National Football Referees Association (NFRA), National Football Coaches Association (NFCA) and National Youth Football Association (NYFA) will no longer enjoy annual subventions from Football Association of Malawi (FAM), it has emerged.
The three were removed as affiliates during a FAM annual general meeting in Salima in June following a motion moved by Northern Region Football Association chairperson Masiya Nyasulu, who argued that their existence is a duplication since the mother body already has structures performing their duties.
FAM president Fleetwood Haiya in an interview yesterday confirmed the loss of the K20 million annual subventions to the associations.
He said: “Following the resolutions adopted at the June FAM AGM, the youth, coaches, and referees associations were reclassified from affiliate members to professional or technical partners.
“This means they will now operate in a non-political capacity and will no longer participate in governance matters, including voting at the AGM. As such, they are no longer considered affiliates of FAM.
“Regarding funding, their reclassification means they are no longer entitled to the standard annual subvention allocated to affiliates.”
However, Haiya said the decision does not mean the associations’ programmes will be neglected.
“On the contrary, FAM remains committed to supporting their activities more meaningfully and sustainably, through structured programming and targeted funding that goes beyond the limitations of a subvention model,” he said.
Haiya said NYFA got more than K32 million to cover prize money which was due for some competitions.
“FAM has bailed them out after evaluation and alignment of the activity,” he said.
NYFA chairperson Tiyenkhu Chavula in an interview confirmed the development, saying they met FAM to discuss the way forward after the June AGM resolution.
“As of now, all I can confirm is that we met FAM and we had fruitful discussions. The association will do the proper communication on the matter. Until after that, we cannot comment.
“But right now all our operations and programmes are intact and we are confident that the model is going to work for us.”
However, NFCA chairperson Aubrey Nankhuni, who resented Nyasulu’s proposal at the AGM, in an interview said they requested to meet Haiya to seek clarification on the matter but they have not been granted the audience.
He said: “We asked for a meeting with the FAM president so that they should clarify on such issues. We need to know the way forward on how we are going to operate.
“He told us that he would come back to us. But up to now there is nothing. So, as of now we don’t know anything. Hopefully FAM will clarify.”
Following the June resolution, FAM has seven affiliates, namely Super League of Malawi, Northern Region Football Association, Central Region Football Association, Central Region Football Association, Eastern Region Football Association, Beach Soccer Malawi and National Women’s Football Association.
After the AGM, Haiya said the three associations were not supposed to be affiliates in the first place.
The FAM president said following the changes, NYFA it will reposition as a driving force in grassroots football with its role now encompassing development of football for both youth boys and girls, oversight of football academies as well as capacity building for young referees and technical officials.
NFRA and NFCA on the other hand, will focus on professional and technical excellence and their roles will include implementation of coaching education and referees training programmes; collaborating with local and international partners to enhance equality as well as supporting FAM’s goal of consistent, credible officiating and coaching.
