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| Columns |
| SPORT ON |
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by
Gracian Tukula, 06 August 2004
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15:43:13
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It’s not always that I feel compelled to put in this column some of the feedback that I get on issues I discuss. Often I have elected to engage privately those who contact me, whether the feedback is positive or not.
This time, however, I would like to reveal that I had contact earlier in the week with Peterkins Kayira of Malawi Football Coaches Association. Regular readers will recall that Kayira provided the substance of my entry three weeks ago.
What touched me in his lengthy letter (six pages, by the way) was that although he did not agree with some of the things I said, he took my comments positively and was willing to engage in productive dialogue with me. I will try to plead with Uncle Mike, as I fondly call veteran Michael Mmeya, to consider publishing Kayira’s views on his My Turn page some time later.
Which brings me to what I had originally set out to discuss today. Incidentally Big Bullets are, for the third week running, the focus of the column. Mutu ukakula...
First, I must say I wish the team all the best in their Champions League match this weekend. If the results in the group so far are anything to go by, Africa Sports present the Bullets’ biggest chance of claiming victory at home. But as I said last week, the people’s team need not put themselves under unnecessary pressure. Let them do their best but with a free mind.
But that is nothing to stop me from questioning why the Bullets seem to be a hot potato for football administrators. The statements coming from Sulom President Henry Chibowa reveal a dangerous lack of decisiveness on the league’s part. When an authority fails to carry out its own threat, it loses its clout.
You will recall that I once asked whether there was no-one to intervene on the infamous saga where Bullets were using players from other clubs without fulfilling their part of the bargain. Now it is apparent that Sulom was supposed to handle that issue but they won’t just touch Bakili Bullets!
Is it because the club has the same sponsor as the league itself and that Sulom officials move in a vehicle that glaringly bears the sponsor’s name? Again this is an issue I raised when I heard that former president Bakili Muluzi was going to take over sponsorship of the league on top of sponsoring a club.
It would be interesting to hear what my friend George Kaudza-Masina, who saw no conflict of interest in the move, would say on the current developments. Inherent in the matter is the larger issue of how administrators handle sponsorship.
I know we are desperate at the moment and would go for any money that is flown into our face, but if that leads to the sort of helplessness that is evident in Sulom where they fail to take action in what legal affairs and disciplinary committee chair George Bakuwa calls a straight forward issue, the very game that we purport to promote becomes the victim.
While at it, I remember mentioning the other day that the Bullets were lucky that they had a sponsor with wider interests, one who was willing to splash money in a flash. Now, unless I am reading the signs wrongly, those interests are getting narrower and it’s time to prepare for a rainy day. Some more food for thought, I think.
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