Former footballers still have a role to play

ON numerous occasions former footballers, many of them legends, have pleaded with current administrators to recognise that they are very much part of the game’s ecosystem and should not be flashed out.

They believe they have roles to play as it is their industry. With the passage of time some of them have advanced themselves academically that they are not only content with technical jobs but believe their inner understanding of the industry puts them in better stead.

They laugh when they see executives making decisions on who to coach the club without input from a technical person or committee. The club football philosophy is not a theoretical thing but something practical which makes or breaks endeavours by the institution.

It is an industry they volunteered to risk life and limb to delight fans and sponsors. But when they retire a majority live deplorable lives, eyesores people despise.

It has become a norm in our country that the day you play your last game, its good bye to life, the game and thousands who pretended to know and love you.

There is so much that these legends can do to uplift the game and revive moments of yesteryear where stadia throughout the country were always full to the rafters regardless of the level of competition in display.

They were everyone’s heroes and people came in numbers to revel in their brilliance on the field.

There is no doubt that the game in the country needs revival. Ever since the emergence of coaches drawn from courses, a number of legends and former footballers have been shut out of the game by people, some of them lucky to have had connections to enable them to pay for courses and attend.

A coach, who is a former footballer, has a feel of the intensity of demand of any particular football situation.

He felt it on the pitch and knows what could be the best solution out of a crisis.

The advantage is that he can also demonstrate form a practical view point and assist players correct their mistakes.

For him or her it’s not an unproven solution but one he may have been in countless occasions as a player.

It is an industry whose profile they raised.

There is no other place for many to find jobs as society and clubs including coaches have to take the blame for not opening them up to attain other life skills that can be used when one retires.

The former players can even be given ambassadorial roles for their former clubs locally and abroad for free even for a commission.

Their PR effect is what has kept the fans flocking to matches just because they live in a nostalgia lane where belief is the past was better.

It is surprising that the big clubs’ former players other than a few like Nyasha Mushekwi, who bought his former team CAPS United a luxury bus, are not being utilised. There is no way all of them could fail to convince their clubs abroad about a small donation of a kit and used balls or better still an attachment or trial for a promising starlet.

Former players are part of the clubs’ institutional memory. They have part of the history and culture and when they are retained as coaches at all levels of the institution, they are not aliens.

Teams like Hwange, CAPS United, Dynamos, Highlanders and Zimbabwe Saints have in the past done well with their former players involved.

Sunday Chidzambwa etched himself into the annals of football history as coach of Dynamos who won championships, Barry Daka with Highlanders, Cyprian Ngoma and Mwape Sakala with Wankie (now Hwange), Tendai Chieza with Zimbabwe Saints. They knew the fans’ expectations because they have the club culture, values and vision.

Even across the Limpopo, clubs like Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have had their former players like Tebogo Moloi and Doctor Khumalo involved at some of their clubs’ most successful episodes.

Former players are loyal to the industry because they love it and have nowhere to go where as chancers may leave for other gaps they encounter in life.

They are aware that Fair Play is not on match day but an everyday expectation in their operations.

When a young player sees former players of various generations involved at the club, it is a big score for football. It demonstrates that the sport has a future for him beyond his playing days which can be 13-18 years at the highest level. Kids think too.

Football can provide jobs for former players and legends like tech director, head coach, assistant coach, physical trainer, goalkeepers’ trainer, masseur, statistician, kit manager, groundsmen and analyst.

Why can’t they be considered for journalism roles like expert analysts on radio or television, columnists in newspapers and online editions.

They have the technical know-how, they have gone through the mill, they have the jargon and it is their terrain, they must not be shut out in preference for those that start as hangers on or teachers running away from school duty and taking advantage of that there is money to pay for their soccer education.

Football authorities led by Zifa ought to offer exemptions to former players so that they start their badges at a higher level.

They envisage a life beyond playing days and when legends are said to be coaches, they will stop and listen.

It is common to see boys laugh at a school coach who never was a player as he struggles to demonstrate.

It is never good to see former players shut out by their former clubs and national association.