Chihana takes a swipe at FAM
Minister of Sports Enoch Chihana has asked FAM to be proactive and treat football as an investment and not just a pastime. During the week, Chihana said that Football Association of Malawi (FAM) is probably the only football association in the world that solely depends on government funding for its operations.
“It is sad to note that every time the Flames have matches, FAM always wants 100 percent of the national team budget to come from government coffers; yet, they make millions of kwacha from gate collections. “They need to take a leaf from their Zimbabwean counterparts who generate income from gate collections and selling sports merchandise. Government funding only comes in if they have a deficit. Football is big business elsewhere.
We will soon have a meeting with FAM on this,” he said. According to Chihana, FAM should intensify its marketing drive to attract sponsors and invest in a number of businesses such as selling sports kits, flags and other branded materials. Sports Council executive secretary George Jana said FAM is losing a lot of money due to their failure to become investors. Jana said: “For example, FAM lost a lot of business opportunities during last Wednesday’s game between Malawi and Namibia at Kamuzu Stadium. There, they could have made a lot of money if they revived the ‘Make Them See Red’ campaign by selling Flames branded T-shirts or flags to fans.
“It is a pity that FAM missed the opportunity when ordinary citizens were able to make thousands of kwachas from the sale of small flags and scarves they make at home.” FAM president Water Nyamilandu could not be reached for comment, but the organisation’s chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda, whose body gets about K200 million from government’s K384 million annual allocation to local sports bodies, said he could not comment on the matter . “We will only comment once we get an official letter on the matter from the minister,” said Nyirenda. n Council cautions associations on funding SOLOMON MANDA Staff Reporter Sports Council has warned local sports associations that they risk struggling financially in 2014 if they do not intensify their income generation activities this year.
The council’s executive secretary George Jana told Nation on Sunday during the week that it will be hard for government to adequately fund all associations as there will be a lot of international activities that will demand a lot of money. Jana said on top of the sports associations’ K384 million allocation from the government, the associations will next year need an extra funding of about K600 million for the World Cup in Brazil [that is, if the Flames qualify], the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, the All African Games in DRC, the Zone V1 Games in Zimbabwe and the Olympic Youth Games in China. “The associations need to intensify their fund-raising activities so that they can survive the financial woes in 2014,” he said.
According to Jana, the Flames will require about K200 million for the World Cup while the Commonwealth Games and the All Africa Games will each need K100 milion. The Zone V1 games and Olympic Youth Games will require approximately K80 million and K40 million respectively.
