Football matches offer drama, and for the fans who can’t make it to the stadium, technology has now made it possible for them to experience the matches as if they were in the stadium.
Making all that happen is no simple task.
For the national finals of Safaricom Chapa Dimba played in Kisumu in mid-April, it took a crew of about 30: eight camera operators, three sound technicians, two assistant engineers, a director, members of the graphics crew, two EVs responsible for playback systems, two live streaming technicians, two drivers, commentators, and riggers tasked with setting up equipment platforms.
The man in charge was Auka Gecheo, a retired rugby player who was among a small group of like-minded people who saw an opportunity when SuperSport exited the Kenyan sports scene in 2017 after 10 years.
Auka was the General Manager of SuperSport and, with partners, bought its equipment and retained most of the highly trained crew.
They named the company they created, Live Eye.
When live sports production started, the Americans called the production unit or the Outside Broadcasting vans “live eyes,” and Auka and his partners thought that was a good moniker for their fledgling company.
The team built on the skills and experience they had garnered over the 10 years they worked with the South African sports broadcasting powerhouse and have continued to build their expertise.
“During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, most of the camerapersons working here at Chapa Dimba were working in Qatar as live TV production crew. The director of this Chapa Dimba production was working as a cameraperson during the last Africa Cup of Nations. This shows the levels of expertise and the richness in talent at Live Eye,” said Micheal Were, a commentator at Live Eye.
Safaricom Chapa Dimba was among the first big jobs for Live Eye. In 2019, Auka and his partners challenged Safaricom to see further than the linear TV media houses and envision content on demand that is hosted anywhere and watched anytime. Safaricom saw the vision.
The quality of production was a subject of conversation among those watching, a testament to Live Eye’s quality.
The stream on Safaricom’s YouTube page also offered global exposure to the young footballers showcasing their talent.
“When we did the first Chapa Dimba, I got to meet someone in the stadium who was a scout from Spain. We exchanged contacts and kept in touch. A couple of years later, I was like, ‘Chapa Dimba is here. W’sap? Where are you?’. He was like, ‘It is now streamed. I don’t need to come to the stadium to watch. I can watch it from the comfort of my living room’,” explained Auka.
For commentators, one of its stars is Were, popularly known as “Bonga Ball”, who was discovered during a SuperSport countrywide commentator’s audition in 2012. He now leads the Safaricom Chapa Dimba commentary alongside Shadrack Odinga, a former KPL footballer turned journalist and pundit.
For Safaricom Chapa Dimba, they decided to broadcast solely in Kiswahili.
“The commentators did a fantastic job. From the research, the behind-the-scenes, the effort they put into collecting all that information, so that they can be able to connect with the viewer. Chapa Dimba is a grassroots football tournament. It is targeted at mashinani. The best way to communicate to them is using the Swahili language and a bit of Sheng and a bit of the nuances from the local communities,” said Auka.
Live Eye has also gone on to venture into TV drama productions. Faithless, Second Family and Crime and Justice, which air on Showmax and DSTV, are among the productions that Live Eye has produced.
Even as Live Eye broadens its horizons, for Auka, live sports production is still the goose that lies the golden egg. He marvels at the opportunity available in Kenya: “We’ve not scratched the surface in terms of exploiting sports from a broadcasting perspective in this country. Maybe we are not very conversant with the value that we can get out of broadcasting, but the world over, sports is driven by TV. That’s where the most money comes from.”
In addition to being the Managing Partner at Live Eye, Auka, a confessed sports junkie who does not have a broadcasting background, is currently the Secretary General of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). He has previously served as the General Manager of the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU).
He sees a lot of potential in Safaricom Chapa Dimba.
“It is huge exposure for these kids. It’s fantastic. I think Safaricom is doing something extremely important, and I can bet you that in a couple of years, we will see the fruits of these efforts,” he said.
