FRAFA mulls new league to cut costs
Chakalisa Dube | Saturday August 28, 2021 06:00
FRAFA chairperson, Fanyana Fish said if everything goes according to plan, the league will be introduced in the 2021-2022 league season. At present, teams in the Nata-Gweta area play their matches with teams in Francistown, Tonota and Shashe. “We want teams to be able to manage fixtures and resources. Because teams from Sua, Dukwi and Gweta play their matches as far as Francistown, Tonota and Shashe. It means that they end up straining their resources. Teams in Francistown as well as surrounding areas also incur huge costs when they play in the Nata-Gweta area.
The majority of the teams in Division One are struggling financially.” The Division One league in Francistown does not have a solid sponsor hence teams fund most of their logistics such as travel costs. “We believe that by establishing another division one league, teams will be able to easily manage the meagre resources that they have and honour fixtures easily.
This is because they will not be spending more on travel,” Fish said. The region has in the past experienced instances where teams failed to honour fixtures due to a lack of resources. Fish added that if teams reduce their travelling through the creation of another league, the development will encourage mass participation and improve the competitiveness of the league. “Many teams want to join the leagues (division one and two) within our structures, but they are prevented from doing so by the expenses associated with travelling,” he said.
According to Fish, six teams around Nata-Gweta have since confirmed that they will participate in the planned Division One league in the area. He said he anticipates that more teams will join the league ahead of the 2021-2022 season. He said a delegation from the Botswana Football Association (BFA) also visited the Nata-Gweta area to assess the suitability of establishing a Division One league. Additionally, Fish said the recently aborted FRAFA AGM was supposed to rubber stamp the idea before being passed to the BFA national executive for approval.
The AGM ended unceremoniously before key agenda items could be discussed and the BFA competitions and regions manager Setete Phutego said that another meeting will be organised soon.
The AGM failed to proceed due to COVID-19 concerns. “What will happen is that after each winner of the two FRAFA division one leagues will play a single match to determine the team that will represent the region at the First Division North play offs,” Fish said.