Club Licensing: Football's Hamlet moment

Mqondisi Dube | Monday September 5, 2022 16:00

‘To be, or not to be’ was Hamlet’s critical question. But at the end of it all, he opts out, acknowledging that the alternative (committing suicide) could even be worse than his present situation.

The Botswana Football Association (BFA) found itself battling a Hamlet moment last week as it rubber stamped a ‘painful’ football decision. Five clubs were packing from the Premier League after failing to meet the requirements of Club Licensing.

Crowd pullers, Extension Gunners, newcomers, Eleven Angels, Molepolole side, Masitaoka, Morupule Wanderers from Palapye and Mogoditshane Fighters are no longer part of the elite group of football clubs in Botswana.

Instead they will go straight to the lowest tier after they were deemed not organised enough to play in the top division. A very sad day for football. There is talk that some clubs might be pardoned if they comply, although the sides lost their appeals last week.

Gunners are part of Botswana’s rich football history and their relegation spells doom for the Lobatse side, which was already struggling to re-establish itself as a relevant force on the domestic scene. The largest share of tears was reserved for exciting young Francistown side, Eleven Angels who were promoted at the end of last season on the back of an impressive display in the play-off in which they walloped traditional giants, Mochudi Centre Chiefs 5-0.

But now they will go down without kicking a ball in the premier division. It is a cruel twist that denies Francistown a presence in the Premier League. Masitaoka and Wanderers joined the Premier League hailed as sides that were professionally run, with the Palapye side particularly enjoying the backing of Morupule Mine. Fighters have been the yo-yo side, frequently swinging between the First Division and the Premier League in recent seasons.

Their fall from grace came courtesy of BDF withdrawing financial support. The Premier League, originally a grouping of 16 teams, will be poorer without the five souls. The decision to expel the sides triggered mostly sympathetic reactions from the football family, with the BFA at the end of some stinging criticism. But like the Hamlet moment, what was the best decision for the BFA in this case? Club Licensing has been hailed as the right step towards ensuring a professional football set-up. The BFA leadership has been targeted for applying the rules.

Some argue, the process should have been incremental, that is, introduced in phases taking into consideration the sorry state of most local clubs. But how long was this supposed to be done as Club Licensing is not new, and above that, it is a CAF requirement. How long should the BFA baby-sit clubs; that’s one question, but at the other extreme end, one might counter, the association needs to lead by example, with the mother body’s finances recently in turmoil. But do two wrongs make a right? How does football move forward if painful decisions are not taken? If the BFA is well meaning and there is no malice in the decision, then one would feel the move is fully justified.

Again, it is not a BFA initiative, but a CAF and FIFA requirement that clubs must comply with. What other options are available; not to play by the book and adopt a sympathetic approach, and continue operating like a boozers league? Either way, it is a tough Hamlet moment for BFA and a bitter pill to swallow for football as a whole. In one move, more than 150 players have been affected with other downstream industries that rely on football expected to feel the knock.