Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) have welcomed the call by minister of Youth Development and Sports Enock Chihana on the necessity to hold an all-inclusive sports conference.
Chihana made the call during the prize presentation ceremony of the 2012/13 TNM Super League season.
FAM second vice-president Pikawo Ngalamira said the conference will be a great forum to brainstorm and come up with a plan which in turn will help transform the game at national level.
“I welcome the idea wholeheartedly. Such a conference will go a long way in solving problems the national team faces. Through such forums, diverse ideas from different sections will greatly help formulate a blueprint from which we can transform the fortunes of the national team,” said Ngalamira.
In a separate interview, Sulom president Innocent Bottomani also said a national sports conference is timely if the blame-game is to be a thing of the past.
“We need such gatherings where we can pool together experts in football to map the way forward towards the success of the national football team. In fact, this should be an annual thing. Through such platforms, stakeholders in the sport will build rapport,” said Bottomani.
He further said the involvement of former national team players at the conference will add value to the cause.
“The input of former players is very valuable. They know what it takes to form a successful national team since they have played the game at a high level. They also know the challenges that players face. All in all, the conference is a very welcome idea,” said Bottomani.
Chihana said there was a lot of mudslinging and blame-game whenever the national football team fails to do well.
“Some people blame the minister, some FAM and others players. Some blame government for not financing the team. But the blame-game has solved nothing.
“We need to have an all-inclusive sports conference to solve the problems. I have appointed the principal secretary [II] Mr Justin Saidi to start the process towards the national conference,” said Chihana.
