06 Jun 2016

Never in organised local football has it ever been like this, nor did any of the local football pundits predict or saw it coming.

Once the Debswana sponsored First Division North commences for the 2016/17 season, the fight to gain automatic promotion or through promotional play-offs at the end will see seven teams with beMOBILE Premiership experience fight it off from the first to the last match.

The once mighty but now fallen experienced teams are in the mould of ECCO City Greens, Tafic, TASC, Great North Tigers (GNT) in Francistown and FC Satmos in Selebi Phikwe, BR Highlanders in Mahalapye and Motlakase of Palapye.

Of all the seven, ECCO has the most broken heart as they saw their chance of escaping the dusty grounds of lower division football go up in smoke after being rolled back to the First Division by beMOBILE Premiership debutants, Rolling Boys of Tsholofelo in Gaborone.

Tafic on the other hand enjoy massive support in the second city and often wonder what it would take for them to return to the glory days of the likes of Mmoloki ‘BB’ Sechele, Wrist Mmusi, Mlungisi Kopi, Carlos Tawana and other great players who flew the Matjimenyenga flag high in the country’s top league.

TASC or Tango Boys as they are often called used to fully enjoy the backing of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) but were the ones to suffer once the institutional teams’ motion was adopted, reducing the number of teams in each league supported by a government institution.

GNT was also a victim of the reduced support by Botswana Police, which at one point had Police XI and GNT in the same league and also supporting the then Wonder Sporting Club.

FC Satmos, once the darling of the Phikwe residents as the late Sam Sono had turned it into an almost professional side, has now been reduced to a former of itself.

Their stay in the beMobile Premiership has long been held by a thread and it eventually had to give in as they relegated, together with the other two, Motlakase and BR Highlanders, making a historic relegation story of three teams from one division.

Motlakase would now have to represent Palapye well after the relegation of Palapye All Stars and Tsabotlhe to the second tier division, living the upcoming village-cum-town beMobile Premiership less.

BR Highlanders would be watching their fellow village rivals enjoy what they have been accustomed to in top flight football.

It was more of a clean swap for the Mahalapye sides as Hotspurs is expected to continue where Highlanders left, while the latter will have to do with dusty grounds.

Newcomers to the league, Chobe United will not be adding the numbers as they expect too to go an extra mile and do better than Kazungula, who shook the FDN at one point, causing a headache for some who tried to picture a beMOBILE Premiership side coming from Chobe, with all the travelling and distance between.

Maun Tigers, a seasoned campaigner in the FDN would also want to emulate cross town rivals, Sankoyo Bush Bucks, who look like they are in top flight football not to help form the quorum, but to compete.

Sua Flamingoes, just like ECCO are one other side, that have themselves to blame after they were promising at one point, with hopes high that they would be able to gain automatic promotion, only to lack stamina and give up the chase in the start of the second round of the 2015/16 season.

Morupule Wanderers, which is new in the FDN after gaining promotion, will also show they are not here to add numbers as they would have little respect for the seasoned campaigners, with premiership experience.

They will also be competing with fellow cross town rivals in Motlakase for any possible elevation to the top league.

Real Movers from Selibe Phikwe will also be having another run at possible promotion, having done all their best to remain in the highly competitive FDN, which would prove to be the most difficult league in the country. It will be an all-out war from the first whistle of the first match to the last whistle of the last match. ENDS