Calendar Stars cash strapped
… as they go into the Orange FA Cup clash
First Division North side, Calendar Stars are currently running around the clock to put together resources in order to prepare for the much anticipated resumption of the last eight of the Orange FA Cup fixtures.
However, things are not going as anticipated, following a lengthy spell of no football action and source of revenue. The cup was put on hold last year after the last 16 matches following the outbreak of Covid- 19. While the national league was stopped altogether with champions declared, for the FA cup, a decision was taken that the competition will resume once it is deemed safe. Nonetheless, following a lengthy uncertainty on when exactly the cup will be played, this week a draft of Botswana Football Association ( BFA) calendar of events for 2021 season surfaced with the quarter finals of the FA cup scheduled to be played on the 23rd - 24thof January. The semifinals will fall on 30th- 31st of January while the final will be on the 13thof February.
By the time the tournament stopped only eight teams were left:
Stars, Masitaoka, Police XI, Jwaneng Galaxy, Notwane, Gaborone United, Mahalapye Railways Highlanders and Township Rollers. Though the cup competition provides an opportunity for clubs to finally make some cash after many months of lack of cash inflow, for Calendar Stars, they are already in dire financial state therefore mobilizing resources for the team to go in camp and prepare for their match against Masitaoka is a mountain to climb. As a First Division team, Stars situation has been made worse by the fact that in First Division there are no prize monies but rather quarterly grants which long finished since it’s been over nine months without football action.
In an interview this week Calender Stars team manager Johannes Diboko said: “We find ourselves in a very bad situation financially because we have been on the sidelines for so long. Companies are broke too so it’s very hard to really approach them for sponsorships. If things were in our power we could be saying we should wait until corona virus is no longer available, so we will just be there to honour the BFA calendar of events. The situation is so bad that some of our players don’t even have soccer boots but they have to be in camp,”
said Diboko.
However, head coach Vincent Chikumba believes that his charges are ready for action and they will have to work with what they have. “We have been ready since the day we finished playing with Jwaneng Fighters. The team has been training together and everyone is working hard to regain fitness so we are ready to face our opponents. We can complain, which is good, but it’s the new normal; we work with what we have,” he said.
As much as Stars are in a bad situation, the same can be said about all the teams left in the tournament. Though the likes of Township Rollers and Gaborone United have investors and financial might, they have not been spared. They have been forced to cut salaries and resorted to allowances during this covid- 19 times due to lack of money . With local clubs depending mostly on match day revenue, it seems like teams are still going to suffer since supporters won’t return to the grounds anytime soon. However, some pundits have suggested that it is best for the BFA and Orange to come together and consider giving the last eight teams some mobilization funds to ease their financial woes before games kick start on the 23rd.