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by
George Kasakula, 02 April 2004
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14:10:16
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Fifa part of the problem
World soccer governing body, Fifa, is slowly but surely becoming part of the problem that has rocked Football Association of Malawi since the December elections in Mzuzu. After Sports Council disqualified former Fam president Sameer Suleman and two executive members Raphael Humba and Peter Chavula on grounds that they failed to submit their MSCE as a constitutional requirement, Fifa’s intervention in the matter has been suspect. After sending their representative Ashford Mamelodi, who behaved dubiously, Fifa has issued three directives on the issue. First, Fifa ordered that the whole executive that was elected, including those that failed to submit MSCE, should go back to Fam. Then later they reversed this and recognised Anderson Zimba to run the show. And now the governing body has ordered that Fam should hold fresh elections but in the interim the executive elected in Mzuzu should run the show. This is all confusing and also surprising. If Fifa is doing this because someone is giving them false information, then the body is being unfair to Malawi football.
Be careful with Cosmos
I am happy that Bakili Bullets have refused to fall for the bait of Jomo Cosmos. The South African side wanted the Bullets defender Petros Mwalweni for a tournament in France. Bullets have refused this and have said unless Cosmos pay K1.6 million to buy the player outright, he is going nowhere. Mwalweni attended trials with the team last year when he even went to France. It is on record that he passed hence the price tag. The next thing should have been Cosmos paying the money and not inviting Mwalweni for more trials and tournaments in France. I see exploitation here. Much as I appreciate that Jomo Cosmos have done a lot to expose our players, others have become a miserable lot after being taken on board by the team. I have in mind Peter Mgangira who is now rotting on the bench. The funny part is that the same Mgangira performs wonders on national team assignments. He even scores goals. As it is, Mgangira may not realise his full potential if he is not careful.
Sulom started well
If I were to grade Super League of Malawi (Sulom) performance half way through the season, I would give them a bare average. This average mark is coming from early release and management of fixtures. The fixtures were coming on time and were being fulfilled with promptness and few postponements. Abandonment of games was also very minimal. No wonder the first round has ended on time with a clinical finish. If this trend can continue in the second round, I see no reason why the league should not be wrapped between September and October to allow for ample time for cup games and enough off season to avoid player burnout. But the area where Sulom lost marks was the management of disciplinary matters. There was violence in Dwangwa after MTL Wanderers lost 2-1 to Dwasco. It was alleged that an MTL Wanderers player, Allan Kamanga beat up a Dwasco fan. Sulom never came up with anything on the matter apart from saying they were investigating. There was also violence in Lilongwe during a Bakili Bullets game against Mafco in which soldiers allegedly beat BB fans. Sulom never acted. It was only the Army that acted. Sulom should improve on this during the second round. |
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