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Botswana: Indiscipline Rocks Zebra's Camp
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The Voice (Francistown)
20 May 2008
Posted to the web 20 May 2008
Monnakgotla Mojaki
Francistown
The Botswana national team is currently faced with a mammoth task of at least going all the way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. It is possible, depending on the attitude of players, coach's tactics and the Botswana Football Association doing what they should do to please players.
Of recent, authorities have tried their best but there has been a new twist at the Zebras camp. Players are reportedly ill disciplined and this is worrying the BFA authorities.
The Jerome Ramatlhakwana saga is a case in point. The player was sacked from the national team for indiscipline.
The Mochudi Centre Chiefs striker was apparently rough tackled by a fellow teammate at one training session and without telling the coach or the team manager, walked out, all the way to the hostels.
When the coach sent the Welfare Manager, Sello Katse, to summon the player back to the training session he apparently claimed he was injured.
"We didn't have a doctor at the training ground on that particular day, it is not every day that you have a medical person there but we assessed the situation and we confirmed that the player was not bad, he could continue training. Even if he was injured, it didn't warrant his exit from training without the knowledge of other people," BFA Technical Director, Sikalame Keatlholetswe, said at a press briefing when asked about the issue surrounding the player's dismissal from camp.
The player, however, maintains that he was injured and a Centre Chiefs doctor examined him.
It is not all over for Ramatlhakwana though. He will be called to camp any time soon because his was just a disciplinary matter.
Coach Colwyn Rowe has also admitted that he has talked to Dirang Moloi about his situation. Moloi doesn't play for his club Notwane but he still gets selected for the national team.
"He has something special that other players obviously don't have and could play an important role in our campaign but he has his misunderstandings with Notwane," Rowe told Voice Sport.
In addition, Jomo Moatlhaping was said to have also not behaved in an acceptable manner while at Township Rollers and the player believes he is not treated well and is bubbling with anger.
There are also other reports that are of concern to the BFA. Players are reportedly sneaking out of camp and doing dubious and unprintable things.
While the BFA prefers not to wash their dirty linen in public, it is clear that there are more discipline cases to follow. Players are reportedly rough tackling one another and are not being honest enough to the officials. According to a source in camp, a lot of players could have been shown the door but some senior players promised to try and talk to the youngsters and get them back on track.
Keatlholetswe admits that they are from time to time faced with such.
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"In football you can't run away from such matters; we are doing all we can to address some issues and we cannot always tell the media as and when we discipline players," Keatlholetswe said.
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