Decorated Paper Club has lately been playing second fiddle to a number of teams. In the men's side, Paper Club watched from the sidelines as teams like Scramblers, Wipers, BDF IX and Vikings dominated the local scene. In the women's side, Bears, Wells and Police IX also took advantage of Paper Club's slump.
This made their supporters lose interest and even some young players who aspired to play for Paper Club, especially the women's side, moved to other sides.
This forced the committee to return to the drawing board to thrash out a new strategy, and now they have promised that everything will soon be back to normal.
Paper Club manager Sidney Bonang admitted that they have been having internal problems, which affected the performance of both men and women's sides. He told Monitor Sport that he was not at liberty to disclose the problems but was happy that everything seems to be stabilising. "The men's side is getting better with every game they play and I'm confident that very soon, we'll be the team many people have come to know," Bonang said with confidence. In the women's side, the Paper Club manager told Monitor Sport that they were affected by school commitments and injuries.
Bonang further said that unlike the men's side, he believes that it will take time for their women's side to get to their best but is confident that things will be fine. "There are some youngsters we are grooming for the future, that is why I believe that it might take time," he said. Bonang admitted that the change of coaches in the women's side affected the team. In 2004, the women's side had to be guided by Oaitse Kebakuile after Raphael Setlhare went for further studies in South Africa. After years of absence, Setlhare has been roped in again to change the fortunes of the team again, while the men's side is still under the tutelage of Sthando Kgosiyang.
"Our fans should have faith in the team because we're slowly getting our act together. We're coming up with plans to ensure that our women's team catches up quickly," said Bonang.
Setlhare told Monitor Sport that he is back with the team he loves so much, though he admitted that work commitments might make life difficult for him to train the team everyday in Gaborone. Setlhare is the acting headmaster at Emang Community Junior Secondary School in Ntlhantlhe.
"When I came back, I realised that the team had lost some of their sparks but we're working on other strategies to make it the best again. I promise our fans that we'll be back in full swing and get back to winning days," he told Monitor Sport.
