SPORTS IN BOTSWANA IS A BY-THE-WAY!

Staying with football, we hear a meeting had to be held this Tuesday between Gaborone United and the Botswana National Sports Commission over the use of the National Stadium this coming Sunday in a CAF match. Imagine the issue being about GU having to make way for a church service that will be held on a football pitch on the same day just because pastors and reverends booked the place first. We are here trying to imagine the reverse taking place, where congregants are told they would have to forgo using their church hall on a Sunday because the cathedral has been booked to be used for a table tennis match because as the table tennis officials booked the building. Imagine the shock on the church-goers. Forget about the issue of who booked first and who did not communicate their plans for the year – the country is hosting an international football match being the Champions League, and a football stadium cannot be made available because of a church service? Imagine the visiting team hearing this! The church that owns a cathedral that can be used for indoor sports would always hire their facility out but would definitely prioritise their service. The church would tell the sports officials: you can use it but note that where there has to be a church service, you would have to find an alternative. The BNSC should have conditionally given the stadium to that church, noting to them that a sporting event would take precedence where the church’s booked day would clash with the former. It’s difficult to understand how our sports leaders think. That arena was made for sports – the church should be a by-the-way kind of stuff where the place is double booked. But hey, this is Botswana, where sports is a by-the-way vocation anyway.