BFA, Players Union Wars Rage On

Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) has expressed disappointment at the Botswana Football Association (BFA) over the manner in which the latter has dealt with the issue of allegations of ill-treatment of players on national duty. The Players’ Union had reportedly written a letter to the association citing allegations of players suffering unpleasant treatment from an employee of the association and calling for engagement between the parties.

However, the BFA last week released a statement also expressing its disappointment that the Players’ Union had engaged the media on the allegations before presenting the findings of its commission of inquiry to the association. “Had this been done, the BFA would have availed a platform to meet and hear the submission and ultimately carry out preliminary investigations into the claims that the Union has purportedly investigated the matter. It is the expectation of the BFA that any ‘’unusual treatment’’ suffered by the players, because of an employee of the FA be brought before the Association by those seeking redress on the matter. However, the Office of the Chief Executive Officer has no record of such. Considering how serious the allegations are, the BFA’s preliminary inquiries find no merit in the allegations made and regard the assertions as unfounded and untruthful. From what the BFA has gathered so far, the Senior Men’s National Team head coach has engaged with players in a professional manner,” the BFA said in a statement last week.

There have been allegations of players complaining about how the national team coach, Adel Amrouche had treated some players in previous camps and used racial expressions. However the BFA last week shot down the allegations arguing that the Coaches Code of Ethics require coaches to have respect and promote a high standard of behaviour. The BFA further said in a normal game or training session, a player may be rebuked or charged at by the coach for a mistake or failure to follow an instruction,

however the language used has not had any racist inferences, the B FA is made to understand.

But the Players Union has said all they want is some kind of engagement either with the association or the mentioned individual to get to the bottom of the matter. FUB secretary general, Kgosana Masaseng said they are disappointed that the BFA seems not to appreciate the issues from the Players’ point. “We were looking at an engagement of some sort so that we could find out whether the allegations are substantiated or not, but instead we saw a rebuttal,” Masaseng said. The two organisations have been exchanging unpleasantries over a number of issues ranging from suspension of football to welfare of players in the country.