Dennis Keagile
18 July 2008
opinion
The prospect of Joel Mogorosi and Boitumelo Mafoko joining South Africa's premier soccer league giants, Orlando Pirates for a reported combined fee of at least P1.4million has many people talking.
The talk does not only centre around the record fee, but it also revolves around the benefits that will accrue to the players, Botswana football as well as Township Rollers as a club. The spin off would have been immense given the fact that the likes of Diphetogo Selolwane, Mogogi Gabonamong and David Bright are doing well.
Added to that, there is Jerome Ramatlhakwane who also recently joined Cape Town Santos. Over and above that, the players would have joined a big club straight from an amateur team in Botswana.
But what looked like a turning point in the lives of the players suddenly turned into anger, despair and dejection, thanks to their indiscretions. They did not only disappoint their families, agents and club, but the football fraternity as a whole. Pirates have, according to reports, chased the players away for lack of good conduct, or should I say professionalism. Yes, the issue might look like a Rollers-Pirates issue, but there is no doubt that the players equally damaged the reputation of Botswana soccer. Once you are in a foreign country you automatically become an ambassador of your country. But this was a very big opportunity which one thinks the players would have tried by all means to grab with both hands but pity, they could not adjust.
Being a professional player in a foreign country is not always easy, especially in Africa. One has to forgo all niceties: how many times do we ridicule our own foreign players here?
How many times have other people in society complained of foreign people taking jobs that belong to them? This is part of the package when in a foreign country. Conduct has to be exemplary and the commitment and discipline beyond reproach. In fact, given the circumstances surrounding the return of Moemedi Jomo Moatlhaping from Platinum Stars a year ago, one would have thought that both Joel and Navara would have been much wiser.
Perhaps, with regard to Mafoko, it did not come as a total shock because he once attacked his management over the radio after they reshuffled the management committee. Given that he was still relatively new at Rollers after joining them from TASC, I found some of his comments surprising by then. It would also look like our training and body conditioning, especially the physical part, is not good enough hence its time our clubs invest in some specialized training.
This is because, for proper professional teams, there is usually a physical trainer and the going could have been tough for the players, hence the element of homesickness. Just a little perseverance could have seen the players turning the corner. What more with the likes of Manchester United going to South Africa over the weekend, this would have been a fulfilling experience.
All that is left now is for the players to be taken through a counselling process so as to regain self-esteem. Whether someone is angry or not, they will need a lot of help, otherwise they might have problems trying to readjust.
COSAFA
As of now, the log positions of the 2010 AFCON finals in Angola rule Botswana out as we have the lowest points and the most number of goals conceded for those countries that are currently lying second in their groups.
This means that Botswana will have to use the COSAFA Cup as a serious training camp to get the scoring options right. The deficit is so huge that we stand the risk of not making it to the next stage.
The Zebras coach has to study the Mozambicans carefully because they are a threat to Botswana's aspirations. If possible, he should bench some of his star players so that the Mozambicans do not read all our strengths.
Luckily for Mozambique, they will not have the bulk of their foreign-based players, which means that they won't fully expose their strengths.
Blatter
At times FIFA president, Joseph Sepp Blatter, amazes me because some of his comments are so reckless they seem not to come from football's highest office in the world.
His comments on Manchester United's Christiano Ronaldo have been out of order and they have the potential to throw football into a dispute. In fact he ought to be called to order or be sanctioned.
Apparently, he tends to think that a contract is nothing more than just a piece of paper, yet he is the one who says players should have contracts. Part of this was to avoid players moving as they like whenever it suits them. And now he seems to be saying this is wrong.
You cannot have your cake and eat it, Blatter.
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