Kenya Premier League star narrates narrowly missing chance to join British army

- Okoth was one email away from joining the lucrative British Army

- The striker revealed exclusively to TUKO.co.ke that he applied to join British forces but forgot his application

- He currently plays for Sofapaka in the Kenya Premier League

A Kenyan Premier League (KPL) player is regretting a decision to sign for Gor Mahia after he lost a golden chance of joining the British Army.

Ronald Okoth, signed for the record Kenyan champions in 2013, from Congo United. By then, he was still at the University, where he was pursuing degree in Information Science at the Kenya Methodist University.

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When an offer from K’Ogalo landed on his table, he never gave it a second thought. He, however, had forgotten an application he dropped to join the Military, which was his childhood dream.

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He was lucky to have been picked for the next step in a rigourous recruitment process that may take months and where only the best are picked. What was needed of him after his CV impressed in the initial process, was a trip to the United Kingdom to attend the British Army recruiting office for further assessment.

But excitement of joining Kenya’s best club saw him bottle up the chance of being an army officer after he failed to check his mail box for some time.

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“Growing up, I wanted to be a GSU (General Service Unit) RECCE Elite squad officer or a soldier. 2013, I applied to join the British Army and I got accepted, all documents to facilitate my travel and transition was sent to me via post office (I) but to respond back on time coz I’d just signed for Gor Mahia then,” Okoth revealed on his twitter page.

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“I failed to check my box on time since the excitement of joining Gor Mahia had caught up with me. I was waiting for their response via mail, unfortunately, the letters were sent via post office, almost five months later is when I realised I had pending letters from them in the post office, unfortunately, the chance had gone," he revealed to Tuko.co.ke in an interview.

But after missing the life-changing opportunity, Oduor later left Gor Mahia for a stint at Mathare United. He would later be released by the Slum-based side, in 2017 before finding a new home at Sofapaka.

He recently returned to action after a long layoff with injury but even so, the missed chance is still fresh in his mind.

According to his Linkedin profile, Oduor is also the founder R.O Sports, soccer pundit and Chapa Dimba na Safaricom Season 2 mentor.

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Story by Elvince Joshua, TUKO.co.ke correspondent

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