Mosah Mokganedi
20 March 2008
Kehaletse Englishman, the owner of women football side, Lobatse Roosters has appealed to companies and individuals to come to the club's rescue. The financial crisis at the club is said to have affected its performance.
Since the women's league was revived three seasons ago, Roosters have always finished last and are yet to win a game. In an emotional appeal, Englishman said the club has a lot of problems that she cannot manage alone. She is the sole owner in a club that has no office bearers. She said the people she formed the club with 13 years ago have disappeared.
Englishman believes that if she gets support, he will revive the fortunes of the club. "It does not have to be financial support. I will be happy just to get people to run the club with me," she said. Many players have left the team because there is no motivation. She explained that the other reason the team never performs well is because they never get time to train as a unit. "The only time that we meet is during games. Some of our players stay far away from Lobatse and in some cases, they do not have money to come for training," she said. The team has a problem of honouring away fixtures because of lack of transport.
Englishman says she loves women football and it hurts her to see the team suffering. She says some parents refuse to release their children for matches, as most of them are students. This has since seen the club fielding less players in some games. Englishman contends that she has done enough to look for financial backers but no one has listened to her cry. She said business people in Lobatse seem not to be interested in women football. "But I am not giving up. I will continue to look for financers. I am the only person who can take this team to the next level," she said.
The Women Football League (WFL) committee chairman Agreement Podi said they are not aware that Roosters is going through a rough patch. He said the only problem with the club is that in some cases, it failed to honour fixtures. He said they would investigate the matter and find out how they can help Roosters.
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