Coaches take stock of ended league

Mosah Mokganedi | Sunday December 8, 2013 21:00

The winning coaches opined that although the league went generally well the late release of fixtures still remained a sticky issue. 

This is not the first time that coaches have complained about the fixtures as the issue also surfaced last season.  BDF VI men coach Selebatso Mabutho said that in instances were fixtures were amended they were not informed in time. He also complained about fixture congestion saying there were times when they played many games in a short space of time.

“There were times when we would go for many weekends without playing,” he told Mmegi Sport. He said that caused inconsistence in players because taking too long without playing meant they got rusty.

However, he applauded the organisers for fixturing most games in indoor courts. “If we could continue to utilise our indoor courts our game would go somewhere,” he said.

Kutlwano women’s coach Isaac Samuel said in some instances it looked like teams were not given fixtures in time just to disadvantage them. He cited his team’s last game that he said was moved from 11:00 am to 10:00 am at the last moment.

Samuel appreciated that there were times when the federation find themselves pressed to change fixtures but said it would be important to inform teams immediately. Samuel also felt that something needs to be done about referees who turn up late for games.

However, Botswana Volleyball Federation (BCF) vice president George Keotsene agreed that the league had challenges but believed it generally went well. He said the issue of communication was two fold.

“In some cases representatives of teams that communicate with us do not pass information to their teams in time while it is true that in some instances we also fail to communicate in time,” he said.

He said as per the guidelines they always tried to give information in seven days in writing.

He, however, dismissed Samuel’s claims that his team was sabotaged. He emphasised that it should be every one’s interest to preserve the image of the game and not deliberately say malicious things about it.

He also acknowledged that his committee has in some cases received reports of referees coming late for the matches.

“I am not saying it is a right thing but that has improved from the previous season,” he said.

He said among the challenges was that they had to change fixtures to accommodate hosting the Zone VI World Cup qualifiers.  Keotsene was also happy that the level of competition had improved especially in the men side. As for women he said some teams have shown a lot of inconsistence.