Published by the government of Zimbabwe
27 March 2008
interview
Harare — For almost two years Jonathan Mashingaidze has been on the sidelines of mainstream football after being suspended as Zifa chief executive before being exonerated of any wrongdoing in the 2006 World Cup ticket scam that rocked the association in that year.
But Mashingaidze is now back at the Zifa headquarters at 53 Livingstone this time as the training and development manager and with an added responsibility of manning the association's 2010 World Cup desk. Mashingaidze this week spoke on his decision to accept return to the game arguing that he felt duty bound to "save domestic football from demise and decay" and revealed that he harboured no hard feelings about the time he spent on the sidelines.
His return to mainstream administration as training and development manager has also revived hopes that Zifa will finally give much needed attention to the game's development, which has suffered from lip service from the association's successive boards.
Question: What have you been up to during your absence from mainstream football?
Answer: During my sabbatical I was consulting with the clubs such as Highlanders and other PSL clubs on such issues like event management, constitutions and player status. Since I have a passion for the game, it was during that period that I discovered that there was need for Zifa to have intensified programmes to assist clubs especially in the lower Divisions and line courses.
During that time I also attended a Fifa course in Zurich, Switzerland in March and we were the first group to use the new Fifa headquarters . . . it was for regional instructors which Chris Mbanga and myself attended.
I have since come back and held courses in Bulawayo with a view to equipping people with management skills and group dynamics.
I also managed to interact with the lowest structures in our industry and helped some individually owned clubs to appreciate the Fifa, Caf and Zifa statutes because in some company-owned clubs players do not have football contracts but only have employment contracts.
So this interaction showed that there is a need for more capacity building. It was also saddening that period to note that former players are living in abject poverty and this strengthened my resolve to try and revive the Footballers' Union of Zimbabwe so that the former footballer out there is helped to live a better life.
We really have to join Fifpro and our country parts and our counterparts in South Africa and Egypt and I had put in place structures that Shepherd Chiware (sports consultant) and Desmond Maringwa had started using.
I also noted that there are more committed people out there who are supporting lower Division clubs whose passion for football should be complemented by Zifa and the corporate world.
Q: But how does it feel to be back as a development and training manager?
A: I just feel that I need to be part of the football family and that is football beyond 2010.
I feel we should drive our 2007 to 2010 programme with more vigour and I am sure with my expertise and experience we can spearhead the growth and development of the national team.
It is a pity we allowed ourselves to waste two years in finger pointing but I believe I have to act like an eagle that will fly so high and look for core targets and I will not be part of the trivial wars that characterise football.
Q: So do you have any regrets or hard feelings about the period you were on the sidelines?
A: No hard feelings.
The only regret is that we allowed ourselves to waste time and energy concentrating on trivia at the expense of the game. One should be able to get up and dust off and then get down to serious business after all the mark of man is not to stay at the top but to rise from the ashes and become strong again.
Our game has been a victim of hate politics for close to decades and my approach is that people should give the game a chance to blossom because we are a football giant that is in slumber.
We have to direct our energies to development because the kid in Chiredzi, the kid in Gokwe or the kid in Muzarabani does not want to hear about the court cases but to hear that the Young Warriors, the Mighty Warriors and the Warriors have qualified for international tournaments.
It should not be about officials fighting each other all the time.
Q: What prompted your decision to agree to return in a different capacity?
A: The decision why I returned is because my life revolves around football. I played football but university commitments were too taxing and I believe I have come through the mill. I also still have a point to prove in terms of adding value to football and I want to protect the game from demise and decay.
Q: So what does your new role at Zifa entail?
A: My portfolio will entail the implementation of the 2007 to 2010 development
plan which revolves around youth football, women, coaches, referees, futsal, beach football street football, referees and sports medicine.
It will also make sure that schools' and out of school football are synchronised. It also entails coming up with a policy framework for a development pathway of the association with respect of the values and target groups, partners and structures.
It is also a portfolio that calls upon my department to establish partnerships with strategic partners like local authorities, the schools, colleges community clubs non-governmental organisations, United Nations departments, Sport and Recreation Commission, government departments and obviously the corporate world who should buy into the programmes.
This entails the revival of the schools of excellence because we had 10 in the past and those are the nerve centres for development and these can be done with the schools, parents, SRC, ZOC and the corporate world.
I want to revive the old youth clubs which were under local authorities which produced the George Shayas, the Shambos, the Ndundumas, Boy Ndlovu, Madindas so many of them. These youth centres are just by the doorstep to where the children live.
They can be driven by ex-referees, ex-footballers, and they can serve as a feeder into our structures.
We also need to ensure the provincial structures have leagues, which can cut down on costs.
I will also work on the issue of provincial squads where the 10 provinces can play against each other at age-group level so that we can set up strong Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20 national teams. Whoever would be in charge of the junior teams should be able to draw players from there.
So I will have to have a technical directorate to establish who are the coaches at every level of the pyramid and this can be driven by volunteers whom we will also have to train.
Q: What have been your observations on the state of the game from the outside point of view?
A: While I was out there I discovered that not much has been done to put structures for development through the community clubs.
Today, we talk of the Mighty Warriors who do not have club structures and only a couple like Mufakose Queens and New Orleans are still existing. It shows there is need for various stakeholders to pool resources otherwise the game will remain in the woods.
There has not been much for football academies but I have developed a template for which academies should be used for the respective age groups.
Q: There have been complaints from the stakeholders that the goals that had been set out in the roadmap appear to have been dumped, what do you think is the problem?
A: The problem was to do with the partial conclusion of the roadmap with the transition from one board to the next.
We need a team that will drive the last part of the road because there was turbulence after the transition, which led to my suspension at a time when the secretariat was driving the roadmap.
When I left, elections for the coaches' association and junior football had not been done and have still not been held so I am keen to ensure that such remnants of the roadmap are concluded.
Q: So how best do you think the contentious issue of the Goal Project can be finalised?
A: My humble suggestion would be that those who were given the contract to complete Phase One should do so expeditiously and diligently so that we can invite Fifa to inaugurate our Phase One.
So that we can quickly move onto Phase Two because most of our neighbours are now in phase Three.
Within the next 30 days Phase One just has to be completed and upon completion the Zifa Village will become our technical centre where all our training will be held and we can easily turn it into one of the training sites for 2010.
It should not be like some of the recreational centres that have been left to waste away at the mercy of vandals because we are going to have a gym, clinic, restaurant, single and double occupant rooms and lecture rooms.
The Zifa Village should never turn into a white elephant . . . Lesotho have a model centre and so does Botswana so we should not have any excuses.
Q: What do you think needs to be done to ensure that local football does not continue to struggle to attract more corporate partners?
A: We need to package and profile our game in terms of products so that corporates can buy into the game.
We should have a corporate culture and if we observe those dos and don'ts we can turn our game into a professional entity and not the non-amateur status it has.
Our clubs should have management structures, qualified technical staff, partners for kits and other services as well acquire premises for their operations.
We should turn into an industry but we can only do that with a sustainable development strategy after all it is not a secret that sport is one of the world's fastest growing industries.
Q: By the way what happened to the issue of touchline advertising for which you had tried to mediate?
A: I would say attempts and efforts are in place so that it becomes a win-win situation for both football and advertisers because football must get revenue and advertisers must get due mileage.
Ambush adverts and marketing have prejudiced our clubs as well as Zifa itself. People have in the past been haggling without any ground rules but we will soon have a marketing committee with people competent enough to handle such issues.
I have noticed billboards of companies which pulled out of football 10 years ago which are still getting mileage at the stadiums and we need to find out why that is happening.
Q: What became of the Needs Assessment document you had drawn for the many facets of football such as sports medicine, referees and junior football?
A: It was bandied into the long-term plan that I will be using.
Q: What do you think needs to be done for the Warriors given that they have a busy schedule in the next three months?
A: There is need for us to have an arm that will mobilise resources ahead of the campaign.
We need to have players in camp for
at least three weeks before their first
game and we need to afford the technical department all the resources they need especially the player resources and training facilities.
The coach should be given a chance for a fair assessment of the players and from a secretariat point of view, we should ensure that players sign contracts so that they do not stage sit-ins before a match.
It will be a tough qualifying group even though some people might think otherwise . . . Guinea can easily pass for a French B side, we also have an athletic Kenya and a Namibian side that has received a lot of support from Germany through a government to government agreement.
But once we put our programmes in place there should be no stopping us.
The whole issue about 20101 is that people should do their best but also remembering that there is also life after 2010, there is the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil so we should not stop the conveyor belt that produces talent just to focus on the six games that we will play in June and July.
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