FUB unhappy with league’s delayed start
The Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) has expressed its disappointment over the postponement of the league season.
The season was due to kick off on Saturday but has been moved back to October 29. FUB secretary-general, Kgosana Masaseng said they want to see football back.
“We are greatly worried that the league has not been sticking to their plan. It would appear like they are not sure of what they want and how to achieve it,” Masaseng said.
The season has been delayed following a prolonged Club Licensing process and then administrative issues after the BFL CEO, Solomon Ramochotlhwane was forced to resign this week.
“It is our hope, however, that we can either grow out of the past immediate crisis and let the strongest outlive the vulnerable or we can decide to put principles and values at the heart of how we rebuild football,” he said.
“At FUB, we fundamentally believe in the latter. The past season has proven the incredible resilience of football but also accumulated and amplified some of the major flaws in our game that negatively impact players and by extension, football overall. The increasing individual and collective statements and actions by players show that change is urgently required — not cosmetic amendments but decisive actions and leadership to make sure this game protects and respects all players,” Masaseng added.
He said any further delays will lead to more complications. BFL chairperson, Nicholas Zakhem told Mmegi Sport yesterday that the season will kick off next week as per the new schedule.
But Masaseng warns clubs will suffer if there is no immediate return to action.
“The longer we wait the more problems we will face. Remember a good number of our clubs rely on gate takings and donations from their supporters to survive. Only a handful of clubs can for now hold things together. To this date, some clubs are still struggling to pay the players on time or the agreed amount,” he said.
Masaseng hit out at football authorities and said they
had failed to demonstrate a willingness to take the league forward.
“We are concerned about the league’s lack of ambition. We feel their approach is uninspiring. We have a lot of competition from other sectors today and all we should be trying to do is to be as bullish as possible to position the league to attract sponsors.”
He said the players want to see a better-organised league, with the present arrangement seeing most clubs struggle to survive.
“During our last congress, the players made it very clear that the league must come to the party in terms of organisation, but what we see today is painful. You will note that FUB has an obligation to the players to move forward and create change and we are giving these matters a considerable amount of attention,” he said.
“We have agreed with the league that football can no longer tolerate a labour market for players without access to dispute resolution, without basic employment standards, with no respect for the fundamental right to collective bargaining and with rules that commodify players and prevent them from exploring their careers freely,” Masaseng added. He said their assessment shows that players have been left to be on their own. “However, we have recently written to the league to remind them of the deliverables we discussed together and we await their response,”
Masaseng said.