FAM rescues SRFA
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has moved in to bail out Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) with K5 million (about $7 269) prize money for last season’s winners after the sponsor, Nsejjere, apparently failed to honour its obligation.
FAM general secretary officer Suzgo Nyirenda confirmed in an interview on Thursday that FAM is currently sourcing funds for the exercise.
He said: “Right now, we are trying to look for money for the prize money which is in the range of K5 million.”
The ongoing stand-off between SRFA and Nsejjere took a nasty twist yesterday when the owner of the sportswear company described the SRFA leadership as “delusional”.
SRFA chairperson Raphael Humba on Monday wrote the United States of America-based sportswear manufacturer notifying them that the league concluded last week and gave them a breakdown on how much would be needed for prizes.
But in his one-sentence written response, Nsejjere chief executive officer Isaac Nsejjere said: “Humba, you are pathologically delusional.”
Humba yesterday acknowledged receiving the letter which was also copied to Nyirenda.
Humba said: “I wrote him as Nsejjere CEO reminding them about their contractual obligation. [But] the response that we had is very bad. I cannot say much because we have left everything to FAM.”
SRFA is currently preparing to file a lawsuit against Nsejjere.
Nyirenda said FAM would meet legal costs for its financially-squeezed affiliate.
Humba has since thanked FAM for rescuing the league by paying the prize money.
“As a committee, we are very grateful to FAM for giving us the prize money,” said Humba. “It wouldn’t be good to keep the teams waiting while we are sorting out the issue with Nsejjere.”
FAM gets tough on sponsors
Companies and individuals wishing to sponsor football will be asked to deposit the sponsorship amount into Football Association of Malawi (FAM) account before the competition starts.
On Thursday, FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda said they would have to go to that extreme of putting as a conditionality depositing of sponsorship money in the association’s account to avoid a repeat of the scenario.
He said: “This is the only way to make sure that companies and individuals that wish to sponsor football are committed to the cause. We already have rules and regulations that govern football sponsorship and we just have to reinforce them so that we don’t have situations that SRFA is in.”
Asked if this would not scare away would-be sponsors, Nyirenda said those that go into football in good faith need not be scared. n
