To say the race for the league honours this season was one of the most competitive in years would be an understatement. ECCO were crowned in a season when the likes of Notwane, Mochudi Centre Chiefs, Township Rollers and BDF XI were the most feared squads. It is not surprising that mid-season pundits and sports writers dismissed ECCO as pretenders rather than challengers to the title. ECCO gave soccer lovers a rare taste of quality football from nowhere. They did not line up the so-called tried and tested stars. Theirs was made up of players never seen before in top-flight football. They did not play for the national team and up to now none of their players is a regular member of the national team. Perhaps ECCO's exploits, with totally unknown stars, are proof that this country is awash with talent. When the likes of Notwane, Chiefs, and Rollers were engaged in endless fights over star players, ECCO showed that this country has rough diamonds of talent that can deliver the title to the north of the country for the first time in history. This should be a lesson to other Premier League clubs. Clubs must begin to search for raw talent and be patient to polish the talent into fine gems. But more importantly, ECCO's success is enough proof that with proper investment teams from the north can dominate the game, which for decades has been the preserve of a few teams from the south. Perhaps investment is the key because ECCO is not an ordinary club. It is well looked after by the Botswana Meat Commission but it is not the only sponsored club in the North. TASC, as an army funded side, failed over the years to achieve what ECCO has achieved in two years. Copper Chiefs, now defunct, was one army funded side in Selebi-Phikwe that eventually sunk into oblivion, while the BCL-funded Nico United, is fighting relegation this season. These clubs have been performing under par over decades and this gave people the wrong impression that teams from the north are not equal to their counterparts from the South, with all sorts of excuses advanced. We commend ECCO for showing that it can be done. Now the onus lies with the rest of the northern teams to emulate the example set by ECCO.
