Players content with the back seat in elections
Mqondisi Dube | Friday August 28, 2020 09:53
As the Botswana Football Association (BFA) prepares to hold its elective general assembly, a significant stakeholder, will remain on the periphery of the contest.
This, FUB secretary general, Kgosana Masaseng, said was out of choice. Across sporting disciplines, athletes usually don’t have a say in picking their leadership as they are not part of the electoral college.
In football, players wield massive influence on the pitch, but their wings are clipped in administrative matters, largely relying on FUB as their voice.
The Maclean Letshwiti administration extended a hand to former players at the start of their reign in 2016. Some were roped into a technical committee that remains influential in deciding coaches appointments at national level.
However, active players are still kept away from the feeding trough. Players had remained largely un-unionised until the establishment of FIFpro, an international federation for players rights.
This culminated in each member association having a union, with FUB established as the players’ union in Botswana.
Masaseng said the union opted against full membership, which would have granted them voting rights.
However, it is unclear if the union, which is an associate member of the BFA, would have used active players to cast their vote.
The union’s president is former player, Onalethata Tshekiso.
“We were given an option of whether to vote or not, when we were first admitted into the BFA as associate members. We opted to be associated members, as, if we had become a full member, we were not going to be able to challenge the BFA outside the normal platforms we usually use. So we decided to forgo our rights as voting members, but we can still advocate for motions, debate them or submit any proposals,” he said.
Tshekiso said the reason they opted against voting is that they could not challenge decision if they are part of the elections.
“Whatever we need, it is covered by the collective bargaining agreement. This is what governs our relationship with football.”
He said players are part of a group that has been pushing for a change of seasons, from August to May, and revert to the February to November calendar.
“So we have our social platform which we are comfortable with. We sit in all committees that make determinations on players’ welfare. Everything to do with a player, we are consulted,” he said.
However, he said in future, all presidential candidates would be expected to present their plans in relation to players’ welfare, to the FUB.