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Government has only released K5.2 million ($47,706) from the K8 million budget which the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) presented for Saturday’s World Cup/Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles to be played in Tunis.
Sports Council’s executive secretary George Jana confirmed the development on Tuesday saying the K5.2 million will meet return travel costs and allowances to the North African country.
“Fam had a K15 million tranche and it has all been used up through national soccer team engagements and they knew about it. It’s not like they have been taken unawares.
“Their budget for the Tunisia game was something like K8 million but if the remainder from their tranche is K5.2 million then there is nothing that can be done about it. That is the reason why a couple of weeks ago, I stated that Fam and indeed any other associations should not be looking up to government only, they should also be resourceful,” explained Jana.
Both Fam president Walter Nyamilandu and head coach Yasin ‘Titch’ Osman described the development as very unfortunate and worrisome saying it is most likely to have a negative effect on the players.
The visibly worried Fam boss said because of the less funding from government, Fam has not been able to play the players their camping allowances for the past two weeks, coaching panel’s package, camping costs in Mulanje and game bonuses for their 2-1 win against Zimbabwe.
The Flames get K15,000 each for a win.
“Government refused to fund us for the friendly game against Zimbabwe which cost us K1.5 million and we are yet to pay the players their game bonuses for that game and then there are camping allowances yet to be paid. Do you really expect them to play with their lungs out in Tunisia?” wondered Nyamilandu, a concern that was also shared by Osman.
Nyamilandu further said there was need to distinguish between mere participation and competing to suceed.
“If government wants the national team to suceed then the issue of adequate funding has to be looked into very seriously,” he said.
On his part Osman said: “With all these problems it would be very unfair to expect miracles from the players because they feel neglected. It has to be appreciated that these players have families to look after.”
Meanwhile the Flames are scheduled to leave the country on Wednesday for Tunisia.
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