Fumbling football feasts at the high table while stellar codes feed on crumbs
Mqondisi Dube | Friday April 28, 2017 14:35
Virtually every street corner from the sprawling Peleng to Monarch, there is a group of sweating boys chasing a plastic ball, with improvised goal posts usually in the form of upright bricks.
This confirms that football is, by miles, the nation’s most popular sport. But decades of participation at national level has brought nothing but agony, except in 2012 when the Zebras made it to the Africa Cup of Nations finals, after years of trying.
Again, that glorious moment ended in agony, when the Zebras returned home empty handed after a run of three defeats in Gabon.
But football has remained the darling of many, including the cake distributors. Its mass appeal and participation is sufficient to make the loudest noise when the budget is allocated. Results are discounted.
Sponsors, even amid depressing moments, would still queue to pour in millions into a sport described as the ‘beautiful game’ by legendary Brazilian, Pele.
Football has never been short of suitors and the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) grant reveals a sport revered even in mediocrity. While football, due to its expansive nature, has continuously complained about the ‘peanuts’ it receives from the BNSC, it is by far the best paid code.
It has left other disciplines writhing in agony, and despite stellar performances, they continue to be Lazarus at the foot of the king’s table.
But the sparkling performances of codes such as athletics, netball, karate, chess and volleyball are making a strong case for a shift in the distribution of the budget. While football, as the nation’s number one sport will always remain at the summit, defiant performances like the recent silver medal from the Bahamas World Relays, are increasingly becoming difficult to ignore.
The case of targeted funding, without necessarily dragging football out of the picture, is becoming louder.
Athletics in particular, is left to ponder what exactly it should do to get a budget befitting the status and the glory that it has brought the nation.
Amantle Montsho has been a world champion, Nijel Amos has won a Commonwealth Games gold and came second in the biggest sporting showpiece, the Olympics. Other athletes, Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe and Karabo Sibanda have done exceedingly well.
But still, that horror picture of a team arriving haphazardly dressed for official functions, crops up. Where is the money? Football has it in bags! Netball has been battling to raise P30 million for what would be the first World netball competition in Africa.
Football does not have such worries, with a guaranteed chartered plane for the Zebras’ away matches, although officials at Lekidi Centre also argue there is not enough. But for now, football remains the one eyed king, while the rest would feel like beggars on a beach of gold.