20 Aug 2018

The 2018/19 Debswana First Division North (FDN) league has decided to stage more games in rural areas as part of efforts to revive interest and attract more supporters.

This was revealed by the secretary general of the league committee, Rapula Gaothobogwe in an interview.

He explained that some of the grounds they would be used were Makoro and the Mmadinare Show Grounds.

Other venues that will host league games include the Francistown Old Stadium, Serowe Sports Complex, Sowa Stadium, Pilikwe and Palapye Swallows Grounds.

“Our primary sponsor, Debswana has encouraged this idea so that people in those areas can also enjoy league games,” Gaothobogwe said.

He noted that they had been communicating with officials from the Francistown City Council (FCC) who had informed them that the old stadium had been undergoing maintenance to install a new irrigation system. 

“We were promised that all maintenance will be complete before the league commences on September 15,” he said.

Gaothobogwe added that “we have also received communication from FCC to the effect that hosting teams would be required to fork out P500 to play there. Obviously this has concerned us because teams in our league do not have that much financial power so we will sit down with the council to appeal for a lesser fee.” 

He said they were to convene a league meeting soon to iron out last minute preparations concerning first round fixtures, and also to know more from the rightful people concerning the broadcasting sponsorship clinched for the First Division leagues with Baboneng Film Production to be aired on Maru TV.

“Other issues to be discussed before the league kicks off include that of club licensing as well as FIFA connect,” he said.

For the 2018/19 season, he promised that the league would produce some of the best football games ever seen in the league, and that the public should expect fireworks with every game.

“We also have a special programme lined-up for our Under-17 and Under-20 players at the end of the season. We have decided that the best 18 of these young players will have a professional coach to mentor them before we assist them to go for trials with professional South African teams,” he said.

 With the issue of injuries always haunting the league, he noted that Debswana had trained team officials on basic physiotherapy and medical skills to deal with career ending injuries.

He encouraged Batswana to attend games in large numbers to help improve the standard of football in the country. ENDS