Déjà vu as Ratanang case haunts football
Local football is rarely far from controversy. The two are now like Siamese twins. Even when you think it will be seamless, there is always a flashpoint waiting by the corner. The 2021-2022 Premier League season has been unfolding in an admirable manner considering all the challenges football faced due to COVID-19.
There was no football action for almost two years and the return of action in September last year brought collective relief.
The return was achieved despite reduced involvement from sponsors, with the league proceeding without a title sponsor.
It was a commendable effort to get players back on the pitch and the season seemed to run without a hitch until a regular irritant hit last month.
Botched player registrations have become synonymous with the top-flight league, ironically at a time when the talk is about moving from an amateur to a professional set-up.
Not long ago, Botswana football endured a lengthy disruption brought about by the contested Ofentse Nato registration. Nato had joined Township Rollers mid-season in 2016, but his registration was deemed improper, plunging football into a crisis, that dragged on for months.
The matter was not decisively concluded, with Rollers required to play a league decider against Mochudi Centre Chiefs. Rollers had wanted the case to go all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). That would have answered many questions swirling around the issue. Unfortunately, taking a matter up with CAS comes with prohibitive costs, which many local clubs can ill afford.
Administrators are expected to draw lessons from such incidences, but football simply does not learn.
There have been other countless cases of improperly registered players despite efforts to smoothen the registration process.
In the latest case, it is again Rollers in the news for the wrong reasons, amid allegations they connived with former Botswana Football Association (BFA) official, Phuthego Setete to force the fraudulent registration of fullback Onkarabile Ratanang. The case is now before the Players Status Committee for final determination. Emotions are already running high, with Rollers facing a massive points deduction.
It is discouraging that football is moving in circles when all talk has been on commercialisation and turning the game professional. What is supposed to be a straightforward formality of registering a player has been turned into a laborious process. What is further disheartening is that it involves what should be the cream of football administration in the elite division.
This is a preventable crisis, which, however, has been allowed to play itself many times. Once bitten, twice shy does not seem applicable in local football.