Mogorosi:Chiefs spoilsport

| Friday March 2, 2012 00:00

On Tuesday, Botswana Life delivered on its promise and paid Joel Mogorosi P20,000 as part of the insurance payout he was entitled to after he got injured while with the national team at the recently ended Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.  It should have been a good day for Mogorosi, but the party-pooper soon came with revelations that the player's club had not paid his salary since January.

This paper's efforts to get a comment have hit a brick wall. However, based on what transpired at the handing over of Mogorosi's cheque, we cannot stop wondering whether Chiefs, who should be a shining example of 'professionalism' in local football, know the implications of this.Is this not the same Mogorosi whose services the Mochudi side fought hard to acquire from rivals Township Rollers just months ago? No matter what may be stipulated in Mogorosi's contract, such maltreatment of players should be condemned in the strongest terms. And if there is a clause stating that the player shall forfeit his right to his salary by reason of being injured, the contract is an ignoble document that does not belong to the 21st Century because it is the sum total of slavery unworthy of a team of the stature of Chiefs whose name suggests sportsmen and women of regal conduct.

Or has Mogorosi been playing without a contract? While it is safer not to have any illusions about anything in Botswana nowadays, we would be shocked should it be the case that Mogorosi has no such fundamental document that spells out what is due to him for his superb services and protects him against the vagaries of the field of play in the beautiful game.

Afterall, the Bosele Declaration, which was supposed to chart the course to professionalism for Botswana football, makes a distinct recommendation for all players to have contracts. It was meant to be followed and need not have been a statutory instrument to be enforced because its recommendations were informed by expressions of something that many teams in Botswana have for a long time wanted, especially Magosi.  In fact, it should have been embraced with the sportsmanship expected of managers of the beautiful game. And sportsmanship, by the way, is a way of life that transcends the field of play. It entails observance of rules of fair play, honesty, respect for others and graciousness in losing.

That Mogorosi was on national duty when he got injured should not invite punishment from Chiefs. On the contrary, it should result in an effusion of concern and generosity to one who has brought so much pride to the otherwise gallant Mochudi side. We do not, even for a moment, want to think that Magosi want to be known as those who add insult to injury. C'mon Chiefs, you can't be such a spoilsport!

                                                                   Today's thought

'If you're an employee, you're entitled to be paid if you can't work because you are off sick or away from work on maternity leave, paternity leave or adoption leave, or parental leave.'

                                                          - Author, Unknown