Despite football officials proclaiming their commitment to promoting and protecting women’s football, their statements have now been exposed as mere rhetoric.
The reality on the pitch is that some of the K280 million NBM Women’s Championship matches are being played without the most basic medical safeguards, in direct violation of Fifa safety regulations.
Our investigation found that several matches have kicked off despite the total absence of emergency medical personnel and ambulances which cost a mere K200 000.
Instead, players, coaches and even officials have been forced to improvise as first responders in emergencies.
The issue came to a tragic head on Friday when Agnes Mkandawire, mother to FCB Nyasa Bullets Women’s Football Club team manager Melina Mkandawire, collapsed on the pitch just after the final whistle of their match against MK Academy at Mzuzu Stadium.
With no paramedics or ambulance on standby, players and officials had no option but to carry the unconscious woman into a team bus and rush her to Mzuzu Central Hospital. She was pronounced dead on arrival.
Bullets chief executive officer Albert Chigoga could not hide his frustration, saying the absence of medical personnel may have robbed the woman of a chance at survival.
“There was no one to attend to the woman. It was our team doctor, officials and players who gave her first aid. With no ambulance in sight, we had to use our team bus to take her to the hospital.”
Our source in Mzuzu also confirmed that since the league kicked off, the matches at Mzuzu Stadium just like in other match venues we visited, have gone ahead without medical personnel or ambulances.
He said: “This whole season in the women’s league, its only today’s [Saturday] game that we have seen an ambulance after Friday incident.
“The ambulance is here and a stretcher as well. But there are no paramedics like the ones we see in the TNM Super League matches. Even one of the teams’ officials are not happy.”
One of the players we talked to said they fear for their lives and careers when playing under such conditions.
“I doubt if this can happen in men’s football,” she said.
When we asked why FAM has allowed matches to kick off without medical personnel, including a qualified doctor as mandated by Fifa, competitions and communications director Gomezgani zakazaka blamed the clubs.
He said: “The setup of all elite leagues in the country, the TNM Super League, National Division League and Women Championship, is that the home team is responsible for the organisation of the home match, including aspects of security and Medical.
“We are surprised that this was not followed on this day and we will investigate what happened and we will put mechanism to ensure full compliance.”
However, our findings show that Super League of Malawi is responsible for paying paramedics during TNM Super League matches though gate collection.
According to match day gate revenue summary sheet, the paramedics are paid from the gross revenue just like security personnel, before the clubs, stadium owners and other stakeholders claim their share.
FAM is also responsible for paramedics in all matches in Castel Challenge Cup, Airtel Top 8, FDH Bank Cup and NBS Charity Shield.
But Zakazaka defended the decision to dump the match organisation responsibility on already struggling women’s football clubs, saying they were paid subvention for the same.
He said: “Initially, the subvention was at K10 million and then another K3 million was added to help in taking care of costs for match organisation for all home matches, which per our very minimum requirements, it was going to cover the paramedics expenses in all nine matches.”
But the clubs’ officials we talked to said FAM imposed the match organisation costs which are supposed to be paid by the association since they got funds from sponsors National Bank of Malawi.
He said: “We objected to this arrangement because it does not make sense for clubs to be responsible for match organisation costs when FAM got funds for that from the sponsorship. Already, most of us do not have sponsors, yet FAM would want to heap such expenses on us.”
The inaugural Women’s Championship was widely celebrated for NBM’s K280 million sponsorship which is part of K1 billion football package for this year.
When unveiling the sponsorship, NBM plc marketing and corporate affairs manager Akossa Hiwa said the bank’s decision to sponsor the women’s national league was a bold and deliberate act aimed at not just investing in the game, “but in equality, empowerment and visibility” to create “a space where young girls can dream, compete and lead”.
“This is about legacy and we want to be remembered as a bank that stood up for women when it mattered most,” she said.
Eventual champions will get K10 million, runners-up K5 million and third-placed team K3 million as part of the K280 million.
In total, K154.6 million, which is 56 percent, will be used for prizes subventions whereas K53 million is meant for equipment.
Match organisation and officiation has been given K47.7 million while administration and marketing has received K24 million.
Yet FAM and the clubs are failing to pay K200 000 for paramedics and ambulance for a match.
