Nomads in race against time to change name
FAM says although Be Forward Wanderers are set to part ways with their sponsor in December, they could be forced to maintain the name for six months due to club licensing requirements.
The Nomads chairperson Symon Sikwese yesterday disclosed that the club’s name is set to revert to Mighty Wanderers once the mutual sponsorship termination process is finalised.
He said: “We will start the close out process next month [November] and then from January next year we will revert to our traditional name of Mighty Wanderers.
“We will also fully revert to our traditional blue and white colours.”
However, FAM club licencing and compliance manager Casper Jangale yesterday said if the Nomads will start the delayed 2020/21 season under their current name [Be Forward Wanderers], then it could take as long as six months because the process covers a number of areas.
He said: “If they had started the process earlier, it could have been much easier. But up to now we do not even know that they are planning to change their name.
“Under club licensing system, they were registered as Be Forward Wanderers and there is a systematic way of doing things. They cannot just wake up and say they have changed their name, it doesn’t work like that.”
But Sikwese said the Lali Lubani Road outfit will officially write all stakeholders, including Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Super League of Malawi, informing them about the development.
When they were sponsored by Stansfield Motors in the 1960s to mid 1970s, the Nomads were called Yamaha Wanderers.
They then changed their name to ‘Mighty’ Limbe Leaf Wanderers when Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company took over sponsorship up to the 1990s. The Nomads went on to change their name again to Mighty Telekom Wanderers and then Mighty MTL Wanderers when they were sponsored by Malawi Telecommunications Limited before Be Forward Limited took over sponsorship of the club.
