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| Sports |
| Cecafa jolts Cosafa into action |
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by
Garry Chirwa, 25 November 2006
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04:10:17
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The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) has been jolted into action following reports that Cecafa is planning to woo two of its member associations—Fam and the Football Association of Zambia (Faz) into rejoining the East African football governing body.
Cosafa’s general secretary Ashforld Mamelodi disclosed this week that his body has asked the continent’s football governing bloc—Caf to intervene in the matter saying the move could create confusion and misunderstanding between the two regional bodies.
Speaking in a telephone interview from Botswana this week, the tubby Cosafa spokesman said his body has asked for Caf’s intervention following reports that Cecafa intends to talk to Fam and Faz to seriously consider rejoining the East African soccer governing council.
Cecafa executive committee was scheduled to meet last night (Friday) to discuss the issue.
“We are aware of Cecafa’s intention to woo Fam and Faz to rejoin their body but we feel move would be detrimental to the development of the game on the continent. Perhaps our East African brothers need to understand that Malawi and Zambia are our affiliates and by trying to coax them into joining their body behind our back, would be creating unnecessary confusion.
“Although Cecafa has not yet approached our two member associations, we have already sought Caf’s intervention on the matter. But it’s no big deal really, I am sure we should be able to sort out this issue amicably,” said Mamelodi, sounding ice cool.
“When these reports came out, I asked achimwene [Fam president Walter Nyamilandu] as well as Faz whether they were indeed intending to rejoin Cecafa, but they assured me that their loyalty and commitment is to Cosafa because our setup is professional and our members benefit a lot,” said Mamelodi.
He said the Cosafa Castle Cup, which enjoys a R20 million (about K400 million) sponsorship, is not only the biggest regional competition in the world, but also well organised.
“In terms of strength, we are also far much better because our teams have been able to qualify for the World Cup and the Africa Nations Cup. So our members realise the risk of withdrawing from Cosafa to join another association,” said Mamelodi.
Caf’s press officer Sherif Ahmed Sherif said in an e-mail response that the continental soccer governing body was in receipt of Cosafa’s letter and will soon be asking Cecafa for its side of the story.
“We would like to get a clear picture of the whole issue and we have asked Cecafa to submit their side of the story. So we cannot comment further at this point,” said Sherif..
However, Cecafa general secretary Nicholas Musonye down played the issue in an interview from Uganda early this week, claiming that it was actually Faz and Fam who inquired about the possibilities of rejoining the body.
“We are having a general assembly this Friday (yesterday) where among other things, we’ll discuss whether we should open the door for our former members who may wish to rejoin us. It’s not coming from us.
“We have not made any official approach to either Zambia or Malawi. This was a suggestion that was put forward by them and it is only the general assembly that will decide on whether we should indeed ask our two former members to consider rejoining us. You can even cross-check with your association Mr Chirwa,” said Musonye.
He added: “And the reason why we asked for their participation was not one way of wooing them to rejoin us, but rather to try and raise the standards at the annual event.
“We want our teams to face tough opposition and also raise the standard of the sport in our region,” he explained
However, while denying claims made by Musonye that Fam and Faz were the first to come up with the proposal, Nyamilandu said should Cecafa indeed go ahead with plans to approach Fam, the issue will be referred to the association’s general assembly to decide on the way forward.
“I think it will now be a policy issue that cannot be decided by the executive committee alone, it will have to be tabled at the next general assembly,” he said.
But the Fam president said personally, he still sticks to his guns that Fam stands to benefit more staying put in Cosafa other than rejoining Cecafa.
“Of course there are other areas that Cosafa needs to improve on, like the format of the senior tournament, introduction of a club regional championship and strengthen its clout so that it should be able to influence decisions at Caf for the betterment of the game in region,” said Nyamilandu.
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