Highs and lows of women football

Although the Malawi women national football team has not played any match in the past two years, local clubs still produced stars in 2013.

The national team was rendered inactive after the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) decided to give it time to develop stars following poor performance.

Its suspension from activity followed poor showing during the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup in 2011, when it lost 8-2 to Zimbabwe and 5-1 to South Africa.

In 2013, the number of stars playing professional football in South Africa and Zimbabwe rose from one to five.

From having Chisomo Kadzisonga, who captains Zimbabwe’s Conduit Soccer Academy as the only professional, Malawi ushered into professional football Loveness Nyakamera and Chrissy Kasiya (at South Africa’s Kanatala Ladies FC), and Linda Chilewe and Eliza Chiphang’ombe (at Zimbabwean side Auckland Queens).

Although they joined the South African team in the middle of the season five months ago, Nyakamera and Kasiya helped the side to win a provincial Sasol League title with 29 goals in 10 games and nine goals in five appearances respectively.

Apart from that, the newly introduced Fifa/FAM Under-20 Cup, which Blantyre Zero won recently to earn their first national title, has helped to unearth talent that can help Malawi compete favourably in the region and beyond.

FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda admitted to the media a few weeks ago that the tremendous progress women football has made has ignited interest in the association to lift the suspension of the national team.

“The (FAM) annual general meeting resolved that the national women football team should participate in one of the competitions, particularly, Cosafa Cup scheduled for Namibia in 2014 having observed a new crop of exciting and skilful players on the local scene and some players clinching deals outside the country,” The Daily Timesquoted Nyirenda as saying.

For the first time since women football was introduced in the country in 1997, DD Sunshine FC are no longer the predicted national champions and it is no longer predictable that regional glory in the South goes to Blantyre Zero, a sign of tremendous improvement.

DD Sunshine lost 4-3 to Matindi Academy during qualifiers of the Central Region finals of the Fifa/FAM Cup while Blantyre Zero escaped by the skin of their teeth to triumph 5-4 against King’s Ladies FC in the South. Both results were determined by post-match penalties.

Moreover, it is like a bonus for the national team to face a seven-step improvement, to position 120, on the Fifa rankings despite its inactivity.

Nevertheless, women football never ran short of challenges and controversies in 2013. Notably, the National Women Football Committee (NWFC) summoned Nyakamera, Kasiya and player agent Prince Jere to explain why they signed a deal with a South African team without NWFC’s consent.

NWFC president Severia Chalira said it is the disciplinary hearing that will decide whether the players will return to the South African side which, apart from their football playing career, has offered them academic scholarships.

Age-cheating in the Fifa/FAM Under-20 Cup also painted a gloomy picture for the sport. A match between Zomba City Queens and Balaka Secondary School was delayed for close to an hour after both sides disagreed on ages of some players.

Ugly scenes of violence that erupted during the Southern Region Presidential Women Football Cup semi-final between Blantyre Zero and Ntopwa Super Queens at Escom ground in Blantyre in June was another setback.

The free-for-all fight which led to the fainting of Zero’s defender Lukia Sanudi, occurred as a result of disagreements between players of the two sides on a penalty awarded to Zero for Pilirani Malora to score the team’s second goal.

Referee Grace Msiska and her assistant Happiness Mbandambanda ran for their dear lives after being attacked by irate Ntopwa Super Queens players. As a result, Ntopwa team manager and owner Isaac ‘Jomo’ Osman was banned for a year, effective January 2014, for allegedly failing to control his players.

But the biggest shocker in women football emerged three months ago when it was revealed that some Super League teams and other male football teams refuse to share pitches with women football teams on claims that female players cast a bad spell on them.

Owner of the now defunct Abramo Queens FC, Roy Mdechi, confirmed to The Nation in August that they were once refused to curtain-raise a Super League encounter.

“It was so sad. Home ground advantage in Malawi is linked to beliefs. This retards women football. Our club is willing to support women football,” Mdechi was quoted as saying about the misconception.

Veteran women football star Maggie Chombo Sadiki also said they had to use a pitch which would later host a Super League fixture.