BB says Sulom has lost direction

Big Bullets have blamed the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) for their 2-0 loss to Red Lions in Zomba on Monday.

The People’s Team outspoken general secretary Higger Mkandawire said Sulom has terribly lost the plot.

“They should take the blame for our loss because of the unprofessional manner in which they are managing the league.

“A resolution was made and adopted at a pre-season meeting involving all stakeholders, that when the national team is in camp the league is supposed to be on hold, but Sulom deliberately chose to ignore the agreement and gave us a game against Red Lions on Monday, even when we had contributed six players to the national team,” said Mkandawire.

He said they had goalkeeper Owen Chaima, defenders Sankhani Mkandawire, George Nyirenda and Douglas Chirambo; midfielders Fischer Kondowe and Chimango Kayira in camp with the Flames for Saturday’s international friendly match against Mozambique.

“Our efforts to protest Sulom’s move fell on deaf ears as their GS [Williams Banda] insisted that they had not received any communication from FAM.

“Our players were on national duty on Saturday and then travelled to Blantyre the following day. On Monday, they were on the road again to Zomba for the Red Lions game. Is that the way we are supposed to be running our football?” Mkandawire asked.

He argued that even if Sulom had reverted to the old system, of exempting only those teams that contribute more than three players to the national team, his team should have automatically been excused for contributing six players.

Mkandawire also claimed that up to now, Sulom has not communicated to the clubs the decision to revert to the old system.

He said they will lobby other Super League teams to take Sulom to task over the issue.

Banda dismissed Bullets claims, arguing: “Is resolution a law? We go by what the rules say. The other thing is that we did not get communication from FAM to the effect that Bullets had contributed a number of players to the national team so that they should be exempted.

“In any case, the Flames game was played on Saturday. Their players had ample time to travel back to Blantyre on Sunday morning and train with their team in the afternoon in preparation for the game on Monday. Teams are also required to register a maximum of 30 players.”