‘Reform football post pandemic’
THE Covid-19-induced break in global football and world sporting activities has brought to the fore the need for Zimbabwe’s flagship sport (football) to reform in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Commercialisation has brought several changes to the game and not all are beneficial to the well-being and financial future of some clubs.
There are clubs that have been affected to the point of either having their existence threatened or going bust.
In Zimbabwe, for instance, traditional clubs like Dynamos, CAPS United and Highlanders have been the benchmark in terms of on-field success, but those that have gone into their administrative structures seem to have failed to realise that the football industry is very much influenced by market forces, just as other businesses that provide leisure and entertainment.
Clubs need to adopt more professional approaches and move away from the amateur ethos if they want to survive in the modern business environment.
There has been an emergence of all sorts of club owners or rich enthusiasts purchasing franchises and relocating them to towns several miles away from their original location, only for the club to go out of existence after winning a league championship or running for a few years.
Most of these club owners have probably come into football hoping that supporters will remain a captive audience — not realising that the demographics of football fans are changing. ZIFA, PSL and club leaders are somehow failing to recognise that fans are customers and have the ability to spend their hard-earned cash and leisure time on competing entertainment attractions.
Modern football fans are very much capable of judging or choosing what they like or dislike, making their patterns of consumption very unpredictable than was the case 10 to 20 years ago.
Most of our administrators do not have the fundamental skills to deal or adapt to the ever-changing football climate and supporters’ changing habits.
The ambitions of supporters must always be respected by club leaders as they are the backbone of any side.
There is need to focus on changing the old sporting system that is based on planned economy to a new system that is based on a market-based economy, rather than depending on Government or company subsidies.
Clubs need to be self-reliant and supported by the market.
With football as the number one sport in both participation and spectatorship, there is need for it to take a stand to reform and start following the principles of the market economy and become self-sustainable.
Of importance in transforming football into a business is the creation of new directors who will not run football as a public utility but a business by reforming clubs’ administrative structures to operate along contemporary business management practices.
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