04 Aug 2015

Newly promoted outfit, Mochudi Rovers is optimistic of survival and consolidation of their place in the Debswana First Division South League. 

One of the oldest clubs in Mochudi having been formed by the late Kgosi Linchwe II in 1963, a return to the limelight of Botswana football could not come at a better time following 31 years in the doldrums. 

The historic comeback was made during the recent south regional playoffs in Gaborone in May where they secured promotion together with Black Rangers from Tsabong. 

In order to be prepared for the challenge ahead, the club has made a medium and long term plan which is expected to build capacity for the management, technical team, players and also drive to attract supporters. 

The brand manager of the club, Hazel Lekoko said this time around all systems would be put in place, especially as the conditions of Botswana football were not the same as 31 years ago and that football has incorporated many aspects. 

“Most teams upon promotion face many challenges which affect management, resources and logistics, technical capacity and also not able to attract quality players. With that in mind we have decided to take ourselves seriously so that we can have a better evaluation at the end of the season. We recently held a management workshop where we made our short term and long term plan for the 2015-2016 seasons and beyond,” Lekoko said. 

He said they were currently working round the clock to secure partnerships with companies and individuals such as former players and managers not only for financial resources, but also technical support like transportation and equipment. 

He added that they had been in partnership with Nutri Feeds and looking at expanding it to cover equipment, and further said they have acquired a one year sponsorship with Notwane Gym to help improve the fitness of the players. 

“We want to start a rigorous branding strategy and as a result have been in contact with Sam Maposa who is based in China to source quality material that we would use for our merchandise. We are working on creating our own label to be used in the merchandise which will be for our full sets of kits for players and replicas for supporters. 

Therefore we will have a strategy to attract more people to increase our support base, and that also comes with good performance in the field of play,” he noted. 

As such, he said a number of premier league coaches were assisting them with their pre-season training and reviewing their training schedules whilst giving advice to the head coach and technical team. 

Lekoko said they were looking at making improvements to their football ground to make it suitable for hosting high profile games. 

Their strategy being to use the ground to attract more people especially the youth whom they want to take part in youth football activities in Kgatleng, to their home games as it would offer an alternative entertainment for people in Mochudi. Ends