Massa to act tough on teams
The Malawi Schools Sports Association (Massa) has said it will come up with tough measures against Super League teams to curb players’ education neglect.
Massa general secretary Blackson Malamula said the issue will be key on the agenda at the association’s annual general meeting (AGM) on December 17 at Chinsapo Secondary School in Lilongwe.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM), Super League of Malawi (Sulom) and Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) will be invited to attend the AGM.
Malamula also said issues of rampant age-cheating in schools tournaments, proposal to use Massa structures in identifying Under-17 national team players and constitutional review will also be tackled at the AGM.
He said they are concerned that when some Super League teams poach young players, they disregard their education, hence they end up either dropping out of school or not being serious with their school work.
“Examples are Chawanangwa Kaonga [Silver Strikers] and Thokozani Harrison [Civo United]. Before Chawanangwa joined Silver, he used to be a committed student at Dzenza Secondary School, but we gather that now he is paying less attention to his education to the extent that sometimes he misses classes,” said Malamula.
About Harrison, who was at Mitundu CDSS, Malamula said the youngster is now just staying at Area 36 because he is satisfied with playing for a big team.
He said it is important for teams to be interested in their players’ education because it helps to improve their thinking capacity and they have something to fall on after their playing career.
Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) executive director Benedicto Kondowe said: “It is a good development that Massa is thinking along those lines because as stakeholders, we were worried that when players join teams, they neglect or abandon school and the clubs show little or no concern at all. We hope the meeting will come up with solutions to protect their [players] interests and rights.”
Silver chairperson McDonald Mafuta-Mwale dismissed Massa’s claims on Kaonga, insisting that he attends classes normally except for some Fridays when the Bankers have an away fixture.
“We put him at a good private school in Area 47, which is just 100 metres from his apartment and we pay his school fees.
“He is also exempted to come for training late because he goes to school and he only reports for training after4pm. In fact, the condition which his parents put forward was that we should put him at a good school. So, if anything Massa needs to investigate better,” said Mafuta-Mwale.
FAM technical director John Kaputa said they will contribute on the issue of players’ education when Massa introduces it at the AGM.
“My personal view is that while football and education go together, it is a challenge to balance them up. So, it all boils down to proper planning and teams should be able to guide their players on how to handle such situations. Parents and guardians also need to play an active role and not leave it to the clubs alone,” said Kaputa.
He also echoed Malamula’s sentiments that players need to take education seriously because football is a short-term career.
According to Malamula, each division is requested to send six officials and provide them transport, accommodation and food for the two days of the AGM.
