Clubs fight for gate collections

TNM Super League clubs have vowed to ensure that there is a legal mandate that will help them earn a large share of gate collections.

At least eight of the 15 Super League clubs including Big Bullets, Silver Strikers, Mighty Wanderers and Azam Tigers said Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) extraordinary meeting at Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi this weekend would be their first battlefield in their bid to seek constitutional review on how to share gate collections.

The extra-ordinary meeting crucially tables Fifa’s directive to dissolve the three regional leagues and committees and form one representative group from each region.

But the clubs said they would take advantage of this constitutional review to slot in the issue of changing statutes on how gate collection money is shared among stakeholders.

The issue was a hot topic last season, but it went into hibernation at the start of the 2013/2014 Super League’s second round few months ago after it was learned at FAM’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Salima that the gate collection sharing system cannot be changed unless a constitutional amendment is done.

“The gate collection sharing issue is not dead; it is still of great importance to all of us Super League teams. Of course, we tabled the matter during a stakeholders meeting at the start of this season, but we need to win the legal battle first before the changes can be effected,” said Silver Strikers chairperson McDonald Mafuta Mwale.

His Tigers’ counterpart Sydney Chikoti said FAM and Sulom always hide under Fifa regulations, but “we are fortunate that the world football governing body has ordered FAM to hold this extra-ordinary meeting which we would take advantage of to fight the legal battle and earn improved packages from the gates.”

According to Chikoti and Big Bullets boss Kondi Msungama, the clubs would strategise to have Sulom’s annual general meeting (AGM) at the end of June as their next forum to table the gate collection issue if it is not resolved.

FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said the local soccer governing body sees no problem in clubs seeking legal redress on gate collection sharing issue as long as they submit their concerns through the right channels and at the right forums.

“We will not stand in their way as they seek constitutional amendment because it is a statutory requirement for stakeholders to do that if they have strong grounds for their case. They will be helped if they submit their queries to our general assemblies,” he said.

On his part, Sulom chairperson Innocent Botomani said they believe in the philosophy that the majority always rules and as such the clubs’ concern would be welcomed at their impending AGM.

“However, the clubs should also take into account the fact that the cuts that Sulom, FAM and the council get from the gate collection is essential to the development of football in the country,” he said.

Currently, contesting teams get 25 percent each from the net gate collection so too the ground owners. FAM and Sulom take 10 percent each while five percent goes to the Sports Council. The sharing occurs after other stakeholders such as security personnel and referees are duly paid.

Nevertheless, the clubs, whose threats to boycott last season’s second round of the Super League hit a snag due to the legal conundrums, want the percentage they get to come from the gross takings.

They also want FAM and Sulom to get lesser cuts from the gate revenue so that the money should benefit the clubs, most of which are struggling financially due to lack of corporate sponsorship. They believe the two entities should be satisfied with subventions from government and corporate sponsors.

The clubs said they need to get their cut from the gross revenue since they suffer most in terms of expenditure at the games as they pay allowances to players.

“From now on, we want to always speak with one voice as clubs. FAM and Sulom have not been considerate on our issues because we seemed to be divided in the past. There are more questions than answers on gate collection sharing because there is no way contesting teams can get only K2 million from K10 million realised from the gates,” said Msungama.

At least five players, including Wanderers captain Jacob Ngwira and Big Bullets star Douglas Chirambo declined to comment on the issue.

“That is indeed an issue, we, players should comment on. However, there is a policy at our club that prohibits us from giving interviews to the media without first seeking consent from our authorities. Maybe call me tomorrowafter I consult my superiors,” said Ngwira.

In spite of that, soccer analyst and professional marketer Wilkins Mijiga said statutes on gate collection sharing should indeed favour the clubs more as they are the core reason the sport exists anywhere in the world.

“If teams are starved of resources then the whole football business will collapse. There is need to invest more money on the running of the clubs because that is where the real action happens,” said Mijiga.