Struggling north teams urged to consider merging
Koketso Kgoboge | Tuesday February 16, 2016 12:18
Olopeng suggested that the teams should consider merging, a move he said has proved successful in Jwaneng and Orapa.
Only two teams from the region; Orapa United and Miscellaneous make the top half of the table while it looks increasingly bleak for other representatives, Green Lovers, BR Highlanders, Motlakase, Nico United, Sankoyo Bush Bucks and FC Satmos.
Olopeng said merging of the teams should be encouraged to reduce sharing limited resources in the region.
“It is difficult but it works. People have shunned it before, but it has proven successful in Boteti and Jwaneng. It could be the solution in our region and I will keep encouraging teams to look into it,” he said.
Olopeng said the struggle for sponsorship is weighing down on the northern teams and the association (Botswana Football Association) should intervene.
“It has been a struggle to come to a balance between the north and the south in terms of participation in the Premiership. There is a balance in terms of representation, but organisations are reluctant to invest in our teams even though they have the same potential as their southern counterparts. This is weighing down on our efforts to create balanced competition,” he said.
“The association must look into this and come up with a proper model that can help close the gap between the teams and the investors.
We must establish ways we can nationalise resources so that we continue to unearth raw talent which is abundant countrywide.”
Olopeng said northern teams’ problems are compounded by the struggle to retain players. “There is a lot of talent here.
Our teams cannot keep players because they are financially crippled; they cannot maintain their welfare therefore players go in search of greener pastures down south.
Teams in the north are reduced to developmental sides for the southern teams and this will slowly kill the game in the northern region.
However, we will not be discouraged by the current situation. We have been promoting two teams every season and we will intensify that,” he said.
“We will also continue to encourage our teams to change their management styles. They need to start recruiting people with knowledge who can drive them rather than elect their management based on long serving members of the team. It also contributes to the poor management of teams hence we struggle,” Olopeng said.