02 Feb 2021

Sankoyo Bush Bucks Football Club’s plan to assemble a formidable squad that will compete in the First Division North league upon its recommencement, have been affected by financial constraints. 

Club vice chairperson, Sekai Morotsi said in an interview recently that COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated the situation as they solely depended on Sankoyo Tshwaragano Management Trust, which was currently struggling to generate income.

As part of preparation for the season, he said so far, they had signed two quality players from Black Forest Football Club while recruitment drive continued.

The club, he said was lucky to have signed  two players from Gumare, which made their signing and relocation easy.

Morotsi said they were eying eight players but negotiations were still ongoing with other players from Maun Terrors and other teams.

The team, he said had also lost some key players in the likes of Bapaletswe Simon, who was the backbone in the defense department. Simon have joined BR Highlanders club.

Morotsi described Simon as a trusted and experienced defender who never disappointed adding that they could not stop his move because it was part of the club’s mandate to develop and grow young players into reputable players of note.

He however said efforts were underway to replace Simon.

Morotsi also said the team had managed to secure an assistant coach to join forces with the number one coach, Anthony Timothy.

He said Likha Paphani was a disciplined and experienced coach who worked with Maun Terrors Football club until it was promoted to first division north league.

“We are pinning our hopes on his skills and knowledge and we believe he will complement our number one coach and take the team to greater heights,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sankoyo club had partnered with is a multi-award winning safari company, Great Plains Conservation, which showed interest to aid the ailing team. Morotsi appreciated that the company was doing its best to cushion players during the trying times.

While the tourism sector is still struggling to recover from the effects of the pandemic, the company, Morotsi said the company had been taking care of the players by donating food hampers every month and paying rent for some players.

In the meantime, Morotsi said the team which started training beginning of January, had suspended training the whole of last week as one member of the technical team tested positive for COVID-19.

He said they were hoping to resume training sometime this week.

He also expressed disappointment on the pronouncement to suspend all amateur football activities due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

He said the pronouncement was a drawback as far as their preparations were concerned stating that most of their players were not from Maun and they had rented houses for them. ENDS