BOT50 celebrations rescue northern teams
Koketso Kgoboge | Tuesday September 20, 2016 16:43
Local leagues are scheduled to start next month following a deferment recently. One of the reasons advanced by the Botswana Football Association (BFA) was that the postponement paves way for the country’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
However, some clubs chose not to compete because of the threat posed by non-competitive teams particularly those playing in the constituency leagues as far as their squads are concerned. Others sighted positives from the competitions. “We belong to the community and we must contribute in that regard,” Green Lovers Othusitse Kootswele said. “We don’t want to be seen as secluding ourselves from the community that we are desperate for support from. It might come to haunt us in terms of injuries, but what is there to do with uncertainties of the league start,” he asked rhetorically.
In Palapye, Debswana First Division rookies Morupule United shared Kootswele’s sentiments. Club spokesperson, Tshepo Bagwasi said the competition offers more game time to their fringe players.
“We acknowledge the risk but we are playing a part in the community. Again this competition gives our players some more game time especially those who had not played enough up to now due to injuries and others who joined us late,” he said.
Bagwasi said they use most of their development players at the games though with a few of the first team squad members to continue sharpening them up for the league. He said it is risky but they are managing it. “We will only bring in our whole squad if we make it to the finals against teams that play in the league,” he added.
Sua Flamingoes chairperson, Bashi Joseph said the risk is too high. He said they were invited to take part in the Sua Independence Cup, but found it compromising to compete with clubs that are not registered in the league.
“In Sowa we were pitted against local teams that compete in the constituency tournaments and that poses a great risk to our squad ahead of the season. These teams have got nothing to lose, and it is dangerous to play against a team that does not even train,” he said.
Football Union Botswana’s secretary general, Kgosana Masaseng said they view this as community outreach and therefore they encourage the teams to participate in such platforms. “We don’t have a problem with these games. It is a good way of taking the stars to the community. In fact we would encourage teams to give back as a unit rather than individual players taking it on their own in the tournaments that are played during different holidays,” he said.