18 Jun 2020

Football has been robbed of an administrator of note in the person of Samuel “Sam” Keitireng who passed away on Wednesday, June 17, after a short illness.

Keitireng, who was Police XI’s vice chairperson, served football in different capacities, and once occupied the First Division South League chairpersonship.

Police XI chairperson Solomon Mantswe said in an interview that football had been robbed of one of the most astute administrators.

“Sam started with Police X1 around 1988 while at Police College as a recruit. That is where we met while I was the Jungle Kings player. Although he was a recruit, he would come to our camp and play cards with us,” he said.

Furthermore, Mantswe said Sam was a Police X1 staunch supporter, adding that after his training, he was posted to the Special Support Group (SSG) where he joined Wonder Sporting Club on the management side. “Something that shocked me about Sam is that he loved football, but he did not know how to play,” he said, adding that Sam’s passion for the game was out of this world.

Mantswe said because of Sam’s passion for football, he was elected First Division South vice chairperson. He added that as time progressed, he was given the chairpersonship which he executed diligently.

“By virtue of being the chairperson, he sat in the Botswana Football Association National Executive Committee, a very important football structure,” he said.

He said Sam came to Police X1 as it was merged with Wonder Sporting Club after the ‘Jungle Kings” were de-registered from the premier league for failing to pay subscriptions in 2012.

“Because he was Wonder Sporting Club chairperson, and I was Police X1 chairperson, we then concluded that he occupy the Police XI vice chairpersonship,” he said.

Furthermore, he said since he was engaged both at work and other personal activities, the Police XI board found it prudent to assign Sam to represent Police XI at the Botswana Premier League board. 

“I am going to miss Sam. He has been a pillar of my strength, and he has been doing everything for the team, looking after players’ welfare, and our participation in the league was very good under his leadership,” Mantswe said. ends