Giants snub bonanzas
Those that take advantage of the season break to organise bonanzas will have to involve other Super League teams excluding Big Bullets and Be Forward Mighty Wanderers who want their players to rest.
The two Blantyre-based giants share the biggest supporters’ base and are often a target of bonanzas organisers. Bullets vice-general secretary Kelvin Moyo said the TNM Super League champions will only participate in a mini tournament which the club will organise for the launch of the Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC) sponsorship.
“Our plans are not to participate in any local bonanza during off season. We want our players to rest. Last year we suffered player burn-out because they didn’t have enough time to rest.
“We will only resume playing late February in a mini tournament involving teams from Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe during the launch of our sponsorship,” Moyo said.
Wanderers general secretary Mike Butao also said their players need some time off until March.
“We have given the boys a break till February and cannot play competitively until March,” said Butao.
Meanwhile, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has disclosed that it had received a number of applications for licences to hold bonanzas.
Competitions manager Gomezgani Zakazaka said most of the organisers of the bonanzas are targeting the top four teams.
“As of now we have not yet licensed anyone to hold bonanzas. But we have received a couple of applications,” Zakazaka said.
“We will start issuing the licences soon after the festive season holidays.”
Though organised for various reasons, bonanzas have often been used as to raise funds for various purposes including charity.
Zakazaka said they would advise the applicants on the suitable dates for bonanzas in order to give players time to to rest.
“When issuing licences the dates for the bonanzas is one of the issues that we look at,” said Zakazaka.
“We are aware that players need to rest and cannot accept someone to hold bonanzas just after the season break.”
But soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda has questioned the rationale of holding bonanzas, saying they denies players a chance to recuperate. n
