Football deservedly missing again at table of royalty

Mqondisi Dube | Monday July 10, 2023 15:45

As the roll call of Botswana’s sport was read out last week, unsurprisingly the most loved and adored child was missing. Football is the country’s most followed sport but has for ages found it difficult to produce an elite list deemed good enough to make it to the Botswana Sports Awards.

As is increasingly becoming the norm, athletics led the way with nine nominations while football and netball, among the elite class, produced zero nominees. Netball is another notable absentee and the code would be disappointed considered the fall from grace in recent years, after some stellar displays not long ago. However, in terms of popularity and mass participation, football is the one that has to answer more questions. The list of nominees is a subjective process, but few will disagree with the omission of football.

Last year was a flat one for football with no notable achievements, be it at local or international level. Joshua Bondo was the only constant, it can be argued, in an otherwise underwhelming season for football. Bondo continued to fly the country’s flag high handling international matches with aplomb. However, his recent troubles could have tempted selectors to look elsewhere.

Thatayaone Ditlokwe and Tumisang Orebonye came more into the fore this season and particularly the latter, should at least expect to make the nominees list next year.

Orebonye became the first local player to bag a CAF Confederations Cup medal when he led his Algerian side, USM Algier to victory. That said, it appears controversy is already brewing with Letsile Tebogo, undoubtedly the most outstanding sportsperson last year, left out of the best male athlete gong. Tebogo was only nominated in the junior sportsperson category and there is something that the organisers missed here. Does it mean by virtue of his age then (Tebogo was 19 last year), he only qualified to be nominated under the juniors' category. He should have been nominated for the best male sportsperson of the year without a doubt.

The other contention is that, it appears there is an unwritten rule that there should be one nominee per sport code. There is nothing wrong with athletics providing all three nominees, say for the female sportsperson of the year.

This thing of attempting a balancing act has the potential to dilute the authenticity of the process. It is always nice to have a selection process that is as representative as possible, but if athletics was the stand-out performer, let this be reflected in the nominees’ list. The organisers would do well to re-think the process to ensure that deserving winners make it to the podium. Will it not be nice to have the best sportsperson picked by the athletes? I always have respect for the players’ player of the year award as it comes from peers who acknowledge the excellence of one of their own. They know excellence when they see it as they are active participants and not by-standers.