18 May 2014

The FIFA delegation met with Botswana authorities to discuss the constituency tournament in Gaborone on May 16.

The delegation was on a fact finding mission to the country to assess the situation before reporting back to FIFA. Botswana Football Association (BFA) had in the past made a correspondence with FIFA about the constituency tournaments, which were managed and facilitated by the government.

The issue was raised by the media when FIFA president, Sepp Blatter visited Botswana two years back. FIFA then decided to send a delegation to Botswana because a detailed feedback was never received from BFA.

Representing FIFA were the FIFA development officer for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ashford Mamelodi and FIFA senior manager in charge of member associations James Johnson.

Mamelodi told the media that they visited the acting Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Vincent Seretse to discuss the reason for their visit. The delegation also had meetings with representatives from Tsabong, South East, Kgatleng, Gaborone, Kweneng, Chobe, North Central and Francistown regions.

Mamelodi said they discussed the issue further with people involved in the running of the constituency tournaments.  “What came out clearly during these meetings is that many people felt that the tournaments are playing a pivotal role in promoting football in Botswana,” said Mamelodi.

He said many people felt that the tournament kept youngsters engaged in football. He however said regional committees raised challenges that came with the constituency tournaments. He said the problems included players’ transfers which involved players moving from one team to another with ease and many teams were being established.

Johnson explained the technicalities of the general football pyramid which FIFA was guided by. “Each member national association should manage and control every football aspect of its country,” he said. According to Johnson, at the peak of the pyramid lied FIFA followed by the continental governing bodies such as UEFA and CAF.

National associations such as BFA fell on the third spot downwards. The national association then encompassed smaller bodies such as the premier league region associations. “It is crucial for every football activity to fall under that pyramid, the constituency leagues included,” he said.

For their part, members of the media emphasised that nobody wanted the tournaments cancelled, but instead the tournament should be overseen by BFA as demanded by the FIFA constitution.

The media also pointed out that there was a conflict of interest between the BFA and government in that government was the biggest funder of the BFA and that the BFA did not want to bite the hands that fed them.

One of the many issues the media shared with the delegation was that the tournaments were the only thing that kept football lovers going in rural areas where no mainstream football was present and where BFA had no structures.

“The tournaments are the only thing that keeps people in those corners of the country engaged in football activities, one member of the media said. They said FIFA should not discard these tournaments because there would be no football development and people would no longer engage in the sport.

The media also mentioned situations whereby some players moved from the regional leagues where there were no sponsors to the funded constituency leagues. They suggested that the league should also be managed by BFA but with the help of government officials who had been running the tournaments all along.

In response to one of the issues raised, Johnson said football development was the key principle of FIFA therefore if the constituency football promoted Botswana football then there was no how they could discard it.

Another point that the media raised was that the delegation should have come at the time when the tournaments were played to get first hand experience of the tournaments in action. Mamelodi said government was important in the development of football therefore the relationship between FIFA and government had to be promoted.

“BFA should manage every aspect of football with the help of stakeholders like the government,” he said. The delegation highlighted the importance of the media and also thanked the media for their contribution in the development of football in Botswana. ENDS