allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: I Returned to Save Domestic Football (Page 1 of 3)

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?

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