Volleyball, netball enter constituency tournaments fray
Mosah Mokganedi | Thursday June 26, 2014 13:24
Though they may not be at risk of facing international sanctions like the Botswana Football Association (BFA), the Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) and the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) have said the constituency tournaments should be run by sports governing bodies.
FIFA recently issued an ultimatum to have the football constituency tournaments run under the BFA, or Botswana would face a ban.
The BVF and BONA are not under similar pressure but the two bodies say the volleyball and netball tournaments should be brought under their management. Like football, volleyball and netball leagues have lost players to the constituency tournaments. BVF president, Daniel Molaodi said although they are concerned about the way the constituency tournaments are run, volleyball statutes are silent on parallel arrangements. “But the principle is just the same as that of football. I do not think it is about what statutes say, the expectation is that volleyball matters should be run by national federations,” he said.
He said BVF does not have a problem with the tournaments, but the federation wants them restructured. “Our concern is that everyone can play in the constituency tournaments without proper supervision,” Molaodi said. He said they had a meeting with the government over the matter two years ago. However, there has been no communication since then. “The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture called asked us to produce a report on how we thought the league should be run. However, after submitting the report, we never heard from the ministry again,” Molaodi said.
He explained that they did not follow up the matter as they had done what the government requested. Molaodi said constituency tournaments are a government project and it is not for the BVF to dictate to the state when to act on the matter. The volleyball president said BVF will reflect on the matter again and see if it is still affecting the game.
Botswana Netball Association (BONA) president, Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego said international netball statutes do not have specific regulations about competitions like the constituency tournaments. However, the expectation is that matters of netball should only be run by one body affiliated to the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). “That is why they (IFNA)would not allow more than one body per country to affiliate to them,” she said. Lebotse-Sebego said in as much as they appreciate constituency competitions, they believe they will be more beneficial if they are properly run. “We welcome constituency tournaments because they have a lot of merit and importantly keep women engaged in sports for a long time. However, in its current form, where it is controlled by various regional bodies, it is a challenge for us to nurture talent,” she said. Lebotse-Sebego said because BONA is under resourced, they find it difficult to compete for players with the constituency leagues. She said BONA has been helping in the running of the constituency leagues by providing technical officials, particularly during finals to ensure the application of rules is in line with international standards. She said players have dumped mainstream BONA competitions for the constituency tournament. Players are not allowed to participate in both competitions.