first Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) championship against Khamis High School in Thika. Under the watchful eye of the late tactician Chris Makokha this year kickstarted a run of five back to back victories that spanned between 1979-1983 and another two titles won in 1986 and 1989. Any Green Commandos aficionado will always look back at the 80’s era with so much nostalgia because first and foremost the brand of football that was embodied by this team was unlike any other at the time.
The lucky number 7, those are the number of titles this era came with. The 80’s era was the most heralded era in the Green Commandos football history and cemented Kakamega High School status as the Kings of football. Under the watchful eye of the brilliant tactician Chris Makokha, the team won five back to back titles and struck fear in all opponents that they faced from 1979-1983. This era of greatness was kickstarted by the first school championship title win in ‘79 against Khamis High School in Thika. The team captained by Peter Ouma at the time was formidable and featured great players such as Washington Muhanji, Peter Lichungu and many others. Any Green Commandos aficionado will always look back at the 80’s era with so much nostalgia because first and foremost the brand of football that was embodied by this team was unlike any other at the time. The Brazilian team they were nick-named owing to slick passing football/ carpet football as the locals termed it. The team not only won numerous titles but won them in style.
Early 80’s winning team under Legendary Coach Chris Makokha.
The 1981 national schools final is rated as the most epic encounter in the history of Kenyan schools soccer. The talent that was showcased during that final was second to none. The opponents Kisumu Boys High School had in its ranks future Kenyan greats such as John Okello Zangi who later played professionally for Gor Mahia and future Posta goal-keeper Spinks Mbidha. However, the Green Commandos team boasted a galaxy of stars like Mike Amwayi, Peter Ouma, Patrick Shilasi, Dan Musuku, Zimbo owade (all who went on to play for AFC Leopards), George Nyangi played for Gor Mahia and Ronald Watsiera plied his trade in Kenya Breweries which is present day Tusker FC. Green Commandos, after a hard fought battle, eventually ended up beating Kisumu high on a dramatic penalty shootout. In 1983 however, the team was unstoppable and won the final by a whopping 16-0 scoreline in Nairobi. Such was the prowess of this side that no other team stood a chance against it.
The team that restored Green Commandos glory days in 1989
The winning streak was momentarily stopped from 1984 by fierce rivals Musingu and Iterio. However, in 1986 they regained glory by beating Iterio followed by a defeat the following year by the same rival in Bukhungu Stadium on Green Commandos own home patch. This came as a blow to the team but the players rallied and won back their title in 1989. This particular team was considered the strongest side ever fielded in the championships and it contained big names in Kenyan football history such as goalkeeper Mike Kisaghi, Hezron Osuka, Tony Lwanga, Joash Okongo, Mike Wambani “computer”, Isaac Kwoba, Sylvanus Bulinda, Patrick Mugata and Regnald Asibwa. The greatest era in this team’s history was marked by great football, great players and plenty of victories.
Dominant record breaking 80’s run
- 1979 won against Khamis High School
- 1980 won against Mukumu
- 1981 won against Kisumu Boys
- 1982 won against Chewoyet
- 1983 won against Jamhuri
- 1984 runner up to Musingu
- 1986 won against Iterio
- 1987 runner up to Iterio
- 1989 won against Githumu
The Decade of relative dominance
The 90’s era turned out not to be as trophy laden as the 80’s but still boasted great talent and great football. Green Commandos was still a prime team that paid emphasis on nurturing and churning football talent that will eventually play not only in local leagues but also in Europe and of course in turn play for the national team. Even with a glaring lack of victories the team still produced wonderful players such as Maurice sunguti, Bonaventure Maruti, John Mo Muiruri, Simeon Mulama, Jeffrey Oyando, Anthony Fwaya, Kennedy Oliech, Andrew Oyombe, Eric Cantona Murhanda and Francis Chinjili.
The team however did win two titles in the 90’s in 1990 and 1995 before going on another long trophy drought until the 2000’s. In the 1990 final Green Commandos beat Masii in Machakos. In 1991 they unfortunately lost their national title to Ofafa Jericho but they later returned the favor by beating Ofafa Jericho in the 1995 final to return bragging rights back to Kakamega.
The 1990’s got us looking back at the 80’s with much nostalgia owing to the fact that the era marked a time of relative dominance compared to the standards that were earlier set by the 80’s teams. There was relative success seen in the national championship wins of 1990 and 1995.
- 1990 win against Masii Boys High School
- 1991 runner up to Ofafa Jericho High School
- 1995 win against Ofafa Jericho High School
The Millennium revival
After experiencing a long KSSSA championships drought from 1995 to 2008, the millennial era saw Kakamega High School return to its old ways by winning the nationals titles four times. The team has enjoyed some good times and has bounced back from the nineties drought. The winning teams cropped from 2008, 2014 and back to back titles from 2017 and 2018. The year 2014 saw a repeat of 1981 final against Kisumu boys with the same winning result for Kakamega High School. The 2014 team had in its ranks the Kenyan International and Vasalunds IF player Eric “Marcelo” Ouma, a highly rated left-back. In 2017 Kakamega High went back to winning ways by beating the 2015 champions Passenga by an injury-time solitary goal. In the 2018 championships, the team successfully defended the title by beating Olbolsat with Alpha Onyango named the MVP of the tournament and Henry Atola scoring the late winning goal. The team also had promising players such as talented midfielder Collins “Bebeto” Sichenje who last season played for the Green Commandos senior team in the NSL and currently plays for AFC leopards in the KPL and also another standout Alishula Fredrick a commanding central defender and current Green Commandos junior team captain and also a great professional prospect. Victor Mwangi was outstanding for Olbolsat but even he was not enough to curb the might of the Green Commandos. However, 2019 was a year to forget for Kacherian football as the team crashed out in the group stages therefore not making this year’s nationals final and hence unable to mount a proper defense to the 2018 title. This was met with great disappointment from the Green Commandos supporters especially owing to the fact that the team looked very formidable and was tipped to have won this year’s title with ease.
2014 champions starting eleven
Millenium track record
- 2008 won against Waa
- 2014 won against Kisumu Day
- 2017 won against Passenga
- 2018 won against Olbolsat
The 2018 U19 national champions jubilant after retaining their title
Kakamega High School is currently working to rectify the problem to return bigger and stronger than before. This is seen by the work the club put in into hosting an elite football camp in August in partnership with Edukick Soccer Academies and Zero Gravity that was facilitated by Uefa Pro license coach Roberto Navajas and his assistant. The camp was a chance for recruitment for
the next crop of young talent to be developed into the great professionals that Green Commandos is so famously known to produce. So a word of advice to all opponents is “watch this space” as Kakamega will come back bigger and stronger and with a force never before encountered. The team is coming back with a vengeance.
Promotion to the National Super League
The team registered itself to play in the amateur national leagues run by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) in order to season our youthful players to make the transition to professional football easier. Entry into the third tier of Kenyan football leagues, the Division One “Zone B” league, was momentous on its own owing to the fact that the team was made up of only student players who had to play against much older amateur players. The year 2017 saw Green Commandos break yet another record in youth/school boy football when the team won the Division One “Zone B” league and were promoted to the second tier of the football league – National Super League (NSL). No other school team has ever achieved that momentous feat to-date given our history it couldn’t have been any more fitting. Unfortunately, after two seasons in the league had to relegated back to the Division One league in the year 2020. This was occasioned by the congested fixtures our youths were subjected to which interfered with their school schedules.