A group of former soccer players from Kakamega County yesterday called for an end to war of words between the leadership of AFC Leopards and Kakamega Homeboyz.

The soccer stakeholders, some of who are coaches at the moment, said the bitter exchanges between Homeboyz owner Cleophas ‘Toto’ Shimanyula and Leopards’ Chairman Dan Shikanda ahead of their MozzartBet-FKF Cup semi-finals clash on Saturday May 20 were unhealthy.

They said fans of the two Kenya Premier League sides were now feeling incited and would cause mayhem if the banter continues.

“Leopards and Homeboyz need to tone down on chest-thumping. The leadership of these siblings must explore ways of ironing out imaginary differences. Leopards should not be blamed for standing in the way when Homeboyz was almost winning the league,” said a former Ingwe and Harambee Stars player Reginald Asibwa.

“Homeboyz were ill-prepared and might not have been worthy winners then. On the other hand, Leopards should not be stopping other teams from winning the premier league but win it themselves,” he added.

Speaking at Khayega sports-ground in Shinyalu Constituency, the legends said it was a shame that Ingwe had descended from a continental football powerhouse to a now “winners’-stopping team”.

They said their desire was to see a Leopards’ leadership that was keen on rebuilding a side that would win trophies both locally, regionally and continentally instead of engaging in verbal tirades with their junior-siblings.

They said the ‘Ingo’ derby should not become “a theatre of the absurd” and that the current exchanges would foment trouble ahead of the semi-final clash.

Veteran Coach and current Harambee Stars Under-17 Team Manager Nick Yakhama said there were some fans who supported both Leopards and Homeboyz as their home-teams and were, thus, appalled by the exchanges.

“Let us not wash our dirty linen in public and stop the fracases that have engulfed this erstwhile local derby. We want to see a Homeboyz team that acts like a stepping stone or rather conveyor belt of local talents into the larger world, AFC leopards included. The leadership should calm this rising temperatures and stick to improving these Kenyan soccer powerhouses,” they added.