Football must abandon ostrich approach
Mqondisi Dube | Monday May 23, 2022 18:46
It’s not new and it’s not isolated. Football walked this path not too long ago with the Ofentse Nato saga. Where there is a will, there is a way. But are there concerted genuine efforts to pull football out of its self-made abyss? There is little to suggest there is something in this direction. Individualism over a collective reigns supreme. But football should not or does not belong to a cartel. It is a global game that belongs to all of us. It belongs to that four year old boy or girl in Kaudwane. It belongs to that 90-year-old man or woman in Kauxwi. Football is not yours, it is ours. Yes, it was entrusted to you as individual to run and not abuse. We have seen an often chaotic approach to solving the Ratanang issue.
There have been question marks as to how Township Rollers was dragged before the judicial bodies without a complainant. Thus far, there are no convincing answers to this question. As the media, we appear complicit in not holding those entrusted with the running of the game to account. We have become bystanders in a game in which we should be active participants. People look up to us to ask the uncomfortable questions, but alas, we have stood akimbo and also ask the same questions that an ordinary football stakeholder asks.
For the first time the pen appears weaker than the sword. Why does the Botswana Football Association (BFA) and Security Systems issue a statement responding to an official appeal which is before judicial bodies? Is that the new normal? Can’t due process be allowed to prevail and Rollers be afforded a fair hearing, no matter how frivolous their appeal is viewed in some quarters. Only those entrusted with handling the appeal can make a determination if Rollers has a case or not, not the BFA or Security Systems through a press statement. When Rollers was accused of improper registration of Ratanang, they gave the judicial process an opportunity until they were found guilty. Am not talking on behalf of Rollers but am speaking from a football point and I stand to be corrected. Whatever appeal is lodged, it should not be dismissed with impunity, but should be allowed to undergo the credibility test through proper judicial interrogation until finality.
We also have individuals who believe the game of football owes them everything and that it revolves around them. They simply don’t want to go away. Egos, hurt and hate, and not the collective, reign supreme. The burying of heads in the sand will never be the panacea to football's problems. Honest discussions should take place to find lasting solutions. Individual differences have sadly been allowed to dictate the football narrative, and unfortunately the ordinary stakeholders find themselves hostages to an elite few. My former editor once shared a vital lesson; he said most of the time, do not always see yourself as right. Occasionally consider other people’s view points as correct no matter how absurd they may appear. You can’t always be right and at times just accept defeat; it’s quite normal. Like glue, this has stuck with me up to this day.