Too many boys running football

If Malawi were not a football playing nation spoilt with natural talent and massive passion, competitive football would have long been dead, buried and forgotten.

While the Flames remain in ‘funding-induced’ coma, with neither a coach nor a captain, the administrative mess has spilled over to the TNM Super League. The 2012/13 championship race remains undecided following the violence that flared up during the match between Mighty Wanderers and Silver Stadium at Balaka Stadium a fortnight ago.

Now, in the aftermath of the violence that cost Lemiyasi Josita’s life, the very same teams which harbour criminals masquerading as fans, are demanding the resignation of the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) executive.

I would rather blame the clubs that voted these Sulom office-bearers.  Our clubs lack men of integrity and calibre to administer football at their highest level.

Standards have slumped and it is hard differentiating a fan from an administrator.

Elsewhere, administrators behave as such while here some of them behave like fans, most of who usually think through their limbs.

Past administrators such as Bob Akule, Dumbo Lemani, Sparks Jumbe, Bakili Muluzi, McEuwin Kumichongwe, Tim Chirwa, Justice Hanjahanja, Peter Fatchi, George Mthukwa and John Magombo were/are no ordinary men in society. They transferred their maturity to football.

Contrast with the current administrators, then you realise boys, who are usually prone to foolishness, are running and ruining the game—top to bottom. My definition of boys is not restricted to age but also competence and maturity or lack of it.

You can tell the boys when they are so petty they gossip and brag even about their dogs, transfer bottlestore grudges into football, lack decorum, are bent on appeasements, lack vision and are not conversant with basic football rules and regulations. The list is endless.

Let me sum this up by quoting former Super League Association of Malawi (Sulam) chairperson, the late Hastings Kapenuka, speaking to the then sports minister Moses Dossi at the French Cultural Centre in 2001: “I am not into football for money. I started driving before you bought a car and even became minister.”