Playing pool is not a crime

Ask young pool players in Kajiado South about the police and you will hear the same stories again and again. A raid on a pool hall on a quiet afternoon. Young men told to lie on the ground. Cues confiscated, phones taken, a night in the cells, a "fine" to be released. People beaten for doing nothing more than playing a game.

This happens because of how pool is seen. When a game is treated as a sign of idleness and crime, the people who play it are treated as suspects. A young man with a cue in his hand is assumed to be up to no good, and that assumption can turn violent.

The cost of a bad reputation

Harassment does real damage. It teaches young people that the state is against them. It makes them hide, which pushes the game further into the dark corners where real trouble lives. And it costs them money, time and dignity they cannot spare.

“When you treat young people as criminals for playing a game, you should not be surprised when they stop trusting you.”

Changing the picture

Moran Pool Club does not fight the police. We change the picture they are looking at.

• Our tournaments are public, organised events with registration, rules, a referee and a published bracket.
• Every result is on this website, with the players' names and records, for anyone to check.
• Business owners, sponsors and local leaders are in the room, and we want chiefs and officers to come and see for themselves.
• Players shake hands before and after every match. Disputes are settled by the rules, not by fists.

When a community sees nineteen young men competing with skill and respect in front of a full room, pool stops looking like a crime scene. It starts looking like what it is: a sport.

Young people deserve protection, not suspicion

Every young person has the right to recreation and to be treated with dignity. We believe that a village that gives its youth a safe place to play is a safer village for everyone, including the officers who serve it. That safe place is what we are building next.