BFL endures bumpy first 12-months
The Botswana Football League (BFL) is dealing with speed bumps ahead of running its first ever football season, just a year after its inception. The BFL is an organ established to run the elite league independently from the Botswana Football Association (BFA). It was finally incepted at the BFA elective congress in October 2020. Its primary role is to be the administrative body for the Premiership and the National First Division (NFD) leagues.
The body is also responsible for securing sponsorships for these two leagues. However, a year down the line, football’s newest office is facing a mountainous task to set the ball rolling. Last Saturday, the BFA through a statement announced that the mother body will run the First Division North and South leagues on behalf of the BFL. The move is motivated by the BFL’s unreadiness to run the league affairs. “This arrangement was borne out of the realisation by the BFL that it will be in the best interest of both the Premier League and First Division teams to put systems in place at the BFL before taking responsibilities of running the NFD, which comprises two divisions with 24 clubs sprung across the vast countryside. The BFL is also in the process of setting up a fully-fledged organisation which will be responsible for its daily operations. “The above arrangement will result in the BFA NEC through the Competitions Committee being responsible for the managing of the NFD league, management and disbursement of the Debswana sponsorship funds, sourcing of
new sponsorships and partnerships, the welfare of the match officials, disciplinary issues arising from the matches played within the League, registration of players and affiliation fees,” part of the statement reads.
The NFD will, however, remain part of the BFL setup. It is less weight on the BFL as the Premiership will now be the only competition run by the office in the 2021-2022 season. The competition has given the BFL a P15 million headache. It is reported that the Premiership needs at least P15 million to start. Reports are also that the BFL has once again knocked at BFA’s door for a loan. With the status of competitive
sports uncertain locally, the BFL is struggling to lure sponsors for the elite league. As it stands, there has not been a word from the elite league office on the return dates but clubs have been back to the grounds readying for a return.
The BFL is currently running with a skeletal office. Last December, the entity advertised posts to beef up its administrative staff. The only position that was filled is that of the chief executive officer where Solomon Ramochothwane was appointed among 12 applicants.
The remaining positions including sponsorship managing officer, logistics assistant and communications officer, are yet to be filled.