Hurdles as football attempts return
The cliché, it never rains but pours aptly sums up the situation local football faces. It is almost 18 months since local football was played, and it appears the wait could drag much longer.
The government has halted sport activities until September 7, citing rising COVID-19 cases. It means clubs are unable to train until then, just four days before the scheduled new season kick-off.
In the boardroom, it has emerged, authorities are struggling to tie down new sponsorship deals. “The broadcast deal has now been reduced to just one year, and there is no reason for this.
Initially, it was supposed to be five years, starting with P5 million per season, and increasing taking into consideration inflation,” a source close to developments said. There is reluctance from some sponsors to commit due to COVID-19. The Premiership was left without a sponsorship after the end of BTC’s lengthy deal last season.
“There is also the issue of the legitimacy of the BPL board. Clubs cannot proceed as some were not supposed to be part of the process to nominate the new board. BFL has only 12 registered teams who are the shareholders and not 16. The four clubs were part of the teams that approved the constitution although they were not supposed to be in the meeting.
They are still registered as shareholders,” said the source. Botswana Football Association (BFA) chief executive officer, Goabaone Taylor referred queries about the board to the BFL.
Botswana Football League (BFL) chairperson, Aryl Ralobala did not respond to Mmegi
Sport inquiries on the way forward regarding the legitimacy of the board. The BFA’s Taylor, however, said the association has been given sufficient optimism about the start of the league. “Regarding the start of the league, yes, they (BFL) have given us confidence that the league will start as planned,” Taylor said. Also, there could be new spanners in the works with the club licensing committee, the First Instance Body, indicating five clubs had failed the licensing test.
The clubs were given three days to appeal after failing the test. In the event they do not regularise, the clubs face the chop. In an interview in June, BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti had promised to lower the bar ‘as much as possible’ in order to allow clubs to get licenses given the challenges posed by COVID-19. However, chopped clubs have indicated they will not take the licensing decision lying down, even suggesting the court route.