BFA to get strict with academies after tragedy
Kabelo Boranabi | Thursday February 16, 2017 15:54
The BFA has moved swiftly in a bid to control the running of academies. Speaking to Mmegi Sport yesterday, the BFA spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane said the association is working on a policy that will help the association monitor all football academies in the country. He said the policy would entail guidelines that the academies would have to meet in order to be recognised as development institutes in the country.
“It is unfortunate that something like that happened in the not too distant past. We are currently working on a policy review that would compel all the academies to register with the BFA. We are looking at implementing the policy sooner and when we are done we will let the public know on the developments,” he said. Mpatane further said there are a number of factors that should be considered to ensure the proposed policy is suitable for local football. He also said despite having a full running development league programme, the BFA does not recognise any football academy.
“We want to reach a point where these academies inform the BFA whenever they leave the country for football activities. As of now we do not recognise any football academy, but we have teams that compete in our development leagues,” he said. Speaking at the Premier Skills Women’s Coaching course launch on Tuesday, BFA vice president administration and governance, Segolame Ramotlhwa retaliated that the BFA is a custodian of football in the country hence should oversee any football activity.
“All people running academies should register with the BFA. According to FIFA, only member states should be responsible for the running of football in their countries and as a member state we are required to do so by FIFA,” he said. The BFA regime has shown keen interest in the development of the sport from the grassroots level as it launched the development programme in all the country’s 17 regions.