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| Sports |
| Nyamilandu’s first six months scrutinised |
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by
Oris Chimenya, 01 May 2005
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15:24:13
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Almost six months after being elected into office some affiliates have a verdict for Fam president Walter Nyamilandu: He has not yet started implementing some of the things he put on his agenda. But the Fam boss says he has fulfilled all his short term goals for the association and that those remaining are long term plans.
A snap survey on some Fam affiliates this week has revealed that while Nyamilandu has won the hearts of many football stakeholders on some issues, the former MTL Wanderers and national team defender has not yet translated on the bid for 2010 World Cup qualification, sponsorship and developing sports infrastructure.
Central Region Football League (CRFL) general secretary Paul Mzungu said on Tuesday Nyamilandu has done well on finding sponsors for regional leagues, but had reservations on the 2010 qualification.
“So far so good. He promised sponsorship for the regional leagues, and he has managed to do that although the Centre is yet to get one. But on his Vision 2010, he should work hard because we might say it is far, but it is not, and we must have a proper calendar of activities from this time,” he said.
Northern Region Football League (NRFL) chair Kenzie Majoni agreed with Mzungu on sponsorship, citing the K500,000 Simama League in the North.
Said Majoni: “We need these guys who are young. But we need more training of regional and district coaches and referees because these are the people who actually scout for talent in the rural areas”.
Youth Development
Bakili Bullets and national team winger Fischer Kondowe said while the president has managed to “bring order” at Fam, he should work hard on youth development especially establishing the Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23 national teams.
“These teams give players a chance to assess themselves when they are climbing the ladder to the senior team. You can’t just take a player from the village and expect him to perform,” he said.
Fischer, who also plays for the national team, noted: “But it seems things will get back on the right track looking at how he [Nyamilandu] has started”.
MTL Wanderers captain James Sangala agreed with Fischer during the Flames training at the Kamuzu Stadium, saying Nyamilandu has started on a good note.
“A good example is the training we are having. It really shows that Fam is interested in building a strong national team because every Flames player will know that he has no guaranteed place in the team,” he said.
Southern Region Referees Committee (SRRC) general secretary Moffat Champiti said Nyamilandu has done well in improving Fam’s image, curbing hooliganism and establishing a good relationship with affiliates.
“The image has improved and that is why people and companies can now donate to Fam through the Fam Task Force and the regional leagues.
“The relationship with affiliates is also good and as referees, we are able to communicate with Fam properly even after the disbandment of the National Referees Association,” noted Champiti.
Vision
Southern Bottlers marketing manager Elias Imaan said Nyamilandu has a vision for football in Malawi. “Being a footballer, he knows what he is doing and he has a fighting spirit that even after meeting big obstacles in the Fam Cup fundraising process, he is not giving up. He is somebody to whom failure is not an option”, he said.
In an interview on Wednesday, Nyamilandu highlighted improving Fam’s corporate image as his big success so far, saying it is the centre piece of achieving his other goals.
“I divided my vision into short term goals and long term goals and in the six months I have worked, I was focusing on the short term goals, of which the most crucial one was Fam’s public picture. Now there is confidence and trust from both people and organisations and from here, I will be focusing on my long term goals.
“With this new image, we should be able to get sponsorship and after that, the football development strategies because there cannot be football development without money,” he said.
He added: “My main challenge remains to get sponsorship for the national team because it is one thing to win the confidence and trust of prospective sponsors and it is yet another to make them include you in their budgets”.
The Fam boss, who has already secured funding for the Southern Region Football League ( K500,000), Northern Region Football League (K500,000), National Women Football League (K400,000) is also leading a fundraising drive for Fam Cup which is expected to raise close to K1.5 million.
On talent identification, Nyamilandu said Fam sent its technical director Eddington Ng’onamo, Flames caretaker coach Yasin Osman and another coach Dyna Kadzayekha to a course in Kenya to be instructors.
“They will be training local coaches and issue them with licences recognised by Caf, and after that, we will hold another training programme somewhere in September for referees with the FA [Football Association of England],” he said, explaining that the training is the starting point for the Flames to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
He added: “The vision is very important because it will help to guide us in our operations. Even if we fail to qualify, we will still have an opportunity to check where we went wrong”.
Accountability
On transparency and accountability, Nyamilandu said the auditing exercise which he promised to institute at Fam was finalised.
“The government auditors released the draft report. They gave it to Fam and we made management comments and gave it back to them to write the final report and it will be out very soon,” he announced.
Said Nyamilandu on infrastructure development: “The development of infrastructure is a long process. However, although I have not yet started anything on that, it is included in my long term plan and we will finally have the necessary structures”.
He also commented on women football development saying: “That is not all I will do for the women. I will have the talent identification exercise on women football as well. The problem is that we did not have strong structures for women football before”.
But although many people said Nyamilandu’s leadership is on track, MTL Wanderers supporters chairman Yona Green Malunga said the president has not achieved anything since he went into office.
“I would have said he has brought soccer hooliganism to an end, but there were incidence of violence in Lilongwe recently,” said Malunga, arguing that “even Fam’s public picture is still not good”.
He urged the president to start building a strong national team which should have many local players “because these professionals have disappointed us for a long time”.
But Nyamilandu argued that the Lilongwe incident was not serious.
Nyamilandu won the Fam presidency during the November 18, 2004 elections, beating contenders Hastings Kapenuka, Geoff Gondwe and Kelvin M’mangisa.
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