|
National Coach Alan Gillett left for home a day after the Malawi-Ethiopia game which the Flames won 3-1. There were calls for Gillett to resign after a not-so-impressive show with Zimbabwe in the Cosafa Castle Cup.
And, responding to that pressure, just before the Ethiopia trip, Gillett told Nation Online that he wouldn’t return to Malawi after the game in the horn of Africa.
“It’s been one of my most painful decisions...but the writing is on the wall, I have to go back home,” said Gillett. And he did go home, after a clear victory, however.
When it was time for Gillett to bid farewell to his charges in Ethiopia, it was a tough moment for the former coach. Here was a sweet victory that will go a long way in erasing the nightmare of losing to Zimbabwe. But at the same time the 4-1 aggregate loss remains in record. How could Gillett reconcile the two?
“I had some solace...I had some peace when I called the players to say good-bye, they were sad but I told them life has to go on. I have also assured them that my heart will be with the team throughout,” said Gillett of his farewell to the team.
One question, though, is that if coaches are the only and only problem, why have all coaches failed? Is firing a coach, as some have and will always suggest, the only solution to plunging soccer standards?
“In England, if a team isn’t doing well, a coach is fired. Not only in England but everywhere. We have very good players and we need a very good technical coaching panel. I think we can regain lost glory which I am longing for,” said Water Development Minister Dumbo Lemani, an avid fan who has been involved in soccer both administratively and technically for over three decades.
But Al Mtenje, chair of University Sports Association of Malawi says the story doesn’t start and end with a coach.
“Coaches are not necessarily the only problem,” he says adding that in order to improve soccer the country should look beyond coaches.
Both Lemani and Mtenje remember 1978, and ‘79 as the peak of soccer in Malawi. These were the years when the national team beat Zambia consecutively to grab the Confederation for Eastern and Central African (Cecafa) Senior Challenge Cup.
“That was the climax of football in Malawi. Zambia was strong but we beat them twice,” said Lemani, adding that the team had high calibre players, recognised internationally, just like those the country has today.
“I don’t know what is wrong today. We have a crop of better players than at any given time. I really don’t know what is wrong with football today,” said Lemani sounding worried.
Sure, he has to be concerned, just like all who have followed soccer from the 1960s when the country witnessed a rising soccer graph which reached a climax in 1978 and 79.
The following years the team didn’t perform well but the graph rose again in 1988 when the country won the Cesafa Cup once again after beating Zambia at Chichiri Stadium, then Kamuzu Stadium.
But since 1989 the soccer standards road hasn’t been rosy. The team has been branded nicknames that showed Malawi as perpetual losers. Zambia, for example, used to call the Malawi team as akazi wathu, meaning our wives.
Lemani doesn’t know what is wrong. Perhaps he is too busy with politics to take time off and remember why soccer standards are going down. But Mtenje and Humphrey Mvula, chairman of MTL Wanderers, have some clues on why soccer standards were high in the 70s and 80s and low now.
Mvula said that the first reason for lowering soccer standard is that at one time there was a gap between two player generations. This vacuum, said Mvula, left young players without guiding light.
“The vacuum,” added Mvula, “was caused by the illegal exodus of the country’s star players to apartheid South Africa which at the time was banned by Fifa.”
Mvula also said the generation of players like Patrick Chikafa, Stock Dandize, Boniface Maganga, Jack Chamangwana, Kinnah Phiri, Jonathan Billie, Barnnet Gondwe, Lawrence Waya, Harry Waya, and Isaac Mhura didn’t have enough time to hand over talent to young players.
He added that others were John Dzimbiri, Holman Malunga, Young Chimodzi, Popote Chang’ono, Clifton Msiya, Frank Sinalo, Kennedy Malunga and Donnex Gondwe.
Malawi, perhaps, missed the talent of these players so much because most of them disappeared to South Africa almost at the same time.
Mvula said before and during the time of Chimodzi, the country lost good footballers to apartheid South Africa. This meant that Malawians played soccer illegally and could not come back for national duty.
“There was no transition from one generation of players to another,” said Mvula who was once a teacher and coach at Central High School which produced a number of best players in Malawi, the likes of Gilbert Chirwa, Mtawali, Sinalo and the Malunga brothers, just to mention a few.
Mvula said the second reason is that there is no structured development of soccer as was the case in the past. The University of Malawi, for example, had a qualified British coach Peter Mulligan while the national team had Ted Powell who came up with various programmes catering for players, coaches, and referees.
Mtenje agreed that Mulligan had programmes that helped promote soccer in the country. The Briton, for example, had a programme for soccer teams in colleges. This made the University Football Club (UFC) to produce some of the country’s best players.
Mtenje also said Mulligan had a deliberate policy to encourage outstanding UFC players to train as coaches. Like this, he said, players looked beyond today. He cited Reuben Malola and Ben Mbewe as products of Mulligan’s initiative.
Both Mvula and Mtenje said such programmes aren’t available today.
The third reason, Mvula said, is that soccer management has gone down. This he said is unlike in the past when football management was in the hands of able people.
He cited team managers such as John Magombo, a retired diplomat and general manager; Brown Mpinganjira, then principal information officer in the Ministry of Information and Lemani, then general manger for a motor company. Others were lawyer Peter Fachi and judges Richard Banda and William Hanjahanja.
“We had a generation of great administrators. They went into soccer to add value to the game,” said Mvula, adding however, that it doesn’t follow that a general manager is a good team manager but “these people brought stiff competition into football management and only the cream became managers.”
Mtenje agrees saying nowadays organisation of soccer has deteriorated.
“If you look at the period we are talking about you will find that our clubs had high level administration,” he said.
Mtenje said in the 1970s and 80s both the national team and clubs were exposed to international soccer unlike today when clubs are playing at home only.
“Once standards fall at club level we don’t expect high standards at national level,” said Mtenje. He added that cups like Cosafa Castle take place over a long period and in between the national team remains dormant, a situation which is not conducive to soccer development.
“Cesafa was played in two weeks. There was concentration of soccer in a given period. Every nation was gearing up to grab this cup,” said Mtenje.
The fourth reason, Mvula said, the nation was happy with success and issues of national team were looked at as of national importance. He added that fans didn’t support the national team on club lines as is the case today.
“Supporters have a crucial role to play in developing soccer. When players know they have the support of a nation — a whole, not divided nation — they feel guilty when they lose,” said Mvula.
Parents, family members, and friends of players should support talent and make players feel bad when they lose.
“But some people will simply enjoy sharing players’ allowances regardless of losses,” said Mvula, adding that soccer is a psychological game.
Gillett is gone. But he hasn’t taken problems that have been dogging the national team to Britain. The issues raised by the stakeholders are beyond the scope of coaches.
The success of 1978 and ‘79 was a result of the foundation laid from 1970. It took eight years to bear fruit. The country, it appears, shouldn’t expect wonders without any foundation. And interestingly, there hasn’t been any tangible plan to develop soccer in the country.
As one sports journalist has said there is need for soccer old timers to meet and map out the way forward. Otherwise, even the world’s best coach can’t turn the tables for the Flames in eight months.
|
